X. On the impregnation of the ovum in the amphibia. (Second series, revised.) And on the direct agency of the spermatozoon

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Abstract
Having shown in a former series of investigations, which has been honoured by a place in the Philosophical Transactions for 1851, that the sole agent of impregnation of the ovum, in all cases of communion of the sexes, is the spermatozoon,— and having then supplied both direct and negative evidence that impregnation is not effected by the liquor seminis ,—[ endeavoured, in a subsequent communication to the Royal Society, in June 1851, to arrive at some knowledge of the manner in which impregnation is effected, and of the nature of the impregnating influence. Up to that period, and indeed, until very recently, I had never been able to detect any evidence of the existence of spermatozoa within the envelopes of the fecundated egg, but had constantly found them in great abundance, and easily recognized, in contact with the exterior surface. Experiment also, made by immersion of the egg in coloured fluids, showed that the substance of the envelopes, although permeable by fluids, is uniform in its structure; but no evidence was afforded by it of any natural canal, fissure, or perforation through the envelopes of the egg of the Frog, capable of admitting the spermatozoon to the interior, as has been supposed to exist in the egg of the Mammalia.

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