iv THE GENEEATIVE SYSTEM OF THE MALE 133 



detached from the male, he could copulate anew with her. In 

 white rats, also, the sexual need is not abolished after extirpation 

 of the vesiculae. After a time, however, such good results in 

 breeding are not obtained as with the intact male. Similar results 

 were obtained by Camus and Gley (1897). It does not appear to 

 me, however, that these results are entirely opposed to the theory 

 of Tarchanoff, even though they should oblige us to modify it. 

 When the vesiculae are absent, as in the esculent frogs, or have 

 been extirpated, as in the grass frogs, and in rats, the ampullae of 

 the deferent ducts, which have the same structure as the vesiculae, 

 may determine in a reflex way the sexual need. That, however, 

 the vesicular secretion is not necessary for fecundation appears 

 from the successful experiments on artificial fertilisation carried 

 out on bitches by Ivanoff (1900) with sperm removed from the 

 epididymis of the dog. 



Lode (1895) is of opinion that the vesiculae cannot be con- 

 sidered as reservoirs of the sperm secreted by the testicles, because 

 in that case unilateral castration ought to cause atrophy of the 

 corresponding vesicula. Now that does not occur after extirpation 

 of a testicle in the guinea pig. It is known, however, that bilateral 

 castration in bulls and horses causes a diminution in size of the 

 vesiculae, with atrophy of the glandular epithelium and hyper- 

 plasia of the connective tissue. Also, as regards man, the vesiculae of 

 eunuchs are found to be atrophied and filled with mucous secretion. 



Eehfisch (1896), after injections of the vas deferens with 

 liquids of different kinds, saw the vesicula swell, before the liquid 

 passed through the ejaculatory duct into the urinary passages. 

 When in man pressure with the finger is applied through the 

 rectum to the vesiculae to empty them of their contents, there is 

 an escape of semen, which is mixed with the urine at the next 

 micturition, or trickles directly through the urethra. On these 

 grounds he considers that the vesiculae, besides being secreting 

 organs, act also as reservoirs, in which is collected the sperm as it 

 is formed in the testicles. 



Fiirbringer in sixty dead human bodies almost always found 

 sperm in the contents of the vesiculae ; Kayser confirmed this 

 observation in seven men. But to the observations of Eehfisch, 

 as well as to those of Fiirbringer and Kayser, one may object 

 with Nagel that the passage of the sperm into the vesiculae does 

 not happen normally during life, but during the asphyxia of 

 death, in consequence of the contraction of the vas deferens which 

 forces the contained seminal fluid in the direction of the vesiculae. 

 Exner put forward the hypothesis that in the vesiculae accumu- 

 lates the sperm, which is formed and not emitted, during long 

 sexua*l abstinence. The researches of Lode, however/ are not 

 favourable to this hypothesis. He observed that after long 

 abstinence the first ejaculation contains a relatively small number 



