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622 ORGANS OF GENERATION.
Camus and Gley ’ have found that the prostate fluid in certain rodents has
the property of coagulating the contents of the seminal vesicles. This property
is due to a special ferment substance (vesiculase) of the prostate fluid.
The spermatozoa show a great resistance to chemical reagents in
general. They do not dissolve completely in concentrated sulphuric
acid, nitric acid, acetic acid, or in boiling-hot soda solutions. They
are soluble in a boiling-hot caustic-potash solution. They resist putre-
faction, and after drying they may be obtained again in their original
form by moistening them with a 1-per cent common-salt solution. By
careful heating and burning to an ash the shape of the spermatozoa may
be seen in the ash. The quantity of ash is about 50 p. m. and consists
mainly (three-quarters) of potassium phosphate.
The spermatozoa show well-known movements, but the cause of this
is not known. These movements may continue for a very long time,
as under some conditions they may be observed for several days in the
body after death, and in the secretion of the uterus longer than a week.
Acid liquids stop these movements immediately; they are also destroyed
by strong alkalies, especially ammoniacal liquids, also by distilled water,
alcohol, ether, etc. The movements continue for a longer time in faintly
alkaline liquids, especially in alkaline animal secretions, and also in
properly diluted neutral salt solutions.2
Spermatozoa are nucleus formations and hence are rich in nucleic
acid, which exists in the heads. The tails contain protein, and are besides
this rich in lecithin, chclesterin, and fat, which bodies occur only to a
small extent (if at all) in the heads. The tails seem by their composi-
tion to be closely allied to the non-medullated nerves or the axis-cylinders.
In the various kinds of animals investigated, the head contains nucleic
acid, which in fishes is partly combined with protamines and partly
with histones. In other animals, such as the bull and boar, protein-
like substances occur with the nucleic acid, but no protamine.
Our knowledge of the chemical composition of spermatozoa has
been greatly enhanced by the important investigations of Miescher 3
on salmon milt. The intermediate fluid of the spermatozoa of Rhine
salmon is a dilute salt solution containing 1.3-1.9 p. m. organic and
6.5-7.6 p. m. inorganic bodies. The last consist principally of sodium
chloride and carbonate, besides some potassium chloride and sulphate.
The fluid contains only traces of protein, but no peptone. The tails consist
of 419 p. m. protein, 318.3 p. m. lecithin, and 262.7 p. m. cholesterin and
1
Compt. rend, de soc. biolog., 48, 49.
1
See G. Gunther, Pfliiger’s Arch., 118.
3
See Miescher, " Die histochemischen und physiologischen Arbeiten von Friedrich
Miescher, gesammelt und herausgegeben von seinen Freunden," Lefpzig, 1897.
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