Wordsmith Talk |
About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us | |||
Register Log In Wordsmith.org Forums General Topics Q&A about words Sperm whale
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
I find it hard to believe that even in the Middle Ages people were ignorant enough to think any animal had it sex glands in its head
It does seem weird. However, as I suggested earlier, it does appear to be connected to "metaphysical" viewpoints of the body (Galen's humours and whatnot), which were still prevalent in 15th C, probably later:
In the Galenic model, both men and women were believed to have "seminal vessels" that carried sperm to its point of exit; at the end of the fifteenth century, Jacopo Berengario da Carpi affirmed that these vessels must be longer in the male because male semen was "thicker." How male sperm was generated was a source of some speculation. Did it come directly from the brain via the spinal cord? Was it concocted from purified blood? "The semen is a superfluous nourishment of the body, a material pure and separate from the principle members necessary for generation," wrote Alessandro Benedetti in 1497. " It is believed on the authority of Galen that it is drawn from the brain."
http://www.stanford.edu/class/history13/earlysciencelab/body/femalebodypages/genitalia.html (scroll down the page, or do a Find on "brain")
If you have a well-established but incorrect underlying theory, the conclusions reached in theoretical areas are bound to be a mite unusual. "Sperm in the brain" is quite at home when set alongside a belief in personality being dictated by imbalances of blood (sanguine), phlegm (phlegmatic), yellow bile (choleric) and black bile (melancholic).
Entire Thread Subject Posted By Posted Sperm whale wwh 08/02/02 09:40 PM Re: Sperm whale FishonaBike 08/02/02 10:29 PM Re: Sperm whale wwh 08/02/02 11:27 PM Holy cow! consuelo 08/03/02 02:48 AM Sperm whale humour FishonaBike 08/05/02 09:02 AM Re: Sperm whale humour wwh 08/05/02 12:32 PM Re: Sperm whale humour FishonaBike 08/05/02 10:33 PM Re: Sperm whales Fiberbabe 08/05/02 11:27 PM Re: Sperm whales Capital Kiwi 08/06/02 12:07 PM Re: Sperm whales FishonaBike 08/06/02 02:27 PM Re: Sperm whale milum 08/03/02 06:56 PM Re: Sperm whale wwh 08/03/02 08:07 PM Re: Sperm whale milum 08/03/02 11:49 PM Re: Sperm whale wwh 08/04/02 12:42 PM Re: Sperm whale of troy 08/04/02 06:42 PM Re: Sperm whale wwh 08/04/02 07:01 PM Re: Sperm whale of troy 08/04/02 07:29 PM Re: Sperm whale wwh 08/04/02 08:26 PM Re: Sperm whale wwh 08/03/02 02:49 PM Re: Sperm whale wwh 08/03/02 03:31 PM Re: Sperm whale wwh 08/04/02 12:49 PM Re: Sperm whale of troy 08/23/02 01:25 PM Re: Sperm whale Wordwind 08/23/02 02:37 PM Re: Sperm whale wwh 08/23/02 02:51 PM
Moderated by Jackie
Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics Forums16Topics13,913Posts229,361Members9,182 Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
Newest Members Ineffable, ddrinnan, TRIALNERRA, befuddledmind, KILL_YOUR_SUV
9,182 Registered Users
Who's Online Now 0 members (), 751 guests, and 1 robot. Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days) A C Bowden 22
Top Posters wwh 13,858Faldage 13,803Jackie 11,613wofahulicodoc 10,557tsuwm 10,542LukeJavan8 9,919Buffalo Shrdlu 7,210AnnaStrophic 6,511Wordwind 6,296of troy 5,400
Forum Rules · Mark All Read Contact Us · Forum Help · Wordsmith.org