On involuntary seminal discharges / by M. Lallemand ; translated from the French by William Wood.
- Claude François Lallemand
- Date:
- 1839
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: On involuntary seminal discharges / by M. Lallemand ; translated from the French by William Wood. 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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![more completely absorbed : we only find then a yellowish homo- genous matter, soft like plaster, and even cretaceous, the true origin of which is completely misapprehended. It is almost useless to remark, that the presence of the pus is opposed to the introduction of semen into the reservoirs destined for it, and becomes of itself an immediate cause of diurnal pollutions. We conceive, also, very easily, that after its expulsion the walls of the vesiculae must be engorged; that they may always remain indurated, deformed (No. 1), thickened (No'. 3), cartilaginous, and even bony (No. 8). In the most favourable cases, the internal membrane must preserve for a long time an unusual sensi- bility, the influence of which cannot be otherwise than very injurious. It is not, in other cases, necessary to find alterations so grave in the vesiculae seminales, to account for the spasmodic and inordinate contractions of which they are sometimes the seat, and for their influence upon the production of diurnal pollutions; but it was useful to study well those the most strongly marked, in order to appreciate better the others. The qualities of the semen found in the vesiculae seminales ought to be also carefully noted: we found it similar to meconium in one of these reservoirs, whilst pus existed in the other (No. 5). It is probable that the alteration of the products of this testicle was due to an influence similar to that which had acted upon the other half of the prostatic organs in a more marked manner. Vasa deferentia.—Neither is the pus formed in the vasa defe- rentia always easily expelled. The tumefaction of the walls may induce complete obliteration of the cavity in certain points, whilst in others it becomes distended with an accumulation of pus; so that these pouches more or less dilated, separated by strictures more or less extensive, resemble irregular strings of beads. This disposi- tion may extend to the epididymis, and even to the cordus High- morianum, the mucous membrane of which is continuous with that of the vas deferens on one hand, and on the other with that of the secretory ducts (No. 7). The pus thus confined, submitted for an indefinite length of time to the action of the absorbent vessels, dries more and more, and gives rise to what are called deposits of tuberculous matter] the aspect and consistency of which may present every variety of appearance in the same individual, according to the antiquity, dimensions of the purulent abscess, &c. It follows, also, from this obliteration of the vasa deferentia, that the semen is retained in the testicles; by consequence, that the procreative power is destroyed; but it does not necessarily follow that the patients are freed, on that account, from seminal losses. If abscesses of the epididymis open outwardly, we can conceive that the semen would then escape by this rupture of the excretory canal, in proportion to its formation by the secretory vessels, and thus constitute a true spermatic fistula (No. 7) : if the same alteration](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21135411_0048.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
