Spermatorrhoea in its physiological, medical, & legal aspects / by James George Beaney.

  • Beaney, James George, 1828-1891.
Date:
1872
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Spermatorrhoea in its physiological, medical, & legal aspects / by James George Beaney. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    filled with 'granular matter: this is gradually con- verted into a spermatozoid, which is first coiled up and in contact with the inner surface of the wall of the corpuscle. Thus developed, the human seminal filaments con- sist of a long, slender, tapering portion, called the body or tail, to distinguish it from the head; an oval, or pyriform portion of larger diameter, flattened, and sometimes pointed. They are from 5J0th to 6J0th. of an inch in length, the length of the head alone being from £oooth to st/ooth of an inch, and its width about half as much. They present no trace of structure, or of dissimilar organs; a dark spot observed in the head being pro- bably due to its being concave, like a blood corpuscle. 66 They move about in the fluid like so many minute corpuscles, with each a ciliary process, lashing their tails and propelling their heads forward in various lines. Their movement, which is probably essentially, as well as apparently, similar to that of ciliary processes, appears nearly independent of external conditions, provided the natural density of the fluid is preserved; disturbing this condition, by either evaporating the semen, or diluting it, will stop the movement. It may continue within the body of the female for seven or eight days, and out of the body for at least twenty- four hours. The direction of the movement is quite uncertain, but, in general, the current that each excites, keeps it from the contact of others. The rate of motion,