SEMEN. 



473 



pension, is not perceptible in these cases ; and 

 it would be perfectly unnecessary, when pro- 

 creation takes place, without sexual connexion, 

 in the water. The presence of such a medium 

 can certainly not be denied among the verte- 

 brata; but it remains to be proved whether 

 it is of specific importance to the semen, 

 or whether it does not perform a subordinate 

 part both in a histological and physiological 

 point of view. It is not quite improbable 

 that the presence of this liquor seminis is 

 merely incidental, and that it stands in 

 a certain connexion with the process of 

 developement *, and perhaps also with the 

 formation of the spermatozoa. In a phy- 

 siological point of view, it may perhaps serve 

 as the medium of a more easy and safe trans- 

 mission of the spermatozoa to the ovaries. It 

 may form for the spermatozoa a medium, 

 which serves partly for the better develope- 

 ment of their peculiar motions, and partly 

 to afford them an immediate protection 

 against the external influence of many in- 

 jurious agencies. 



At any rate, the liquor seminis appears to 

 be much more an accessory product of secre- 

 tion in the glandular elements of the testicles 

 than a necessary and essential constituent of 

 the semen. A comparison with the liquor 

 sanguinis would therefore not be applicable. 

 We would rather draw attention to the fact 

 that a peculiar fluid is also secreted in the 

 female generative organs. For instance, 

 among the mammalia the fluid contents in the 

 Graafian follicles, which, taking it in all its 

 bearings, we feel inclined to consider as ana- 

 logous to the liquor seminis. 



The liquor seminis, wherever it occurs, 

 exhibits itself as a homogeneous, transparent 

 fluid, existing always only in a small quantity. 

 It is frequently only observed after the ad- 

 dition of a re-agent, as acetic acid and al- 

 cohol, when it coagulates and forms a fine, 

 delicate, granular matter betwixt the sper- 

 matozoa. 



Formerly, one of the authors of this ar- 

 ticle, R. Wagner, distinguished, in addition to 

 the spermatozoa, other particular globular 

 formations f, which he called granula seminis, 

 and which he considered at that time as in- 

 dependent elements. At the present moment, 

 however, it may be looked upon as decided 

 that these formations occupy a relation of de- 

 velopement (genetischen Bezichung) to the sper- 

 matozoa , being, in fact, the vesicular ele- 



* This modifies or changes the view respecting 

 the function of the liquor seminis, which \vasformerly 

 entertained. See Rudolph Wagner's Elements of 

 Physiology ; translated by Robert Willis. Part I. 

 p. 74. 3d German edition, S. 53. 



f Fragmente zur Physiologic der Zeugung, p. 29., 

 in the Transactions of the Math. Physical Class 

 of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Science, Mu- 

 nich, 1837. Lehrbuch der Physiol. 3d edition, S. 13. 

 English edition by Willis, p. 5. 



J Stein likewise is at present of this opi- 

 nion. (Vergleich. Anat. und Phys. der Insekt. 

 S. 107.) after having previously represented these 

 formations in the shape of a 'peculiar theory of 

 procreation. 



ments which have since been generally acknow- 

 ledged as the formative cells of the sperma- 

 tozoa. The former opinion of R. Wagner, at 

 a time when the formative processes of the 

 spermatozoa was so little known, was appa- 

 rently justified by the circumstance that these 

 bodies are found not merely in the testicles, 

 but likewise in the vasa defcrentia. This fact 

 is even at the present moment of great in- 

 terest. It proves that the developing cells of 

 the testicles are not all of them used for the 

 production of the spermatozoa, but that a 

 number of them are removed in their primitive 

 state, such removal being either accidental, 

 or caused by their incapability of a further 

 developement. 



We need not enter here into other irregular 

 and fluctuating constituents of the semen. 

 They are principally found only in the duct of 

 the generative organs, and generally consist of 

 fatty globules, of several epithelial cells, &c., 

 which, from their characteristic appearance, 

 are readily perceived to be incidental ad- 

 mixtures. 



Periodical developement of the spermatozoa 

 and testicles, The developement of the sper- 

 matozoa in the interior of the testicles does not 

 take place constantly and uniformly during 

 the whole of life ; but a genuine semen, with 

 its characteristic histological elements and 

 physical peculiarities, is only secreted at the 

 period of sexual maturity, and then only 

 during the period of rutting. It is likewise 

 only at this period that the semen is capable 

 of acting with fructifying influence upon the 

 female organs of reception. In those cases 

 where the periods of rutting repeatedly occur 

 in one year, where, as in human beings, and 

 among most of the domestic animals, they are 

 hardly separated by any perceptible or dis- 

 tinct intervals, the spermatozoa are certainly 

 found at all times from the period of pubertv 

 thoughout life. But even in these cases it 

 may be assumed that the production of the 

 spermatozoa is principally confined to the re- 

 spective periods of rutting, although not per- 

 haps entirely limited to it. 



The spermatozoa, like all other elementary 

 constituents of the animal body, are likewise 

 subjected to a process of re-formation (Ruck- 

 bildungs-process), if they do not make their 

 exit from the body. If the periods of rutting 

 are separated from each other by longer in- 

 tervals, this process affects likewise the organs 

 for the transmission and for the preparation 

 of the liquor seminis. The testicles and vasa 

 deferentia in these cases decrease considerably 

 in size and developement until the commence- 

 ment of a new sexual period leads them to- 

 wards a new state of turgescency, and anew 

 capacitates them for the production of sper- 

 matozoa. 



The period of rutting among most animals, 

 at least in our climate, is associated with the 

 commencement of the warmer season. The 

 testicles then receive a larger influx of blood ; 

 they increase in size ; the walls of the sper- 

 matic canals become thicker, their lumina 

 larger. These changes of the generative organs 



