GENERATION. 



nor is it owing to the r.<ftion of the air, for it takes place 

 equally in clofe vefTels. It h'ls been obferved that the thick 

 fjakv portion is thrown out firft ; while the thinner part 

 comes after. It is heavier than any animal fluid, and finks 

 immediately in water : but a part fwims, confilling of white 

 (hining filaments, forming a cobweb-like texture, and com- 

 pofing fmall floating manes. That which finks in the mu- 

 cous or pulpy portion, which is the greater part of the 

 ^vhole ; but of this little membranous-like flakes are fome- 

 times fufpended by air bubbles. Thefe fink to the bottom 

 and difappear on the fecond day, but the water remains tur- 

 bid, and contains flocculi and white (hining threads. Its 

 odorous properties are veiy fenfible ; not irritating but 

 mawkiih and unpleafant, likp the farina of the Spanifli chef- 

 nut. In animals it is faid to be of a more penetrating na- 

 ture ; fo that when abforbed it infefis the whole body, 

 and renders the flelh unfit for eating, unlefs the teftes are 

 cut out immediately after the animal's death. (See BufTon, 

 t. 5. p. 121. of the buar.) The tafte is at firft infipid ; 

 yet there is fomewhat of pungency in it, which after fome 

 little time ftimulates and excites a degree of warmth in the 

 mouth. 



It converts paper ftained with the bloflbms of mallows 

 or violets to a green colour, and confequently contains an 

 alkaU. It diffblves readily in water, after its fpontaneous 

 liquefaftion : alcohol or oxymuriatic acid precipitates white 

 flakes from this folution. Acids readily diflblve the femen, 

 and alkalies do not decompofe this iolution. Lime difen- 

 gages no ammonia from frefli femen ; but after that fluid 

 has remained for fome time in a moift and warm atmofphere, 

 lime feparales a great quantity from it. Confequently am- 

 monia is formed during the cxpofure of femen to the air. 

 V/hen oxymuriatic acid is poured into femen, a number of 

 white flakes precipitate, and the acid lofes its peculiar odour. 

 Thefe flakes are infoluble in water, and even in acids. If 

 the quantity of acid be fufficient, the femen acquires a yel- 

 low colour. Thus it appears that femen contains a mucila- 

 ginous fubitance analogous to that of the tears, which co- 

 atruktes bv abforbing oxygen. A'auquelin obtained fix 

 parts of this mucilage from 100 parts of oxygen When 

 expofed to the air at the temperature of 60", a pellicle forms 

 gradually, and in three or four days fmall tranfparent cryf- 

 tals of phofphate of lime are formed. Afterwards fmall round 

 mafies of the fame lubftance are obferved in the pellicle. 

 If the air is moift, cryftals of carbonate of foda may be 

 formed. The evaporation does not go on to complete ex- 

 ficcation, unlefs in a temperature of 77' with dry air. 

 'When all the moiilure is evaporated, the femen has loft 0.9 

 of its weight ; the refiduum is fcmi-tranfparent like horn, 

 and brittle. When kept in moift air, at the temperature of 

 77 , it acquires a yellow colour, acid tafte, and putrid 

 odour. Expofed to heat, it becomes brown, and exhales a 

 vellow fume, having the odour of burnt horn, ^^^hen the 

 neat is raifed the matter {wells, becomes black, and gives 

 out a ftrong odour of ammonia. When the odour of am- 

 monia difappears, if the matter be lixiviated with water, an 

 alkaline folution maybe obtained, which, by evaporation, 

 yields crvftals of carbonate of foc'a. If the refiduum be 

 incinerated, there v.ill rem.ain only a quantity of white 

 afnes, confifting of phofphate of linie. Thus it appears 

 that femeiLis compoftd of the following ingredients : 

 90 water, 

 6 mucilage,, 

 3 phofphate>-of lime, 

 I foda. 



