Buffon's Natural History, Volume 03 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c.Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
History
Buffon's Natural History, Volume 03 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c.
Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
Natural history
XXXVI. Eight days after, two more genital parts were brought to me
in the same mode as the last. I was assured that one was taken from
a young cow that had never calved, and the other from one that had
had several, but was not old. I first examined the testicles of the
latter, and on one of them I found a glandular substance, as large and
as red as a cherry, which appeared a little soft towards the nipple. I
distinguished three small holes, in which a hair might be introduced.
Having pressed this substance with my fingers a small quantify of
liquor issued, which I placed on the table of a microscope, and had the
satisfaction to see some moving globules there, but quite different
from those which I had seen in other seminal liquors (_fig. 11._).
These globules were obscure and little; their progressive motion,
although distinct, was, nevertheless, very slow. The liquor was not
thick; the little globules had no appearance of threads, or tails, and
they were not all in motion. This is all I was able to perceive in the
liquor this glandular substance afforded me, for although I pressed
it again, it only afforded a less quantity, mixed with blood. I again
discovered it in the small moving globules, but they seemed to be at
least four times smaller than the sanguinary globules.
XXXVII. This glandular body was situate at one of the extremities by
the side of the horn of the matrix, and the liquor, which it prepares,
must fall upon this horn; nevertheless, on opening this horn I found
no material quantity of liquor. This glandular body penetrated very
forward in the testicle, and occupied more than a third of its internal
substance. I opened them longitudinally, and found a pretty large
cavity, but entirely void of any liquor. At some distance from this
glandular body there was a small one of the same kind, about the size
of a lentil. There were also two small cicatrices, about the same size,
which formed two small indentations, of a deep red colour: they were
the remains of obliterated glandular bodies. Having afterwards examined
the other testicle, I counted four cicatrices and three glandular
bodies; the foremost of which had pierced the membrane, was of a flesh
colour, and the size of a pea. It was solid, and without any orifice
or liquor: the two others were smaller, harder, and of a deep orange
colour. On the first testicle only two or three apparent lymphatic
vesicles remained. I counted eight on the external part, and having
examined the liquor of these vesicles I perceived only a transparent
matter, without any moving bodies.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account