The Biology, Physiology and Sociology of Reproduction - Winfield Scott Hall (ebooks that read to you TXT) 📗

a few drops, perhaps as much as a teaspoonful, of the contents of the vesicles. This would be called an involuntary emission, but the liquid passed out must not be looked upon as semen. It is simply the secretion of the seminal vesicles, and in losing it, one is not losing a vital fluid or a fluid, any portion of which would be reabsorbed; he is simply losing a fluid which would, in the natural course of events, have passed away within the next few days as a nocturnal emission.

These details have been explained in order that the young man may fully understand the physiology of his sexual apparatus and not be disturbed by the advertisements or the pamphlet literature of charlatans who make a business of frightening young men into the belief that in these experiences they are losing "vital fluid"—that they are victims of "lost manhood," or that they are entering into a condition of "general debility" and "impotence." As an actual fact, involuntary loss of vital fluid (spermatorrhea), is a rare case even in the practice of specialists in genito-urinary diseases, and in these rare cases, the condition is usually a result of very great excesses, sexual debauchery or one of the sequelæ of venereal disease. [Read: Appendix 1, 13 and 17.]

e. Testes. No rational idea of the physiology of the testes can be given without laying down as a fundamental physiological law, that the testes secrete under sexual stimulation only. This same general principle applies to all glands, i.e., that they secrete only under the influence of some special stimulation. In harmony with that law, the testes secrete only under the influence of sexual stimulation.

The sexual stimulation may be sub-divided into two general categories, i.e., conscious sexual stimulation and subconscious sexual stimulation.

Conscious sexual stimulation is partly psychical and partly physical. The physical stimulation is produced by physical proximity of a member of the opposite sex. The physical and psychical phases of conscious sexual stimulation are so intimately interwoven that it is exceedingly difficult to discuss one without constant reference to the other, and it may be said in this connection that the psychical attitude of the two individuals of opposite sex who are brought into close physical proximity will modify very greatly their local sexual responses.

Reverting to the lower animals: when a female in rut or heat is brought into proximity to the male, there seems to be on the part of each animal a consciousness of the character and attitude of the other animal and both animals are step by step excited by various physical contacts and probably also psychical conditions to a high state of sexual excitement, leading to the natural ultimate result, coitus, in which event the sexual excitement culminates in the orgasm of the male, which empties the secreted semen into the organs of the female.

It will be easily understood that, in human subjects whose social relations permit them to indulge in coitus, close physical proximity, and various caresses lead, step by step in the normal course of nature to sexual excitement and sexual desire which culminates as described above for the lower animals.

To revert to the function of the testes, we may say that during these various stages of sexual stimulation and excitement the testes are actively secreting thousands upon thousands of nascent spermatozoa, which being released, are hurried along, partly by their own flagellate movements and partly by the action of the cilia in the ducts of the epididymis and the peristaltic contractions of the vas deferens—hurried along the vas to the ampulla. If the period of sexual excitement extends over fifteen to thirty minutes, the whole duct system from the epididymis to the ampulla becomes gorged with the secreted testicular product. This secretion consists of active motile spermatozoa, of spermatic granules and of mucus. The latter is secreted by the ducts of the epididymis and the vas deferens, the testicle itself furnishing only spermatozoa, spermatic granules and a small amount of liquid, just sufficient in quantity to float the spermatozoa out of the testes into the ducts.

At the moment of sexual orgasm occurs what is known as, the emission of semen. In this act the whole contents of the ampulla, vas deferens and ducts of the epididymis, the contents of the seminal vesicles, and the contents of the ducts of the prostate gland are all poured out by spasmotic muscular contractions into the urethra and by contraction of the walls of the urethra, ejected from that tube through the mouth of the urethra. Thus, in the act of emission, there is an intimate mixing together of the three contributions to the semen, i.e., the testicular, vesicular and prostatic.

Sub-conscious Sexual Stimulation.—Sub-conscious sexual stimulation is not accompanied by erection or any mental or physical manifestation of sexual excitement.

When a sexually mature individual is brought into more or less intimate relations with a sexually mature individual of the opposite sex under conditions where the secondary sexual qualities may have free and unrestricted play, there can be no reasonable doubt that both individuals experience a sub-conscious sexual stimulation which will influence them both physically and psychically through sub-conscious response of their sexual apparatus. One can easily imagine, for example, that a young man may meet upon the skating rink in winter a young lady for whom he has a very sincere admiration and respect; she on the other hand entertains for him a similar admiration and respect. They may skate together the whole afternoon and converse upon politics, art or philosophy, the young woman feeling herself swung along—almost actually carried on her companion's strong arm. The whole experience is, in the highest degree, pleasurable and exhilarating to her, yet she may be conscious of absolutely no sexual stimulation. On the other hand, the young man experiences most exalted pleasure in the company of his young lady friend—through the pressure of her hand upon his arm, the lithe, graceful movement of body and limbs, the smile, the light in the eye and the soft voice. All of these give him an exquisite pleasure that he will be unable to analyze, even if he were inclined to do so.

