8. Testicles, in which grow the spermatozoa, or germs of life.
9. Vas Deferens, which carries the spermatozoa to the urethra.
10. Prostate Gland.
11. Seminal Vesicle.
Both 10 and 11 secrete liquids that make part of the semen, and which nourish the spermatozoa.
12. Urethra, which carries the spermatozoa, also the urine.
13. Cowper's Gland, which secretes a liquid which makes the urethra alkaline.
14. One of the spermatozoa, or germs of life, much magnified.
Sometimes it seems very distasteful to us that the sex or generative organs should be placed so near to what we might call our “sewerage system.” We do not like to have to connect in our thought anything so sweet and nice as a baby or so happy and precious as the sex embrace with the waste of our bodies, which we want to be rid of with as little thought as possible, as it is disagreeable at best, and we wonder why we were created this way. But we have to remember that the sex organs are very delicate and they are probably placed where they can best be protected from injury. It would be hard to think of any other part of the body that would be safer than just this place. At any rate there they are, and our duty is to understand them as best we can, and take mighty good care of them as our most wonderful possession.
Looking at Plate I, you will see that the woman's body provides the egg or ovum. These grow, many thousands of them, in two small sacs called ovaries, and every little while (usually every four weeks, but not always) an ovum ripens and passes out from the ovary through the fallopian tube (there are two of these, one leading from each ovary) into the uterus or womb, a process which takes several days. Here it may be met by the male life element, and if so, it becomes fertilized and remains in the uterus to grow into a baby. This is called fertilization, fecundation, impregnation or conception. But if the egg is not fertilized, it passes from the uterus through the vagina and out of the body. The ovaries take turns in developing the ovum.