242 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1668. 



the consideration of all which he concludes, that there is but one material of 

 the seminal liquor, which after being secreted in the testicles is deposited in the 

 vesiculae, and ejected from thence into the urethra, not (as Vesling asserts) by 

 one but by two foramina. 4. He affirms to have an easy and more accurate way 

 of dissecting the penis than any other anatomist he knows; and he assigns to the 

 muscles thereof a far other use than has been hitherto done. (See N° 38). 



Van Home refutes the above mentioned anastomoses between arteries and 

 veins; then describes the spermatic arteries and veins; the pyramidal figure 

 they make, where they meet near the testes, the direct and retrograde passage 

 of the said arteries through the testes, and such a strange anastomosis between 

 the spermatic veins, that they represent a kind of rete mirahile most elegantly. 

 He also will not admit the testes to be glandular, but affirms, (which is the 

 same with the doctrine of De Graaf ) that the whole substance of the testicles is 

 nothing more than a congeries of extremely minute tubes (the author uses the 

 term funiculorum concavorum) wherein the semen is elaborated and conveyed ; 

 adding, that if the greater globe of the epididymis be well examined, there will 

 appear through its membrane such anfractus and funiculorum gyri, as resemble 

 those of the brain. He holds the semen to consist of three different fluids, one 

 of which comes from the testes, another from the vesiculae, and a third from the 

 prostate glands. He deduces from the wonderfulness of the structure of the 

 penis, tensionem ejus, et impetuosam seminis per eundem ejaculationem. — 

 He asserts, with Steno, that mulierum testes esse ovario in oviparis analogos, they 

 containing perfect eggs full of liquor, and encompassed with a skin of their own.* 



Observations on Deafness. By the Rev. Dr. IFilliam Holder. ^ 



N' 35, p. 665. 

 A young gentleman was born deaf, and continued dumb till the age of 10 or 

 1 1 years. His mother, when pregnant with him, received a sudden fright ; by 



* Further information relative to the male organs of generation may be obtained by referring to 

 Haller's Observ. de Viis Seminis in the 46th volume of the Philosophical Transactions, and to Monro's 

 Dissert, de Testibus. Concerning the uses of the vesiculae seminales, the late Mr. J. Hunter enter- 

 tained some singular opinions, not warranted by the structure and connexion of these parts in the 

 human subject. See his Observations on certain Parts of tlie Animal Economy. Beautiful specimens 

 of the serpentine vessels or seminiferous tubes of the testicles, filled witli quicksilver, are to be seen 

 in the private anatomical museums of this metropolis. 



f Dr. Holder, a learned divine, and skilled in the sciences, was rector of Blechingdon in Oxford- 

 shire. At the restoration he took his doctor's degree, became subalmoner to the king, and a fellow of 

 the Royal Society. He had great skill in teaching deaf persons to speak, and wrote a treatise on that 

 art. He was also well skilled in music, and published a treatise on the Natural Grounds and Principles 

 of Harmony, in 8vo. iGQi. His other works are, A Discourse on Time, in 8vo. Also some con- 

 troversial papers against Dr. Wallis, on the art of teaching deaf persons to speak. Dr. Holder died 

 in 1697. 