In his case, as in the case of the young woman, there has been absolutely no conscious sexual stimulation; in the case of neither individual has there been a thought of sex as such or of their sexual apparatus, yet without a shadow of doubt, the sexual organs of both individuals have been more or less active during this period—they have been subject to sub-conscious sexual stimulation.

In the case of the male, his testes have been awakened into an activity of probably considerably less degree than in the case of conscious sexual stimulation, and during this activity of the gland a certain amount of the secretion has been formed.

The most natural question at this point is—What becomes of this secretion? It is not likely that any great number of spermatozoa are released, those that are probably make their way along the vasa deferentia to the ampullæ. The liquid secretion of the testes probably does not leave the testes but is reabsorbed. While there are many features of this mysterious influence of the testes which have never yet been cleared up, this seems certain, that the testes elaborate what may be called an internal secretion, and that the elaboration of this internal secretion is influenced by such stimulation as has just been described above, under the head of sub-conscious sexual stimulation.

An internal secretion is a secretion formed by a gland, to be poured into the blood or lymph system, while an external secretion is poured out through ducts to the exterior. The thyroid and adrenal glands form internal secretions only, which secretions, poured into the blood and lymph, profoundly affect the nutrition of the body. The salivary glands and gastric glands form external secretions only; which, when poured upon the food, digest it. The liver, pancreas and testes form both external and internal secretions. The external secretion of the testes is that which is poured out in a sexual emission, as described above; the internal secretion of the testes consists of substances formed by the testes of sexually mature individuals, which substances, poured into the blood, profoundly affect the development of the individual and his whole physical and psychical character.

VIRILITY.

The best example that can be cited of the effect of this internal secretion is the male of the horse kind.

Most young men have seen either at horse shows or upon farms or ranches pedigreed stallions. No person can see one of these splendid animals without admiring, if not actually standing in awe of his inimitable physical force, beauty of form and grace and power of action. He is a physical ideal of the horse kind. What is the source of his strength and beauty?

The physical features that one notes peculiar to the stallion are, first, the great breadth and depth of chest, great mass of shoulder and hip muscles, and the high arched neck, fiery eye and luxuriant mane and tail. Second, the functional features next noticeable are the greater alertness and evident physical exuberance as manifested especially in the gait and the frequent whinnying. The thoughtful observer at the horse show or on the ranch cannot but compare these animals with the gelding.

Two colts on the ranch may be full brothers,—from the same pedigreed stallion and the same pedigreed dam. At the age of two years these two young horses may be as alike as two peas in a pod. One of these promising young animals is chosen, because of some commendable peculiarity of temperament or action, to remain unmutilated, as a procreator of his kind upon the ranch. The other is subjected to the veterinarian's knife and ecraseur and deprived of the testes,—the male sexual glands. From the day of this operation these two animals (in every respect alike, except that one is unmutilated while the other is deprived of the glands mentioned above) develop along radically different lines. The stallion develops during his third year into the noble animal described above. This third year is his period of puberty and the changes which he undergoes physically and psychically are closely parallel to the changes which the human subject undergoes during his period of puberty. The gelding, on the other hand, develops into an animal that is in every respect a neuter. Physically this animal develops a body almost identical with that of the female of the same species. Temperamentally the gelding is a patient, plodding, beast of burden, and though under good grooming he may show considerable life, while under the control of his driver, he seldom shows any interest in other members of the horse family, either male or female, and in the pasture or on the ranch his neutral sex temperament is ever apparent. While he may contend mildly for a place at the feeding trough, he never essays the defense of any weaker members of the herd, and one stallion would put a hundred like him to flight.

The thoughtful observer of this phenomenon cannot help wondering what has made this radical difference in the development of these two animals. The solution is not far to seek. From the beginning of puberty to the beginning of senile decay, the stallion derives from the testes what is referred to above as an internal secretion.

Physiologists have endeavored to determine exactly what substance formed by the testes is reabsorbed into the lymph and blood. It may be a substance called spermin, but whatever the substance is, the physiologists agree that the testes form some substance which is absorbed by the blood and lymph, is carried to the brain and spinal cord and there produces these profound effects indicated above. So we have discovered the source of the stallion's strength and beauty.

What is true of the horse is true of man. The