362 Diseases of the Genital Organs 



velopment, defective or weakened, either it loses its ability 

 to unite with the egg, or, if union takes place, the fertilized 

 ovum undergoes an early death or develops a constitution- 

 ally weak embryo. Thus Adami and Nicholas state : 



"What is true regarding infectious diseases must to some 

 extent hold also regarding chronic intoxications of various 

 orders. The results of constitutional disease in either parent 

 may be the following, according, on the one hand, to the ex- 

 tent of the influence of the disease, or intoxication, upon 

 the germ plasm of that parent, and on the other, to the ac- 

 tivity or potency of the germinal matter contributed by the 

 other parent : 



1. Sterility. The germ cells being so profoundly modi- 

 fied that either (a) they are destroyed, (b) their develop- 

 ment is arrested, or, (c) being developed (ova or sperma- 

 tozoa) , are imperfect and incapable of fusing with the germ 

 cells of the other parent. 



2. Imperfect development of offspring, (a) Of such ex- 

 tent as to lead to intra-uterine death and abortion; (b) of 

 less extent, a viable individual being produced presenting 

 either — 



(1) Gross anatomical defects. 



(2) No gross anatomical defects, but lowered vitality, 

 presenting itself either in the form of weakened powers of 

 resistance against disease in general, or ( ?) proneness to 

 develop the same disease as the parent." 



The spermatozoa which I have studied are frequently 

 characterized by definite morphological changes in the cells. 

 In order to understand fully these changes, it is essential 

 that the normal spermatozoon shall be known and the eye 

 trained to differentiate between the normal and the ab- 

 normal. 



The cell is divided into four main parts — head, neck, body 

 and tail. 



The head, oval in contour, is encompassed by a thin line, 

 the cell membrane, which takes an acid stain more deeply 

 than other portions. The head is divided into two portions 

 — the cytoplasmic and nuclear elements — by a semi-ellipti- 



