Spermatorrhea

“ We are daily consulted by persons suffering from spermatorrhea and impotency who have been victimized by ignorant charlatans. Some seek to dupe and swindle the unwary by claiming to have themselves been cured of spermatorrhea or impotency by some prescription, which they offer to send free to any sufferer. ”

“ Very often it occurs in our practice that on examining a case of this disease that has been the rounds of the doctors, we find a stricture, which had been entirely overlooked by other practitioners, being so slight as not to occasion serious obstruction to the flow of urine but yet sufficient to interfere very much with the cure of the spermatorrhea. ”

“ The bowels will thus be relieved, the heat and irritation subdued, and the liability to seminal emissions lessened.
Patients afflicted with spermatorrhea should not allow their thoughts to dwell upon their ailments, for they are apt to become moody, self-deceived, and even insane upon this subject. To avoid this, harmless amusements should be indulged in, and good moral company cultivated. They become suspicious, skeptical, and believe that they are victims of imposture. ”

“ In other cases, the blood-vessels of the organ and adjacent parts are so weakened by the strain put upon them as to induce varicocele and other diseased conditions. In spermatorrhea, it is the worst possible thing that can be applied, for by forcing an undue amount of blood into the part the sensitiveness of the organ is increased, irritation is set up in the deep urethra, and the emissions are increased in frequency. In this, and other ways, hundreds of men but slightly out of health have been permanently injured. ”

“ It is as sad as it is fatal if no thorough cure can be effected. I have from my twelfth year onward been practicing, though not excessively, the evil, self-abuse. Although I have been led to abandon the pernicious habit for several years, my age being twenty-four, the horrible effects have not disappeared. The serious result is that I am suffering from spermatorrhea. An involuntary discharge of the seminal fluid occurs invariably once, not infrequently twice, every week during sleep. The genital organs have become diminished in [pg 797] size. ”

“ When varicocele of an aggravated or largely developed type is present, associated with any weakness of the generative organs, as spermatorrhea or impotency, it must be cured before the organs can regain a healthy condition, as by the constant pressure of the abnormal quantity of blood and enlarged veins upon the spermatic cord, arteries, and testicles, the irritability, weakness, and wasting, are increased. ”

“ My own testicles were abnormal judged by the fact that I, though always having intense horror of self-manustupration, suffered from acute spermatorrhea from the incidence of puberty up to castration, while I was totally devoid of the propensity natural to full-fledged adult males for emptying the seminal vesicles.
7. Other authorities make them more numerous. I quote from Love’s Coming-of-Age, page 125: “Dr. Grabowsky ... quotes figures ... as high as one man in every 22, while Dr. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 entire mixture is then propelled, and ejaculation produced by strong muscular contractions of the entire urethra. As was stated before, the semen is the product of the testicles, the excretory ducts, and the accessory sexual glands. The testes furnish the essential germinal elements, the sperms, and some of the fluid content. Then is added the product of the epididymis, vas, and ampulla, which stimulates the spermatozoa to active motility, nourishes the organisms, and adds somewhat to the fluid bulk of the secretion. ”

“ If the period of sexual excitement extends over fifteen to thirty minutes, the whole duct system from the epididymis to the ampulla becomes gorged with the secreted testicular product. This [57] secretion consists of active motile spermatozoa, of spermatic granules and of mucus. The latter is secreted by the ducts of the epididymis and the vas deferens, the testicle itself furnishing only spermatozoa, spermatic granules and a small amount of liquid, just sufficient in quantity to float the spermatozoa out of the testes into the ducts. ”

“ The human spermatozoon measures about one six-hundredth of an inch in length. It is composed of protoplasm, the substance of which all living creatures are composed. The spermatozoa are believed to be developed from a parent sperm-cell, by the process of segmentation or subdivision, which process is common to all cell-life. The numerous spermatozoa dwell in a gelatinous substance, which, mingling with the other fluidic secretions of the glands of the male, constitutes the male seminal fluid, sperm, or semen, which is ejaculated by the male during the process of copulation. ”

