300 THE PHYSIOLOGY OF REPRODUCTION 



have been observed by Lubarsch l in the tubules of the testis. They 

 are insoluble in formol and fifty per cent, acetic acid, and swell up 

 under the action of alkali. Other crystalloid rod-like formations in 

 the interstitial cells have been described by Reinke 2 and von 

 Bardeleben. 3 The nature of these crystals, which have been found 

 so far only in human testes, is unknown. Amyloid bodies, which are 

 coloured blue with difficulty by iodine, have been observed by Dareste. 



The secretion of the epididymis has not been chemically investi- 

 gated. The vesiculse seminales secrete a substance of a protein 

 nature 4 which in the rat and guinea-pig probably belongs to the group 

 of histones. 5 The secretion in these animals is a white viscid fluid 

 and has a faintly alkaline reaction. 



In the guinea-pig and the rat the secretion by the vesiculae 

 seminales clots if brought in contact with the secretion of the 

 glandular structure adjacent to the seminal vesicles and termed by 

 Walker, who discovered it and lias studied it in detail, the 

 "coagulating gland." This property is perhaps a means whereby 

 fertilisation is ensured by the formation of a clot in the outer portion 

 of the vagina which prevents the escape of semen. 



The prostate gland secretes an opaque fluid having a neutral 

 reaction (which may become alkaline in inflammatory conditions of 

 the prostate). It contains sperinine, 6 which, when brought together 

 with the phosphates secreted by other genital glands, forms the 

 characteristic " Bottcher's crystals." The secretion of the prostate 

 has the property of stimulating intensely the movements of the 

 spermatozoa. This fact, which has been frequently confirmed, 7 has 

 given rise to very exaggerated ideas about the mechanism of this 

 hypothetical substance until it was found that this action is not at 

 all specific but is given also by serum and depends simply on the 

 CO 2 binding power of the prostatic secretion. The explanation is 

 probably to be found in the fact observed long ago by Kolliker, 8 that the 



1 Lubarsch, "Uber das Vorkommen Krystallinischer und Krystalloider 

 Bildungen in den Zellen des Menschlichen Hodens," Virchoiv's Arch., vol. cxlv., 

 1896. 



2 Reinke, "Beitrage zur Histologie des Menschen," Arc/iiv f. mih'osicop. 

 Anatomie, vol. xlvii., 1896. 



3 Bardeleben, " Beitrage zur Histologie des Hodens und zur Spermatogenese 

 beim Menschen," Archiv. f. Anat. u. Physiol., Anat. Abteilung, Supplement, 1897. 



4 Landwehr, " Uber den Eiweisskorper der vesicula seminalis der Meer- 

 schweinchen," Pjluget's Arch., vol. xxiii., 1880. 



5 Walker (G.), "The Nature of the Secretion of the Vesiculae Seminales, etc.," 

 Johns Hopkins Hospital Bidletin, TO!, xxi., 1910. 



6 Furbringer, " Die Storungen der Geschlechtsf unktion des Menschen " ; in 

 Nothnagel. Pathologic u. Therapie, vol. xix., Part III., 1895. 



7 See von Fiirth, Probleme der physiol. u. path. Chem., Leipzig, Vogel, p. 342, 

 vol. L, 1912. 



s Kolliker, " Physiologische Studien iiber Samenttiissigkeit," Zeitsch. /. 

 nnsxenschafll. Zool., vol. vii., 1856. Gray, " Note on the Relation of Spermatozoa 

 to Electrolytes," Q-ttar. Jour. Nicr. Science, vol. Ixi., 1915. 



