Semen

“ The semen is a most powerful stimulant to all the female sex-organs, and to the whole body of the woman. The organs themselves will absorb quantities of semen, if left in contact with it, and it is most healthful and beneficial to them, and to the woman, to have them do so. It is for this cause that many women increase in flesh, and even grow fat after they are married and so can avail themselves of this healthful food. As a matter of fact, there is no nerve-stimulant, or nerve-quieter, that is as potent to woman-kind as semen. ”

“ The semen, made up as it is of mixed products of the testes and accessory sexual glands, is very often abnormal, as would be expected in view of the frequency with which changes occur in the glands contributing to its formation. The normal semen is remarkably adapted to its function of nourishment and stimulation of the spermatozoa, and their conveyance to the internal female genital organs. The spermatozoa are extremely sensitive to changes in their environment, with the result that any alteration of the physical or biochemical content of the seminal fluid may cause death of the sperms. ”

“ Semen non ex uno fonte provenit. Secretio ista fluida est et cinerea, partim ex testiculis qui in scroto sunt oriens et partim ex vesiculis seminalibus, prostate, glandulis Cowperi, et folliculis cryptisque urethrae, quae omnia extra scrotum sunt. Elementum essentiale in semine cellulae sunt quae spermatozoa vocantur, et haec ex testiculis proveniunt. Locomotionis potentiam habent spermatozoa et in foecundatione ovum penetrant. Secretio glandularum quae spermatozoa fert alkalina est et removet aciditatem urinae; acidus enim spermatozoa destruit. ”

“ When we say that the testes form their external secretion under sexual excitement only, we simply mean that they liberate or release spermatozoa under sexual excitement. The spermatozoa must be looked upon as the fertilizing element of the semen, while the liquid portion of the semen probably contains that mysterious element which, absorbed into the body, produces virility and which, passed out with the spermatozoa, may have an important role to perform in the fertilizing function. ”

“ Semen which contains no spermatozoa, or in which the spermatozoa are motionless, is absolutely devoid of fertilizing power; in the case of such semen, it makes no difference whatever that the external genitals of the man generating it are strongly formed, that his testicles are of normal size, and that erection and ejaculation take place promptly. Of very little value, though not absolutely sterile, is semen containing very few living spermatozoa, or, among very numerous motionless spermatozoa, containing a few only that are engaged in active movement. ”

“ But since it is from the blood, when concocted and somehow divided up, that each part of the body is made, and since the semen if properly concocted is quite of a different character from the blood when it is separated from it, but if not properly concocted has been known in some cases to issue in a bloody condition if one forces oneself too often to coition, therefore it is plain that semen will be a secretion of the nutriment when reduced to blood, being that which is finally distributed to the parts of the body. ”

“ The Constituents of Semen—Function of the Prostate—The Properties of Semen—Aphrodisiacs—Alcohol, Opium, etc.—Anaphrodisiacs—The Stimulant Influence of Semen in Coitus—The Internal Effects of Testicular Secretions—The Influence of Ovarian Secretion.
The germ cell never comes into the sphere of consciousness and cannot therefore concern us in the psychological study of the phenomena of the sexual instinct. But it is otherwise with the sperm cell, and the seminal fluid has a relationship, both direct and indirect, to psychic phenomena which it is now necessary to discuss. ”

“ The belief that the mucus poured out in women during sexual excitement is feminine semen and therefore essential to conception had many remarkable consequences and was widespread until the seventeenth century. Thus, in the chapter "De Modo coeundi et de regimine eorum qui coeunt" of De Secretis Mulierum, there is insistence on the importance of the proper mixture of the male semen with the female semen and of arranging that it shall not escape from the vagina. ”

“ Nor are the chalazæ especially fecundated by the semen of the male bird, but the cicatricula rather, or the part which we have called the eye of the egg, from which, when it enlarges, the colliquament is produced, in and from which, subsequently, the blood, the veins, and the pulsating vesicles proceed, after which the whole body is gradually formed. Moreover, on his own admission, the semen of the cock never enters the uterus of the hen, and yet it fecundates not only the eggs that are already formed, but others that are yet to be produced. ”

“ And hence the part of the female which receives the semen is not a mere passage, but the uterus has a considerable width, whereas the males that emit semen have only passages for this purpose, and these are bloodless. ”

“ The most valuable characteristic in semen is exhibited when the spermatozoa it contains are not only very numerous and vigorously active, but when they are also very long-lived, when, that is to say, they retain the power of active movement sometimes for as long as three days. ”

“ Beyond question we are justified, from the information at our disposal, in concluding that the prostate gland begins to secrete comparatively late. But, on the other hand, it is equally clear that certain glands whose secretion in the adult forms part of the semen, begin to secrete long before any spermatozoa have been formed in the testicles, and may in this way give rise to the formation of a semen incapable of fertilising the ovum. ”

“ The spermatozoön, the principle of life contributed by the male, is so small that it is not visible to the eye except by the aid of a microscope, and, when seen, somewhat resembles a pollywog. These minute centres of life are alive, and move in a fluid which is secreted by the male organs of reproduction, and which is generally called semen. Now, if we study the characteristics of the ovum and of the spermatozoön we may be surprised when we discover some of the same differences which characterize men and women from infancy to old age. ”

“ The ejaculatory ducts are about three quarters of an inch in length, extending upward from the base of the prostate.
The Seminal Fluid. The seminal secretion, or semen, is a whitish, albuminous fluid of characteristic odor. It contains a number of elements, the most important of which are the spermatozoa. These are small, pollywog-shaped bodies, about 1/500 of an inch in length, with triangular, flattened heads and whip-like tails, upon which they depend for their power to propel themselves. When alive and healthy, they are continually in rapid motion. ”

