It is generally conceded that only two or three drops of the semen proper are ejected from the spermatic vesicles at one sexual intercourse. The vast quantity of fluid, sometimes nearly a tablespoonful, thrown by the male into the vagina of the female, is, for by far the most part, simply the albuminous secretion from the seminal and prostate glands, and intended only to preserve and protect those delicate, thread-like animalcule, the true seed, on which depend the phenomenon of impregnation.

1 This form of sexual perversion, with the literature of the subject, will be dealt with under the head of Normal Female Homosexuality.

In the human female, we are led to believe, the spermatozoa retain their power of motility for about thirty-six hours after copulation. Water, at a low temperature, arrests these movements; sugar and water, and saline solutions, affect them but little; and the only possible way to destroy them, totally, in their normal medium, appears to be by chemical agents. These—alcohol, acids, metallic salts, narcotics, antiseptics, etc.—not only inhibit their movements, but absolutely destroy their cell-life by dissolving its albuminous structure; a fact which will be more fully dealt with when we come to consider the possible prevention of conception.