AND On the direct AGENCY OF THE SPERMATOZOON. 
287 
impregnation can or cannot be effected by the direct application of the diffluent sub- 
stance of the spermatozoon to the egg, but also whether the influence of the 
spermatic body is essentially dynamic in its character. 
The quantity of spermatic fluid obtained for these experiments, mixed with a 
small proportion of water, measured about fifteen minims ; and to this a further 
quantity of water was added, making the whole thirty minims. This was divided 
into three equal portions. The first portion (a) was triturated slowly and con- 
tinuously for fifteen minutes, after which it was slightly turbid, and on examination 
with the microscope was found to contain a large quantity of granules, each of which 
did not exceed in size one half of the diameter of a spermatozoon. It also still con- 
tained a good abundance of active spermatozoa, although the quantity of these was 
greatly reduced, and the movements of those which remained were impeded by the 
quantity of granules. The second portion of fluid (&) was triturated with the addition 
to it of about one grain weight of well-washed sand, and after three or four minutes 
presented a turbid appearance. At the end of seven minutes, when examined by the 
microscope, it was found to contain a great abundance of organic granules, inter- 
mixed with the sand, and the number of spermatozoa had been greatly reduced ; and 
three or four minutes later nearly the whole of the spermatozoa were destroyed. 
The following experiments were then made with eggs obtained from the female with 
which the male that supplied the fluid had been paired. The temperature of the 
atmosphere at the commencement of the experiments was 57° Fahr., and that of the 
water employed 55° Fahr. At the end of the experiment, the commencement of 
segmentation of the yelks, the atmosphere was 61° Fahr., and the water 59° Fahr. 
One hundred and seventy-nine eggs were passed into a glass dish, and the triturated 
fluid {a) was immediately poured over them, and the dish quickly filled with water. 
The yelks of many of the eggs soon became irregular and contracted, and at the end 
of four hours and thirty-one minutes segmentation had commenced in some of them, 
and ultimately, sixty-seven embryos were produced; so that one hundred and twelve 
eggs were not fecundated. 
One hundred and sixty-seven eggs were passed into a second dish, and the fluid {b) 
which had been triturated with sand was immediately added to them, and afterwards 
the dish filled with water as in the preceding. But not a single egg became fecun- 
dated, nor was a single embryo produced. It must be stated, however, that much of 
this result was afterwards found to have been due to the admixture of sand with the 
fluid acting mechanically, as I shall presently show. 
Two hundred and thirty-nine eggs were also passed into a dish of the same dimen- 
sions as the preceding, and the third portion of fluid (c) reserved for simple artificial 
impregnation, and which had not been triturated, was supplied to them at, as nearly as 
possible, the same time as the triturated fluid to the preceding. This was at thirty- 
five minutes after it was obtained. Segmentation commenced in nearly the whole of 
these eggs in four hours and fourteen minutes, and at the end of the fifth day two 
