| SEMEN | ||
| TESTICULAR CONTRIBUTION. | SPERMATOZOA SEMINAL GRANULES MUCIN AND WATER | |
| VESICULAR CONTRIBUTION. (In quantity greater than all the rest.) | ALBUMIN ALKALINE SALTS WATER | |
| PROSTATIC CONTRIBUTION. (Viscid and opalescent.) | PROTEINS ALKALINE SALTS WATER |
Plate II
Male Sexual Apparatus
The outer coat of the testis is called the tunica albuginea. [See Plate 2.] This tunic or coat sends fibrous partitions into the testis which divide the organ into lobules, each one being conical in shape with the apex directed towards the epididymis, which is that mass of blood vessels and tissues which one can feel on one side of each testis. Within these lobules the spermatozoa are formed by a complex process of cell division and cell germination upon whose description we need not enter here.
The spermatozoon may be described as the male sexual cell whose function is to fertilize the female ovum. The spermatozoon is about 1/20 of an inch in length and consists of a head, body and a vibratile tail. In the human spermatozoon the head is ovoid, appearing pear-shaped or pointed in one view and elliptical in another.
The epididymis referred to above, consists of a mass of coiled tubes and blood vessels. After the secretion passes through the tortuous coils of ciliated tubes of the epididymis, it is collected into a single tube called the vas deferens, which passes as a part of the spermatic cord from the scrotum, up through the groin and over the pubic arch into the pelvic cavity, passing down back of the bladder where it is slightly dilated into an ampulla, beyond which the duct is again contracted into a narrow tube, and the two ducts, one from either side, converge and pass into the prostate gland, where they empty into the urethra.
The seminal vesicles.—The seminal vesicles are small bladder-like organs supposed originally to contain the secreted semen collected from the testes. There are two of these vesicles, from each a small duct joins the vas deferens making up what is known as the ejaculatory duct. The two ejaculatory ducts coming together in the prostate gland open into the urethra. The seminal vesicles possess glandular walls and secrete the substance which they contain, no part of the secretion of the testes normally finding its way into the vesicles.
The prostate gland, a portion of which is homologous with the female uterus and called uterus masculinus, is situated around the neck of the bladder and is traversed not only by the urethra (prostatic portion), but also by the ejaculatory ducts. There are numerous gland ducts which—collecting the secretion of the prostate gland—open into the urethra in the prostatic portion.
Just beyond the prostate are two small glands called Cowper's Glands whose ducts enter the urethra some distance beyond the prostate, at the root of the penis.