[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.
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