GENERATION OF ANIMALS, I. x^-m. 



the body is more comfortable for having got rid of it. 

 Relief is obtained too when other residues are got rid 

 of in company viith the semen : in such cases what 

 is emitted is not merely semen, but there are other 

 substances which come away at the same time mixed 

 up vvith it, and these are morbid. This explains why 

 at certain times with some persons the emission is 

 infertile : it contains so small an amount of actual 

 semen. However, speaking generally for the major- 

 ity of men, the sequel to sexual intercourse is ex- 

 haustion and weakness rather than relief, and the 

 cause is as I have described.) Besides (2), semen is 

 absent during childhood, old age, and infirmity ; 

 absent during infirmity on account of the weakness 

 of the body, during old age because the organism 

 does not concoct a sufficient amount " ; during child- 

 hood because the body is grovring, and the concocted 

 matter is all used up so soon that there is none left 

 over : it is usually held that in about five years human 

 beings, at any rate, grow to one-half of the complete 

 size that they vrill attain in the rest of their lifetime. 

 In respect of semen we find that yriih many animals 

 and plants one group differs from another group, and 

 even v^ithin one and the same group individuals of 

 the same kind differ from each other, e.g., one man 

 from another, and one grape-vine from another. 

 Some individuals have much semen, some little, some 

 none at all ; and this is not due to any bodily weak- 

 ness, but in some cases, at any rate, it is due to the 

 opposite : the available supply gets used up to benefit 

 the body ; as an example of this we have men in 

 sound health putting on rather a lot of flesh *" and 

 getting a bit fat : these emit less semen and have 

 less desire for sexual intercourse than is normal. A 



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