1116 



VESICULA PROSTAT1CA. 



upper dilated part by a kind of constriction. 

 The under end opens by a small elongated 

 oval aperture (of -J- to line) on the anterior 

 declivity of the verumontanum. The orifices 

 of the two ejaculatory ducts* lie right and left 

 of the opening, at a very small distance from 

 it, usually somewhat higher, yet never quite 

 symmetrical: they are sometimes close to it, 

 or somewhat behin.l it. These ducts pass up 

 the sides of the Weberian organ, and receive 

 it between them, being bound up with it by 

 areolar tissue. 



Fig. 873. 



Perpendicular Section of the Weberian corpuscle in 



Man {copied from Weber's Zusatzen.') 



a. Urethra ; b, Weberian corpuscle ; c, vas deferens, 



with vesicula semmalis ; d, prostate. 



In the Weberian corpuscle of two new- 

 born infants, H. Meckel-f- found a special 

 variety of structure. It became thinner in its 

 ascent, so as to be only permeable by a hog's 

 bristle, and ended as a solid thread, which 

 -separated by bifurcating. 



MorgagniJ was the first who accurately 

 described the Weberian organ, which he also 

 probably discovered. Of fifteen human bodies 

 which he examined with this object, he found 

 it in fourteen. It is possible that in the 

 one remaining case he overlooked it, since 

 it sometimes happens that its mouth is but 

 small, or is even altogether deficient, as 

 Huschke has frequently ascertained it in 

 healthy and robust suicides. Nevertheless it 

 is not improbable that in some cases there is 

 a complete absence of the Weberian corpuscle; 

 the less so that we sometimes verify such dif- 

 rences in other animals. In two of these 

 fifteen cases, Morgagni found that the utri- 

 culus, instead of opening by a special aperture, 

 communicated with one of the ejaculatory 



* See PROSTATE, Vol. IV. fig. 103. 



f Zur Morphologic der Ham- u. Geschlechts- 

 lYcrkzeuge. Halle, 18-18, S. 48. Tab. II. lig. 23. 



f Advcrs. Anat. IV. Aniinadv. 3. Venet. 17C2, 

 p. 110. 



ducts. But at all events this is a rare ano- 

 maly, which has been since observed by Adams 

 only.* In a case mentioned by Hyrtif, there 

 was a simultaneous deficiency of both vesicuke 

 seminales, and the ejaculatory ducts descended 

 into the upper end of a single receptacle, which 

 was one inch long and seven lines broad. 

 But though Hyrtl and Thtile regarded this 

 structure as certainly an uterus masculinus, 

 and thus as a Weberian organ; yet the in- 

 sertion of the ejaculatory ducts at the upper 

 end is a circumstance which contradicts their 

 view. As we shall hereafter show, such a con- 

 nection is a morphological impossibility. Even 

 where an immediate communication between 

 the vasa deferentia and the Weberian cor- 

 puscle exists (as is normally the case in the 

 hare), it occurs only at the inferior extremity 

 of the latter organ. 



Quadrumana. In the Apes a Weberian 



Fly. 874. 



Weberian corpuscle of Inuus CynomoJc/us,as f seen by a 



perpendicular Section. 

 a, Urethra ; b, Weberian organ ; c, vas deferen 9 



with seminal vesicle ; d, prostate. 



corpuscle appears very general. It here in- 

 closes a small, narrow anil flat canal, which 

 above has a blind extremity, and scarcely 

 possesses a greater width than at its lower 

 end. Its length is about two lines. Its 

 mouth, in the tiro-genital canal, is surrounded 

 as with a wall by an annular swelling, which 

 has some resemblance to a small os tincae, 

 and in which one may also, generally, dis- 

 tinguish an anterior and posterior lip. Im- 

 mediately behind this opening are the mouths 

 of the ejaculatory ducts, the lower ends of 

 which are apposed to the hinder wall of the 

 corpuscle, and are covered by the prostate. 



As far as my researches go J , the above 

 description will apply to the Weberian organ 

 in all Apes. At least I have found it thus in 

 Inui/s Ci/nomolgus (in whom it was formerly 

 described by Bergmann$), in limits ncmes- 

 friiniti, Cynocepkalus Maimon> and a species 

 of Hal-pale (Harpale lacc/nts 't ~) which, with 

 all the animals I examined, was placed at my 



* Adams, loc. cit. p. 153. 



t Oesterreidie Medic. Wochensehrift, 1841, S. 45. 



j Zur Anatomie u. Physiologic der Geschlechts- 

 organe. Gottingen, 1847, S. 99. 



Wagner's Handworterbuch der Physiologic, 

 Bd. III. Abth. 1. S. 130. Anmerkung. 