“ The anus is sore to manipulate, and at stool, when scybala pass over the prostate gland, a sensation of pain is felt, and fluid is forced out of the ducts into the canal and drips from the end of the penis. The veins of the spermatic cord are varicose, the erections are deficient in power (see Impotence) , and seminal fluid is thin and watery. The spermatozoa are deficient in size, shape, and amœboid movements. The urine is of a low specific gravity and contains a superabundance of urates. The orgasms are feeble and often imperceptible, and the proportion of spermatozoa to fluid is not great. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The testes, epididymes, vesicles, prostate, and other parts, each contribute their essential part to the semen, abnormalities of any one of which, as a rule, result in interferences with reproduction. If the vesicles are involved, we must bear in mind just what is the part played by their secretion, and what is the probable result if their essential elements are not added to the semen. In like manner, we must consider the prostate, whose secretion stimulates the vitality of the sperms, and adds fluid bulk to the semen. ”

“ If the medical man makes it his rule, in all cases in which he is consulted on account of sterility, in deciding how far this sterility is dependent on the condition of the husband, not to confine himself solely to the customary questions, whether intercourse is regularly practised, whether before or after menstruation, etc.—but if in every case he makes a careful examination of the semen under the microscope, he will be astonished to learn the comparative frequency with which he will note the complete or nearly complete absence of spermatozoa. ”

“ In the male the testis is a specialized portion of the wall of the genital coelom, and has a structure comparable to that of the ovary. The spermatozoa pass through an orifice from the cavity of the testis to the genital capsule, and thence to the spermiduct. The spermiduct is provided with a glandular pouch, and opens into a terminal reservoir known as Needham’s sac or the spermatophore sac. The function of this pouch is to form the spermatophore, which is an elastic tube formed of structureless secretion and invaginated into itself. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It is pre-supposed that all sexual excesses and vices are under control; otherwise, all treatment will be useless.
Numerous are the contrivances to control or prevent seminal emissions. They have all failed, and nothing is lost; as only the effect is looked upon in their construction, and not the true nature of the disease; therefore, to prevent spermal losses is not the first object to accomplish, but to relieve the nerve-centers, which preside over the manufacture of semen, of these abnormal structural changes; and the loss of semen will abate. ”

“ More trustworthy are the various apparatus, the aim of which is to prevent the contact of the semen with the ova by the interposition of an artificial wall. Although even as regards these we must bear in mind the observation of Lott, who found that spermatozoa were capable of passing through the intact membrane in favourable regions in as short a time as ten minutes. The commonest of all these apparatus is the article known as a condom, which envelops the penis with a membrane, variously consisting of isinglass, the lamb’s cæcum, or caoutchouc. ”

“ The loss or waste of semen is marked by pain in the penis and the testes, and by incapacity for sexual intercourse. In such cases the emission of semen but rarely happens, and is then perceptibly deficient in its quantity, the emitted matter consisting of a small quantity of semen marked with shreds of blood. The medical treatment under the preceding circumstances should consist of remedies of such medicinal virtues as are found to directly and immediately contribute to the formation of the bodily principle (thus wasted or lost) . ”

“ 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. ”

“ The fundamental condition of fecundity being the union of a spermatozoid and an ovum, the object of artificial impregnation is to further this union by introducing semen directly to the fundus of the uterus. The operation is quite simple and as follows: The husband, having been found perfectly healthy, is directed to cohabit with his wife, using a condom. The semen ejaculated is sucked up by an intrauterine syringe which has been properly disinfected and kept warm. The os uteri is now exposed and wiped off with some cotton which has been dipped in an antiseptic fluid ”

“ Fecundation results and conception ensues, the ovum then remaining attached to the walls of the Uterus, and in time develops into the foetus. If, however, the ovum is not impregnated, because of absence of copulation or from other causes, it gradually loses its vitality, and is finally cast off with the several uterine secretions.
It should be explained here that the "spermatozoon" of the male (the plural of the term is "spermatozoa") is the male generative "seed." The sperum, semen, or seminal fluid of the male is filled with hundreds of thousands {29}of spermatozoa. ”

“ It is incorrect to suppose, as has been held by some{121} theorists, that one testicle give rise to male spermatozoa and the other to female spermatozoa, for both male and female offspring have been produced from the same male parent after one testicle or the other has been removed. The same is true in cases in which either ovary has been removed from the mother; that is, male and female offspring are produced from mothers in whom either ovary has been removed. ”