[129] The composite character of the semen was recognized by various old
authors, some of whom said, (e.g., Wharton) that it had three
constituents, which they usually considered to be: (1) The noblest and
most essential part, from the testicles; (2) a watery element from the
vesiculæ; (3) an oily element from the prostate. Schurig, _Spermatologia_,
1720, p. 17.
[130] See, e.g., C. Mansell Moulin, "A Contribution to the Morphology of
the Prostate," _Journal of Anatomy and Physiology_, January, 1895; G.
Walker, "A Contribution to the Anatomy and Physiology of the Prostate
Gland, and a Few Observations on Ejaculation," _Johns Hopkins Hospital
Bulletin_, October, 1900.
[131] For a study of the semen and its constituents, see Florence, "Du
Sperme," _Archives d'Anthropologie Criminelle_, 1895.
[132] J. Hunter, _Essays and Observations_, vol. i, p. 189.
[133] As regards one part of Australia, Walter Roth, _Ethnological Studies
Among the Queensland Aborigines_, p. 174.
[134] Sir H.H. Johnston, _British Central Africa_, p. 438.
[135] Cap. VII, pp. 327-357, "De Spermaticis virilis usu Medico,"
[136] W.L. Howard, "Sexual Perversion," _Alienist and Neurologist_,
January, 1896.
[137] _Zentralblatt für Gynäkologie_, 1894, No. 49.
[138] E. Toff, "Uber Imprägnierung," _Zentralblatt für Gynäkologie_,
April, 1903. In a similar but somewhat more precise manner Dufougère has
argued ("La Chlorose, ses rapports avec le marriage, son traitement par le
liquide orchitique," Thèse de Bordeaux, 1902) that semen when absorbed by
the vagina stimulates the secretion of the ovaries and thus exerts an
influence over the blood in anæmia; in this way he seeks to explain why it
is that coitus is the best treatment for chlorosis.
[139] In this connection I may refer to an interesting and suggestive
paper by Harry Campbell on "The Craving for Stimulants" (_Lancet_, October
21, 1899). No reference is made to coitus, but the author discusses
stimulants as normal and beneficial products of the organism, and deals
with the nature of the "physiological intoxication" they produce.
[140] Spermin was first discovered in the sperm by Schreiner in 1878; it
has also been found in the thyroid, ovaries and various other glands. "The
spermin secreting and elaborating organs," Howard Kelly remarks (_British
Medical Journal_, January 29, 1898), "may be called the apothecaries' of
the body, secreting many important medicaments, much more active and more
accurately representing its true wants than artificially administered
drugs."
[141] See, e.g., a summary of Buschan's comprehensive discussion of the
subject of organotherapy (Eulenburg's _Real-Encyclopædie der Gesammten
Heilkunde_) in _Journal of Mental Science_, April, 1899, p. 355.
[142] "Observations Upon the Acquirement of Secondary Sexual Characters,
Indicating the Formation of an Internal Secretion by the Testicles,"
_Proceedings Royal Society_, vol. lxxiii, p. 49.
[143] See, e.g., the experiments of Cecca and Zappi, summarized in
_British Medical Journal_, July 2, 1904.