“ The cold is the reverse. In the humid, the semen is copious and watery. In the dry, it is scanty and thick. A temperament which is moderately hot and dry has very thick semen, is most prolific, and rouses the person to early indulgence. Such persons have, at a very early period, thick hairs on their genital organs, and on the surrounding parts, as high up as the navel, and as low down as the middle of the thighs. Such a temperament is prone to venery, but is soon satiated, and readily hurt if compelled. ”

“ The semen again, in its nascent stage, enters into the organic principle of that name and there matured under its native heat is resolved into two factors, viz. thick and thin. The thick portion is assimilated into the organic principle of semen, the thin one being metamorphosed into (albumen) . Semen, like gold a thousand times purified, casts off no dregs. ”

“ They are said to discharge semen in sleep, whoever during slumber, ejaculate the genital seed of nature, because they possess it in the greatest degree of abundance either on account of the constituting material of the semen being vitiated or on account of the copiousness of this material, or else on account of the vigour of the seminal organs. ”

“ It is not essential that the semen be introduced through the medium of the male organ, as it has been demonstrated repeatedly that by means of a syringe and freshly obtained and healthy semen, impregnation can be made to follow by its careful introduction. ”

“ Yet those who say that semen comes from the whole of the body really have to talk in that way, and as it happened then in the earth during the ‘Reign of Love’, so it happens according to them in the body. ”

“ Lost manhood or lost virility may be regained by right living only. The prescription for right living is as follows: Live a continent life and follow a strenuous and sane regime of personal hygiene, such as outlined in chapter V above.
17. Is the production of semen modified by nutrition?
The production of semen is greatly modified by the state of nutrition. Remember in this connection that semen is partly from the testes (Spermatozoa) and partly from the vesicles and prostate. The formation and release of spermatozoa is only slightly modified by the condition of nutrition ”

“ Seen under a microscope, a single drop of semen reveals a multitude of spermatozoa swimming about in the prostate-carrying medium. It is in this form that the vitalizing male element meets the female infertile ovum. This mass of live and moving germs is poured all around and about the region in which the ovum lies waiting to be fertilized, and every one of them seems to be "rushing about like mad" to find what it is sent to do, namely, to meet and fertilize the ovum. ”

“ Semen is by them defined as that which is capable of generating offspring like the parent. And the human semen which is emitted by a human parent in a moist vehicle is mingled with parts of the soul, blended in the same ratio in which they are present in the parent. ”

“ They furnish the male seed. They are supported by what is called the Spermatic Chord, which consists of the spermatic artery that supplies the testicle with arterial blood, whence the semen is concocted; the veins that return the superfluous blood, and the tube that conveys the semen to the urethra. The testicles are [15] very liable to inflammation, and particularly to changes resulting from the wear and tear of human life—changes that not simply produce pain or inconvenience, but those whereby the power of the organs becomes partially if not wholly lost. ”

“ The other argument is drawn from the genital organs of women, the testes, to wit, and vasa spermatica, præparantia et deferentia, which are held to serve for the preparation of the spermatic fluid. I, for my part, greatly wonder how any one can believe that from parts so imperfect and obscure, a fluid like the semen, so elaborate, concoct and vivifying, can ever be produced, endowed with force and spirit and generative influence adequate to overcome that of the male ”

“ It is much easier to understand why abnormal spermatozoa occur so frequently, or changes take place in the semen with death or weakening of the germinal elements, if we realize or stop to consider the highly differential process of spermatogenesis, and the various structures which contribute to the formation of the semen. We must come to realize that each part of the genital tract is essential to the normal functioning of the whole, and that the genital tract and reproduction are in turn dependent upon the proper functioning of the entire body. ”

“ Pregnancy may follow rape.
Seminal stains render the clothing stiff and greyish-yellow in colour, with translucent edges. On being moistened they give the characteristic seminal odour.
Semen may be found on the linen of the woman and man, and will be recognized under the microscope by the presence in it of spermatozoa, minute filamentary bodies with a pear-shaped head; but it must not be forgotten that the non-detection of spermatozoa is no proof of absence of sexual intercourse, for these bodies are not always present in the semen of even healthy adult young men. ”

“ And the resulting phenomena are evidence that semen is what we have said, and these result because such is the nature of the secretion. For the exhaustion consequent on the loss of even a very little of the semen is conspicuous because the body is deprived of the ultimate gain drawn from the nutriment. ”

“ The testes, or testicles, are a pair of flat, oval-shaped bodies, about one-and-a-half inches in length, enclosed in a sac of thin muscular tissue called the scrotum. The average weight of a testicle is about half an ounce. Its function is to prepare the principle elements of the sexual secretion, or semen, of which the most vital constituents are the spermatozoa. ”

“ In nature, just as there is nothing lacking, so is there nothing superfluous; and thus it happens that the organs of generation wither away and are lost when there is no longer any use for them.
At the period of coitus in the hare and mole, the testicles{542} of the male become visible, and in the female the horns of the uterus appear. In truth, it is most marvellous to see what an enormous quantity of semen is contained in full-grown moles and mice at those times, whilst at others no semen can be seen, and the testicles are shrunk and retracted. ”

“ The genital organs work as a unit, each part of which must function in perfect accord with the others to the end that full fertility may result. The physiological factors involved in the formation of the semen are too little understood, or at best, our knowledge regarding them is more or less hazy. ”