Boettcher Crystals

BOETTCHER CRYSTALS (Boettcher), special crystals discovered by Boettcher (1866) in semen and therefore called 'seed crystals'; these needle-shaped formations crystallize from the mixed secretion of the male sex glands (prostatic fluid mixed with semen) in large numbers after standing in the air, especially upon cooling and drying. In form, Boettcher crystals resemble Charcot-Leyden asthma crystals and appear under the microscope as long prismatic or pyramidal crystals, sometimes with convex surfaces or in the form of spindle-shaped or S-shaped needles, grouped into large druses; the crystals can reach up to a millimeter in length and are then visible to the naked eye as small glittering points. Their chemical composition was determined by Schreiner as a phosphate salt of some organic base; the latter (C₃H₆N), according to Fürbringer, is present in the prostatic fluid, while phosphoric acid is present in semen. Boettcher crystals dissolve in mineral and organic acids and alkalis; insoluble in alcohol ether. When both secretions are combined under the conditions mentioned above, Boettcher crystals appear. Their crystallization can also be artificially induced without the presence of semen by adding phosphoric acid to the prostatic secretion (Fürbringer). Therefore, Boettcher crystals are more correctly termed prostatic. From this point of view, the crystalline nature of so-called spermine of Pell, identical with that of Boettcher crystals, speaks against its spermatohormonal nature and in favor of its prostatic origin. From a forensic-medical point of view, the presence of crystals resembling Boettcher crystals on any object (laundry) can be used with great caution as proof of their 'spermatic' origin.