Fruits of Philosophy by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781634213837
Google: Cq2uswEACAAJ
Publisher: Duke Classics
Published: 2014-01-15T03:59:24+00:00

The idea that a seminal animalcule enters an ovum while it remains in the ovary, was never before advanced to my knowledge; hence I consider it incumbent upon me to advance some reason for the opinion.

First, it is admitted on all hands that the seminal animalculæ are essential to impregnation, since "they cannot be detected when either from age or disease the animal is rendered sterile."

Second, the ovum is impregnated while it remains in the ovary. True, those who never met with Dr. Dewees' theory, and who, consequently, have adopted the idea that the semen is ejected into the uterus, as the least improbable of any with which they were acquainted, have found it very difficult to dispose of the fact that the ovum is impregnated in the ovary, and have consequently presumed this is not generally the case. They admit it is certainly so sometimes, and that it is difficult to reject the conclusion that it is always so. Dr. Bostock—who, doubtless, had not met with Dewees' theory at the time he wrote, and who admits it impossible to conceive how the semen can find its way along the Fallopian tubes, how it can find its way toward the ovary, farther, at most, than into the uterus, and, consequently, cannot see how the ovum can be impregnated into the ovary—says, "Perhaps the most rational supposition may be that the ovum is transmitted to the uterus in the unimpregnated state; but there are certain facts which seem almost incompatible with this idea, especially the cases which not infrequently occur of perfect foetuses having been found in the tubes, or where they escaped them into the cavity of the abdomen. Hence it is demonstrated the ovum is occasionally impregnated in the tubes (why did he not say ovaria?), and we can scarcely resist the conclusion that it must always be the case."..."Haller discusses this hypothesis (Bostock's 'most natural supposition, perhaps') and decides against it."..."The experiments of Cruikshank, which were very numerous, and appear to have been made with the requisite degree of skill and correctness, led to the conclusion that the rudiment of the young animal is perfected in the ovarium."... "A case is detailed by Dr. Granville, of a foetus which appears to have been lodged in the body of the ovarium itself, and is considered by its author as a proof that conception always takes place in this organ."

The above quotations are from the third volume of Bostock's Physiology.

Now, as the seminal animalculæ are essential to impregnation, and as the ovum is impregnated in the ovarium, what more probable conjecture can we form than that an animalcule, as the real proper rudiment of the foetus, enters the ovum, where, being surrounded with albuminous fluid with which it is nourished, it gradually becomes developed? It may be noticed that Leeuwenhoek estimates that ten thousand animalculæ of the human semen may exist in a space not larger than a grain of sand. There can, therefore, be no difficulty in admitting that

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.