1432 



VESICULJE SEMINALES. 



deferentia, which, as may be seen by reference to be, it is somewhat weakened by the fact 



to the comparative anatomy cited above, is 

 the case with all the lower animals readily 

 procurable, alive, and in functional activity, in 

 this country. The best evidence that com- 

 parative anatomy affords on the subject is, 

 that, in the elephant, vesiculae seminales, join- 

 ing the vas deferens just as in man, coexist 

 with unmistakeable seminal reservoirs. If the 

 vesiculaj were merely receptacles of semen 

 their presence here would be quite superero- 

 gatory, and contrary to Nature's usual/ashion. 

 It adds to the signification of this fact, that 

 the junction of the ducts occurs below the 

 enormous ampulla, that is, between it and the 

 urethra ; so that the ampulla must be filled 

 before any semen could be regurgitated into 

 the vesiculae. 



Still, as spermatozoa are occasionally found 

 in the human vesiculae seminales, microscopic 

 evidence, of itself, is notable to give us that 

 complete negation of the old and widely spread 

 view of the functions of the vesiculae which 

 I have ventured upon above. And here the 

 acute observations, unaided by the microscope, 

 of the immortal Hunter, of themselves suf- 

 ficient to prove this negation almost to a 

 certainty, afford such an accession of pro,of as 

 cannot fail to be convincing. He examined 

 the vesiculse in several subjects in which one 

 testicle had been extirpated a long time before 

 death, and he found in every case that the 

 vesicula of -the castrated side was as full as that 

 of the other. One of the cases examined by 

 him was a married man in whom he had ex- 



that much the same thing happens, in various 

 animals, to other parts which would scarcely 

 be enumerated as belonging to the generative 

 apparatus, such as the horns of the stag, the 

 comb of the cock, &c. Yet, adding to the 

 fact of this periodic enlargement and diminu- 

 tion the anatomical position and connections 

 of the vesiculae, together with their absence 

 in the female, there is constituted a very 

 satisfactory proof that they form part of the 

 male generative apparatus. 



These conclusions, however, merely bring 

 us two steps nearer to a definite knowledge of 

 the exact office fulfilled by the organs in ques- 

 tion. I now proceed to adduce such other ob- 

 servations as I have been able to make, or 

 have found upon record, as may aid in forming 

 an hypothesis as to their positive function, 

 or may appear interesting. 



The mucus found in the vesiculae is, as will 

 readily be admitted from what has been said 

 above, undoubtedly secreted by their glandular 

 parietes. This is still better proved by a case 

 of Hunter's, where, as a congenital defect, 

 they had no outlet (nor inlet), and yet were 

 full of mucus. This case shows also that 

 they have the power of re-absorbing their 

 secretion, or at least renders it highly probable. 

 A mucus in all respects similar is usually 

 found in the part of the vas deferens imme- 

 diately contiguous to the junction of the duct 

 of the vesiculae. This is v^ry probably se- 

 creted by the walls of this part of the vas 

 in the horse there is no doubt of it. The mu- 



tirpated the left testicle a year before his deathfv cus of the vesiculae is very thick and viscid in 

 " On examining the body, the vesiculae wefe. all animals, but more so in some than in others, 

 both found nearly full, more especially that I j^xve examined it carefully in the guinea- 

 on the left side, which mig-bt have been acci- \p<gV in which animal it is remarkably thicK ; 

 dental." To remark that the vesicula of tjie* but there is a difference, in this respect, be- 

 castrated "side was fuller than the otheisseems " tween that which is near the outlet and that 

 to be proving too much (he observed the which is at the fundus, it being thickest in the 

 same in one other case) ; but the rest of his former position and gradually thinner towards 

 cases show clearly that this was t as he says, the latter. It is transparent, granular, and 

 accidental. These^invaluable observations of has a faint opaline blue colour, I found 

 Hunter, ^together 'with his comparison of the that it rapidly solidified upon being squeezed 

 thick brownish mucu found in t}je" ! S$iculae, out of the vesiculae, and that too even when 

 with the extremely different, milky, slightly not exposed to the air and when not subjected 



viscid semen inrtj^B vas* deferens of the same 



subjecij "and ~theT contrast observable in the 



^ *ttvo fluids by aid of the microscope, a few 



\ scattered spermatozoa or none at all in the 



one, crowded .jnjriads in the other, lead 



irresistibly to the conclusion that the vesiciHa? 



seniinales are not reservoirs of semen. 



to any remarkable diminution of temperature, 

 when lying, in fact, in the urethra of the 

 animal just killed. The mucus contained in the 

 vesiculae also solidified more though slowly 

 that in the fundus most slowly, and the rest 

 in gradual progression up to that near the 



iinimics arc UUL reservoirs ot seiuen. j ^outlet. In opening th&abdomen of a guinea- 

 2dly, They form part of the generative ap- \ig> it is*, almost impossible to avoid com- 

 paratus. This is pretty clearly \ proved by preying the'< vesiculae, and probably from 

 Hunter, by observations*made on those animals this cause a corisAlerable quantity of the 

 that have periods of rut or sexual exci^ment mucus is forced into 'tite tjbrethra, where I 

 alternating with periods of sexual quiescence always found it forming a solid\jnass as hard 

 or impotency, such as the stag, the mole, and and elastic as ^ the cartilage of "a ray-fish, 

 the land-mouse. In these animals the vesiculae and moulded toVthe shape of the ufethra-: this 

 seminales, in common with the testicles, pro- within a few minutes after the death "^f" the 

 state gland, &c., are exceedingly small during animal. Now, this is just tjie contrary to 



the period of impotence, and enlarge enor- 

 mously and rapidly for the season of rut. In the 

 mole they are hardly discernible in winter, but 



what, according to Hunter, is the case with 

 emitted semen, which becomes more and 

 more fluid under exposure. I was, however, 



become enormously large in spring. Conclusive, highly interested to observe that if the vasa 

 however, as this proof appears, prima facie , deferentia and vesiculae be compressed at the 



