556 MALE ORGANS OF GENERATION. 



CHAPTER IV. 



ON THE SPERMATIC FLUID, AND THE MALE 

 ORGANS OF GENERATION. 



THE mature egg is not by itself capable of being developed into 

 the embryo. If simply discharged from the ovary and carried 

 through the oviducts toward the exterior, it soon dies and is de- 

 composed, like any other portion of the body separated from its 

 natural connections. It is only when fecundated by the spermatic 

 fluid of the male, that it is stimulated to continued development, 

 and becomes capable of a more complete organization. 



The product of the male generative organs consists of a colorless, 

 somewhat viscid, and albuminous fluid, containing an innumerable 

 quantity of minute filamentous bodies, termed spermatozoa. The 

 name spermatozoa has been given to these bodies, on account of 

 their exhibiting under the microscope a very active and continu- 

 ous movement, bearing some resemblance to that of certain animal- 

 cules. 



The spermatozoa of the human subject (Fig. 184, a) are about 

 e itf of an inch in length, according to the measurements of Kol- 

 liker. Their anterior extremity presents a somewhat flattened, 

 triangular-shaped enlargement, termed the " head." The head con- 

 stitutes about one-tenth part the entire length of the spermato- 

 zoon. The remaining portion is a very slender filamentous pro- 

 longation, termed the "tail," which tapers gradually backward, 

 becoming so exceedingly delicate towards its extremity, that it is 

 difficult to be seen except when in motion. There is no further 

 organization or internal structure to be detected in any part of the 

 spermatozoon ; and the whole appears to consist, so far as can be 

 seen by the microscope, of a completely homogeneous, tolerably 

 firm, albuminoid substance. The terms head and tail, therefore, 

 as justly remarked by Bergmann and Leuckart, 1 are not used, 

 when describing the different parts of the spermatozoon, in the 

 same sense as that in which they would be applied to the corre- 



1 Vergleicheride Physiologie. Stuttgart, 1852. 



