Therefore this
is a question to be considered, whether all males do so, or not all;
and if not all, why some do and some not; and whether the female
also contributes any semen or not; and, if not semen, whether she does
not contribute anything else either, or whether she contributes
something else which is not semen. We must also inquire what those
animals which emit semen contribute by means of it to generation,
and generally what is the nature of semen, and of the so-called
catamenia in all animals which discharge this liquid.
Now it is thought that all animals are generated out of semen, and
that the semen comes from the parents. Wherefore it is part of the
same inquiry to ask whether both male and female produce it or only
one of them, and to ask whether it comes from the whole of the body or
not from the whole; for if the latter is true it is reasonable to
suppose that it does not come from both parents either. Accordingly,
since some say that it comes from the whole of the body, we must
investigate this question first.
The proofs from which it can be argued that the semen comes from
each and every part of the body may be reduced to four. First, the
intensity of the pleasure of coition; for the same state of feeling is
more pleasant if multiplied, and that which affects all the parts is
multiplied as compared with that which affects only one or a few.
Secondly, the alleged fact that mutilations are inherited, for they
argue that since the parent is deficient in this part the semen does
not come from thence, and the result is that the corresponding part is
not formed in the offspring.
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