4. Female Ovum burst open for impregnation.
5. Zoospermes darting in to impregnate the Ovum.
The animalculæ of the Semen are not developed in the Testes. While there, it contains only the granules, which ripen as they proceed, and it is not until they reach the Prostate Gland that they burst open. It is therefore necessary to a healthy connection, that some time should elapse between the acts of coition. It frequently happens, when people first marry, that months will pass before impregnation takes place. This is because of too frequent connection. The Semen does not have time to be fully developed on its passage from the Testes.
We have stated that it is a habit of the Zoospermes to move only in one direction, and that straight forward. It is this peculiarity which enables them to make their way up into the Womb, even from the Labia or external lips of the female. It is found, also, that Zoospermes will live twenty-four hours in the private parts of the female, during which time she may become impregnated by them. It seems to be of little consequence how Semen is deposited in the female organ. Conception may take place, even without sexual connection, if the Semen is fresh from the male, and healthy. The sexual feeling of the female, though it may conduce certain favorable conditions of the part, and thus promote the result, is not, in most cases, necessary.
The celebrated John Hunter reported the case of a patient of his who had entirely lost his penis by syphilis. It was sloughed off half an inch into his body. Yet this man could eject his semen from the orifice; and he married after his misfortune, and became the father of a child. His wife was impregnated by means of a small glass syringe, with which the semen was injected into the proper place.
The Parisian doctors make preparations of various drugs to destroy the animalculæ of the Semen, and thus prevent conception. This plan, if thoroughly adopted, produces the desired effect, as will be shown hereafter. Iodine, Strychnine, Prussic Acid, or even Opium, will instantly kill the Zoospermes. Alcohol will likewise generally destroy them, or render them powerless until they die. An electric shock kills them instantly, and so will cold water, in very many cases, though not always.
Modern science enables us to speak with certainty relative to a cause of childless couples, which is a want of vitality of the Semen. Formerly it was supposed that barrenness was a peculiarity of women alone; but it is now known that the fault is more frequently in the husband. The Semen of these barren men contains the usual globules, which never ripen or come to maturity. Such men may experience a certain degree of pleasure in connection, but they cannot become fathers. The Semen is undeveloped, like that of a boy of ten years. The sexual desires of such men are never very strong, and quickly subside; nor can they excite the female to any great degree of ardor. Long continued excesses in venery, whether with women or by means of onanism, is a frequent cause of barrenness or impotence in men. In these cases the Semen loses its prolific power. Frequently this impotence cannot be remedied, though I have cured many persons of it who had daily involuntary emissions of the spermatic fluid without erections or amorous impulse. The treatment consists in avoiding its causes, restoring the general health by proper diet and exercise, and in invigorating the affected organs by the internal and external use of such remedies as have a direct influence upon them.