y mixture with the fluids poured out at
or before detumescence by various glands which open into the urethra, and
notably the prostate.[129] This is a purely sexual gland, which in animals
only becomes large and active during the breeding season, and may even be
hardly distinguishable at other times; moreover, if the testes are removed
in infancy, the prostate remains rudimentary, so that during recent years
removal of the testes has been widely advocated and practiced for that
hypertrophy of the prostate which is sometimes a distressing ailment of
old age. It is the prostatic fluid, according to Fuerbringer, which imparts
its characteristic odor to semen. It appears, however, to be the main
function of the prostatic fluid to arouse and maintain the motility of the
spermatozoa; before meeting the prostatic fluid the spermatozoa are
motionless; that fluid seems to furnish a thinner medium in which they
for the first time gain their full vitality.[130]

When at length the semen is ejaculated, it contains various substances
which may be separated from it,[131] and possesses various qualities, some
of which have only lately been investigated, while others have evidently
been known to mankind from a very early period. "When held for some time
in the mouth," remarked John Hunter, "it produces a warmth similar to
spices, which lasts some time."[132] Possibly this fact first suggested
that semen might, when ingested, possess valuable stimulant qualities, a
discovery which has been made by various savages, notably by the
Australian aborigines, who, in many parts of Australia, administer a
potion of semen to dying or feeble members of the tribe.[133] It is
perhaps noteworthy that in Central Africa the testes of the goat are
consumed as an aphrodisiac.[134] In eighteenth century Europe, Schurig, in
his _Spermatologia_, still found it necessary to discuss at considerable
length the possible medical properties of human semen, giving many
prescriptions which contained it.[135] The stimulation produced by the
ingestion of semen would appear to form in some cases a part of the
attraction exerted by _fellatio_; De Sade emphasized this point; and in a
case recorded by Howard semen appears to have acted as a stimulant for
which the craving was as irresistible as is that for alcohol in
dipsomania.[136]

It must be remembered that the early history of this subject is
more or less inextricably commingled with folk-lore practices of