_Local Structural Changes._――Structural changes in the genital organs,
in a chronic case of spermatorrhœa, are not a little interesting to the
student of pathology. The scrotum is pendant, baggy and relaxed. The
penis is flabby, cold and pallid. The veins are dilated and tortuous,
and the organs are in a condition of anæsthesia or hyperæsthesia;
and as irritability often exists, causing unnatural attention of the
patient, and he finds much difficulty in dressing to suit his genitals.
The spermatic cord is hypertrophied, and the epididymis enlarged and
baggy. If the examination can be obtained when there is an erection,
tenderness will be observed, along the entire course of the urethra.
The urethral mucous membrane is thickened, and the canal is strictured
throughout its length. The prostate gland is changed and tender to
touch, congested, and its ducts relaxed. (See Prostatorrhœa.) The
anus is sore to manipulate, and at stool, when scybala pass over the
prostate gland, a sensation of pain is felt, and fluid is forced out
of the ducts into the canal and drips from the end of the penis. The
veins of the spermatic cord are varicose, the erections are deficient
in power (see Impotence), and seminal fluid is thin and watery. The
spermatozoa are deficient in size, shape, and amœboid movements. The
urine is of a low specific gravity and contains a superabundance
of urates. The orgasms are feeble and often imperceptible, and the
proportion of spermatozoa to fluid is not great.
_Spermal Changes._――The only known detection of spermzoons is by the
microscope, which only can detect the seminal from the prostatic fluid
in this stage of disease. The reason that spermatozoa have not been
detected oftener in the urine of spermatorrhœa patients, is simply from
the fact that the urine was not examined more than once, perhaps twice.
When I have watched for ten days, making daily observations, before
discovering spermatozoa, I have then found them daily for as many days.
The first object to be determined is, is the patient strictured, or
has he a general narrowing of the calibre of his urethra? If so, then
this is a good reason to suppose there may be spermatozoa in his urine,
providing that he is losing semen; as the fluid is thin, and the walls
of the canal are clumsy in performing those wave movements which are so
essential in ejaculating semen or expelling the last drops of urine;
therefore regurgitation may take place, and semen be found in the next
discharge of urine. When nocturnal losses occur, a large portion may
be expected in the urine at the next micturition. This is commonly the
case in aspermatism, and may act as a cause of sterility.
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