VESICULA rilOSTATlCA. 



1415 



ventricle. Still observing a transverse direc- 

 tion, the vein in its farther course, passes from 

 left to right, crosses the upper extremity of 

 the posterior interventricular groove, and 

 finally opens into the posterior surfuce of the 

 right auricle to the right of the mesial line. 



Before its termination, the great coronary 

 vein presents a bulbous dilitatiou (sinus of 

 the coronary vein). Its orifice in the right 

 auricle, which is protected by a special valve 

 (_vrtlve of Tltehesius w lesser Eitittacliiun calve), 

 is situated between the great Eustachian valve 

 and the right auriculo venticular opening. 



Posterior cardiac vein (^posterior or lesser 

 coronary vein). The lesser cardiac vein arises 

 near the apex of the heart, on its posterior 

 surface, and ascends in the posterior interven- 

 tricular groove, where it is joined by muscular 

 branches from either side. Finally, it ter- 

 minates in the great coronary vein when that 

 vessel forms its ampulla in the deep. groove 

 above the base of the ventricles. 



Several small veins, which belong exclu- 

 sively to the right ventricle, ascend along the 

 right border of the heart, and, curving round 

 in the groove between the right ventricle and 

 right auricle, likewise join the great coronary 

 vein one of those which has long been dis- 

 tinguished by the name of the " vein of Galen,' 1 

 is stated to communicate, frequently, by a 

 separate opening, with the right auricle. 



Other veins of extreme minuteness (vencs 

 mhumce or veins of Thcbeshis) are described as 

 opening separately at various points into 

 either auricle. Their existence is denied by 

 some anatomists. 



(7?. Gco. M' Dowel.) 



VERTEBRAL COLUMN. (See SUP- 

 PLEMENT.) 



VESICULA PROSTATICA. (Syn. Si- 

 tius prostatce ; shuts poriilari-s; utriculus pro- 

 staticus ; vesicvla piostalicn media scu spuria ; 

 titerus masculinus ; CoRHUSCULUM WISBERI- 

 ANUM.) The tubu'ar structure indicated by 

 this name is a part of the male sexual ap- 

 paratus in Mammalia. It lies between the 

 lower ends of the seminal ducts, and opens 

 between them, by a special aperture, into the 

 commencement of the urino-genital canal : an 

 opening which has been usually, but not quite 

 correctly, viewed as an immediate process of 

 the urethra. 



In Man, in whom alone it was recognised 

 until a few years ago, it is a little vesicle, 

 which is covered by the prostate. A si- 

 milar form and arrangement recurs in many 

 mammalia : but others exhibit very consider- 

 able deviations. Sometimes it is altogether 

 absent, or is but very rudimentary ; while in 

 other instances it is of considerable size. Its 

 relation to the prostate is equally variable ; 

 but even in man it is only superficial, being 

 solely due to its local arrangement. 



On these grounds, the name " vesicula pro- 

 statica," which at any rate merely applies 

 to its human anatomy, cannot always be usrd. 

 We prefer, therefore, to use that of " the 



Weberian organ or corpuscle," a name which 

 has been lately proposed in order constantly 

 to recall the great service which an eminent 

 anatomist has rendered to our knowledge of 

 this remarkable structure. 



E. H. Weber was the first who recognised 

 the great morphological import of this organ, 

 and who adduced proofs that in man and 

 the male mammalia it is the rudiment of an 

 organ which, by a great development in the 

 female individual, determines the form and 

 physiological relations of her generative ap- 

 paratus. Weber* explained the vesicula pro- 

 statica as the analogue of the uterus, and gave 

 it the name of the uterus masculinus. 



We would willingly accept this denomi- 

 nation, if Weber's view were quite correct. 

 But since we shall hereafter point out that 

 this never specifies the full morphological 

 value of the vesicula prostatira, but is, in 

 many cases, erroneous, we prefer the nomen- 

 cl.ture already mentioned. Our examination 

 of the Weberian corpuscle is divisible into 

 three sections. The first regards its variations 

 of form ; while the second considers the ques- 

 tion of its possible functional_ import ; and the 

 third has for its object to determine the mor- 

 phological value of this structure. 



I. ANATOMY. The Weberian corpuscle 

 occurs only in the class Mammalia, where 

 we meet with a greater complication of the 

 sexual apparatus than in any other group of 

 the Vertebrata. Thus the Mammalia are the 

 only vertebrate animals whose females possess 

 a real vagina and uterus. What we desig- 

 nate by this name in some other Vertebrata 

 cannot be regarded as morphological equi- 

 valents of the vagina and uterus of Mammalia. 



Alan. The Weberian corpuscle is a small 

 flask-shaped vesicle, with a rounded blind end 

 and a narrow neck directed downwards, placed 

 on the hinder wall of the urethra, under the 

 verumontanum, and covered by the prostate. 

 The middle lobe of this gland limits the upper 

 end of the corpuscle. The length varies, but is 

 commonly 3, 4 or 6 lines; the breadth at the 

 upper end is 2 lines, but it sometimes attains a 

 more considerable .size. Thus Adams f men- 

 tions an instance in which it had a length of 

 an inch, and by its tipper end, which projected 

 free, was placed upon the dorsal surface of 

 the middle lobe of the prostate. And in the 

 hypospadian described by TheileJ; its size 

 was yet more considerable (1-J- inches). 



The constricted neck sometimes forms half 

 of the whole corpuscle, and is, according to 

 Huschke$, sometimes separated from the 



* Annot. an at. et physiol. zu Kretzsch mar's 

 inaug. circa lineam physiol. morbor. Lips. 1830. 

 Amtlicher Bericht iiberdie Versarhmluflg Dent seller 

 JCaturforscher in Braunsdnvcii;-, 18):.', p. (i.5. Zu- 

 siitze zur Lehre vom Ban und den Verrichtungen 

 der Geschlediis-organe (in den Ablmndl. der 

 Fiirstlich Jablonowskischen GesellscliaH), Leipzig, 

 1846. 



f See article PKOSTATE GLAND, Vol. IV. p. l.'.l. 



I Mailer's Arohiv fiir 1'hysinln-ic, l,s|7, p. -J:J. 

 Tab. III. tig. 4., copied by Adams, loc. <]'(. [ig. lili;. 



Soemmerring's Lehre von den Eingeweiden. 

 Leipzig, l^Jl, S. 4uy. 



4x4 



