CHAPTER XII. 

 ORGANS OF GENERATION. 



(a) Male Generative Secretions. 



The testes have been little investigated chemically. In the testes of 

 animals we find protein bodies of different kinds seralbumin, alkali 

 albuminate (?), and an albuminous body related to ROVIDA'S hyaline 

 substance; also leudne, tyrosine, creatine, purine bases, cholesterin, lecithin, 

 inosite, and fat. In regard to the occurrence of glycogen the reports are 

 conflicting. DARESTE 1 found, in the testes of birds, starch-like granules, 

 which were colored blue with difficulty by iodine. 



In the autolysis of the testes LEVENE 2 found tyrosine, alanine, leucine, 

 aminovaleric acid, ammobutyric acid, a-proline, phenylalanine, aspartic acid, 

 glutamic acid, and hypoxanthine. Pyrimidine and hexone bases could not be 

 detected. 



The semen as ejected is a white or whitish-yellow, viscous, sticky 

 fluid of a milky appearance, with whitish, non-transparent lumps. The 

 milky appearance is due to spermatozoa. Semen is heavier than water, 

 contains proteins, has a neutral or faintly alkaline reaction and a peculiar 

 specific odor. Soon after ejection semen becomes gelatinous, as if it 

 were coagulated, but afterward becomes more fluid. When diluted 

 with water white flakes or shreds separate (HENLE'S fibrin). According 

 to the analyses of SLOWTZOFF, 3 human semen contains on an average 

 96.8 p. m. solids with 9 p. m. inorganic and 87.8 p. m. organic substance. 

 The amount of protein substances was, on an average, 22.6 p. m. and 1.69 

 p. m. of bodies soluble in ether. The protein substances consist of nucleo- 

 proteins, traces of mucin, albumin, and a substance similar to proteose 

 (found earlier by POSNER). According to CAVAZZANI semen contains 

 relatively considerable nucleon, more than any organ, v. HOFFMANN* 



1 Compt. Rend., 74. 



2 Amer. Journ. of Physiol., 11. 



* Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., 35. 



1 Posner, Berl. klin. Wochenschr., 1888, No. 21, and Centralbl. f. d. med. Wissensch., 

 1890; Cavazzani, Biochem. Centralbl., 1, 502, and Centralbl. f. Physiol., 19; v. Hoff- 

 mann, cited in Bioch. Centralbl., 9, 206. 



620 



