THE SEMEN. 193 



ample, in blood, milk, mucus, and pus ; on the contrary, 

 in reagents of an opposite character, and in those possessed 

 of poisonous properties, they soon cease to move : thus, in 

 the saliva and urine, unless these fluids be very much diluted, 

 their motions are soon destroyed, and immediately cease in 

 the acids and alkalies, in alcohol, iodine, strichnine, and the 

 watery solution of opium. 



The addition of water to the spermatic animalcules usually 

 produces a remarkable effect, increasing greatly for a time the 

 rapidity of their motions, which after the lapse of a minute 

 or two entirely cease ; this reagent, as well as the saliva, 

 exerts a further peculiar influence upon them, causing them 

 to curl up into circles or rings. 



Poisons introduced into the system, and destroying the 

 life, are stated not to affect the motions of the spermatozoa ; 

 an assertion to be received with some degree of hesitation : 

 in cases of poisoning by prussic acid, I have usually found 

 the spermatozoa to be motionless even when viewed imme- 

 diately after death. 



The urine has the property of preserving the spermatozoa 

 entire for weeks and months ; and Donne has detected them 

 in that fluid after an interval of three months. 



The result, then, of the application of reagents, furnishes 

 an additional argument in favour of the animality of the 

 spermatozoa, and one which it would be difficult, if not im- 

 possible, satisfactorily to controvert. 



SPERMATOPHORI. 



The onlv essential solid elements contained in the seminal 



/ 



fluid arrived at its perfect state, as in the vas deferens, and 

 when ejaculated, are the spermatozoa ; occasionally, however, 

 there are encountered in it, as non-essential constituents, mu- 

 cous corpuscles, epithelial scales, and the seminal granules : 

 the spermatic liquid, however, obtained from the body of 

 the testicle, contains not only the several structures already 

 named, but also minute and bright granules, and the com- 



B 2 



