Greeks proposed that:

• the fetus arose from menstrual blood and was activated by seminal fluid
• sex determination depended on the darkness of the coagulum
• heat was requires to achieve a male fetus
• the right side of the body was more active and nobler-males were produced here

Stories heard today:

• the right ovary produces males and the left produces females (sperm actually decides sex)
• ovaries alternate in activity, so to determine the sex of the offspring just not the sex of the lat child, count the menstrual cycle between them (ex- had a son and 10 cycles in between f-m-f-m-f-m-f-m-f-m

Fallopius (1500)

described the fallopian tubes (oviduct)

only called fallopian tubes in humans

DeGraaf (1672)

• Described the graafian follicle
• killed rabbits at timed intervals after copulation
• noted that the number of ovulation point was similar to the number of eggs or embryos in the uterus

Van Leeuwenhock

Suggested that the semen conatined small copies of the sire (termed animalcules)

basically invented the microscope

Spallanzani (1800)

G. Berthhold (1849)

• removed the testis from a male chicken and transplanted them into the body cavity of that same chicken or another.
• discovered that if the transplanted testis vascularized, the male developed a normal comb and wattles
• if it didn't vascularize, the comb and wattles atrophied
• suggested that the secondary sexual characteristics were caused by a substance secreted in the blood in the testis