lOQ 



The feminal fluid, in its recent ftate, contains an immenfe 

 number of animalcula, called fometimes vermiculi fperma- 

 tici. They have a rounded head, with a gradually tapering 

 tail, not ftraight, but alternately bent to either fide. I'hey 

 are iccotim.es fmaller than a hair, and 10,000 times more 

 flender than one of the tubuli teftis : fo that, according to 

 Leeuwenhoeck, 2i6,oco cf them would go in a fphere, 

 equal in diameter to the bread.h of a hair. Their length has 

 been cftimated at r •j,J7--dth of an inch. They are found 

 in all quadrupeds, in reptiles, birds, fifties, infects, and cs'cn 

 in teftaceous animals. Some variations in figure are ob- 

 ferved in different animals : but their fize is nearly uniform 

 ir: all. They are no larger in a whale than in a fmall fifli. 

 They are faid not to exift in children, nor to be obfervable 

 after frequent coiiion, nor in old iubjects ; but orily in 

 healthy and prolific femen, fo that their prcfence may per- 

 haps be deemed a criterion of the maturity and perfeftnefs 

 of that fluid. The feminal vermiculi were fin! obferved by 

 a German youth, Lewis Hai.me. He ftiewed living ani- 

 mals in the human femen to Leeuwenhoeck in the year 

 1677. This indefatigable obferver immediately employed 

 himfelf on the fubjeft, and in the fame year fent an account 

 of the phenomenon, with drawings cf the vermiculi in the 

 dog and rabbit, to the P\.oyal Society at London. (See 

 Phil. Tranf. n. 143.) The communication was received 

 with great applauie, the fr.fts were ftiewn to king 

 Charles II. and adm.itted by all. At the fame time the}"- 

 were examined and defcribed in France, and, as far as the 

 mere demonftrat^on goes, they were univerfally admitted in 

 the literary world Nicolas Hartfoeker claimed the dif- 

 covery, but not till the year 1678. (En"ais de Dioptrique, 

 p. 227. . 



It has been alleged tliat thefe animalcula are not pecu- 

 liar to the femen, but that they are found in various other 

 animal fluids. Accurate invelligation has not fubftantiated 

 this ohjeftion ; but, on the contrary, fhews that they are 

 peculiar to the feminal fluid. Others have denied that they 

 pon"efled tails ; and Bufibn, in particular, reprefents the 

 fafts very diff'erently from Leeuwenhoeck. (Hillolre Nat.- 

 Gener. & Partic. t. 2. p. 176 & feq.) ; his reprefintations 

 bein^ fupported by thofe of Turberville NecdI.am. (Nouvel- 

 Ics Obfervations Microfcopiques, p. 213.) M. De Duffon. 

 obferved tl;e fluid from the feminal veCels of a dt:>d numan 

 body yet warm. It was full of filaments moving about, and' 

 branching into many parts. The filaments I welling biirft,. 

 and majiy ovular corpufcula efcaped, which ftil! remained at- 

 tached to the filament, as by a thread : then they ofcillr.ted" 

 like a penduL;m, and during thofe ofcillations ll.. i .ladi 

 extended. The corpufcula, at length detached from the 

 filaments, traverfed tiiemoft fluid part of the lemen, along 

 with their filaments, the extreme length of which impeded' 

 their motions, and t!ey feemed to him to endeavour to free 

 them.felves from it. Having diluted the femen with rain v/atei, 

 the microfcopic view was better defined. It clearly ap- 

 pL'ared that each ovular corpufcle had a double motion of 

 cfcillation, and of progreflion. In two or tliree ho-rs the 

 feminal matter acquired greater fluidity, the filaments difap- 

 peared ; the number of corpufcula intreafed ; the throa h 

 contrafted ; the ofcillations relaxed; and ll. ■ ; r':grfll!vi- 

 motion increafcd. In five or fix hours the ovi.I- corpuf- 

 cula, having loft the threads, refenrbled anirils more than 

 ever ; nut only becaufc their q"icka- fs in fv. iiur.ii'g was 

 greater, but becaufe they direcled their courle to every 

 quarter. In twelve hours the aftivity cf the coipufcula 

 was great ; and fome revo'vd upon their axis ; others 

 changed the ovular to the globular figure undr the ob- 

 ferver's eye J fome divided afunder, fo that one formed two. . 



At. 



