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IMPREGNATION. 161
according to the common belief, into the seminal vessicles,
which are a reservoir in which it is retained,
until expelled by the action of the proper muscular
apparatus ia the sexual orgasm.
1. The urinary bladder.
8. The prostate gland. 4.
Membranous portion of the
urethra. 5. The ureters. 7.
The vas right deferens,
which conveys the sperm
atic fluid from the testicle.
8. Left do. 9. The right
seminal vesicle in its natu
ral position. 11. Left sem
inal vesicle injected with
wax, and dissected out. It
will be seen that the sem
inal fluid, passing down the
vasa deferentia, passes
back into these vesicular
pouches, as the bile does
into the gall bladder, to be
retained for use.
Fi& u-
seminal vesiclfs.
The zoosperms retain their power of motion, under
favorable circumstances, for hours, and even days, after
being ejected. In fish, which do not copulate, they
swim about in the water, until come they in contact
with the eggs spawned by the female. The ripe eg.-^s
may even be taken from the body of a female fish, and
the melt, or testicle, from the male, and fecundation
produced by mingling them together, and ponds and
rivers may be stocked with fish, by this mode of arti
ficial impregnation.
Carried up the vagina, in human generation, by the
entrance of the penis, it is intended that the spermatic
fluid should be thrown full into the mouth of the uterus,