308 Mr. H„ Earle on the re-establishment of a portion 
the semen is in the first instance projected into the urethra 
with some impetus, and it would there immediately receive 
additional impulse from the spasmodic action of the levator 
ani and other muscles in the neighbourhood of the urethra ; 
but the vis a tergo must be nearly, if not entirely, lost in its 
passage through the portion of integument in the perineum. 
It must then depend for its final projection, either on the 
muscular fibres which have been described by Mr. Bauer as 
surrounding the mucous membrane of the urethra at its an- 
terior part, or on the elastic property which has been assigned 
to it. If I might venture to offer an opinion on the subject, 
I should consider the present case rather in favour of the 
muscularity of the urethra, as the quantity of fluid secreted 
is hardly sufficient to distend the whole canal, a circumstance 
very essential to the reaction of an elastic tube. From the 
tortuous course of the muscular fibres, as described by Mr. 
Bauer in Sir E. Home’s paper, it seems probable that they 
would require to be elongated before they could act with 
force ; and precisely such would be the effect of the injection 
of blood into the corpus spongiosum which takes place in 
coitu. 
One more circumstance I may venture to allude to, as 
tending to support such an opinion, namely, the complete 
emission of the contained fluid which takes place, which re- 
quires a forcible and very sensible contraction of the whole 
canal, and cannot be accounted for on the supposed principle 
of elastic compression, unaided by muscular action. 
On reflecting on the preceding case, it appears to me not 
less important in a practical than a physiological point of 
view ; for the curative principles which were acted on, may 
