Observations on certain parts of the animal oeconomy : inclusive of several papers from the Philosophical transactions, etc. / by John Hunter ... ; with notes by Richard Owen.
- John Hunter
- Date:
- 1840
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Observations on certain parts of the animal oeconomy : inclusive of several papers from the Philosophical transactions, etc. / by John Hunter ... ; with notes by Richard Owen. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
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![and examined with attention what was contained in the vagina and uterus; in neither could I find any of the mucus of the vesi- culee, which from its firmness must have been easily detected. In the hedgehog these bags are very large, being more than twice the size of the vesicular in the human subject. Many animals have no such bags; and I believe they are want- ing in the greater part of that class which live chiefly upon animal food ; they are, however, to be found in some of them, and the hedgehog is an example.* There is no apparent difference in the testicles, vasa deferentia, or semen of the animals which have vesiculoe and of those which have none ; and the mode of copula- tion, as far as these bags can be concerned, is very similar in both. In birds, as far as I have yet observed, there is nothing analo- gous to these bags ; and yet there appears to be no difference between the mode of copulation of the drake and the bull or ram. It is very natural to suppose that if the vesicular were reservoirs of semen they would be more necessary in birds,-who have the power of repeating the act of copulation in an infinitely greater degree than quadrupeds; and indeed we find that in birds there are reser- voirs, which may account for this power; the vasa deferentia being enlarged just before they open into the rectum, probably to answer that intention. As birds have no urethra, some having merely a groove, as the drake and gander,f and many being even without a groove, as the common fowl, it was absolutely necessary there should be such a reservoir somewhere; and the necessity of this will appear more evidently by and by. What I have observed of the reservoir of birds is equally appli- cable to amphibious animals, and to that order of fish called rays. From the above observations I think we may fairly conclude that these vesiculce are not for the purpose of containing semen: the single circumstance of their ducts being united to those of the tes- ticles in the human subject not appearing sufficient to set aside the many facts which are contradictory to such an opinion. Having endeavoured to show that the function of these vesicular has hitherto been misunderstood, the following observations will tend to prove that they are subservient to generation, though their particular use is not yet discovered ; and, for the better understand- ing this part of the subject, I shall premise the following facts. Animals have their natural feelings raised or increased accord- ing to the perfection of the parts connected with such feelings ; and the disposition for action is also in proportion to the state of the * [The vesiculae seminales are wanting in all the Ferae with the exception of the Insectivora ; also in the Ruminants, in the carnivorous Cetacea, and in all the Marsupiata; they are equally wanting in the insectivorous Monotremata, which of all mammiferous animals approximate most closely to the oviparous Vertebrata.] f [After repeated examination, we find the structure of the urethra in the drake to be as here described, viz., a groove, and not a complete canal, as represented by Sir Everard Home. See Phil. Trans. 1802, p. 361, pi. xii.] 7*](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21131545_0031.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
