FATE OF GERMINAL KI'ITIIKLIUM. 145 



dilated condition of the superficial veins and the presence of 

 serous exudate in the intertubular spaces, it occurred to me that 

 perhaps degeneration might be due to such a vascular change. 

 Was degeneration being brought about through a reflex dilation 

 of the vessels supplying the testis and if so, might not the same 

 changes be produced through ligation of the internal spermatic 

 vein by inducing passive congestion within the whole organ? 

 Moore ('246) also suggests that possibly some such relationship 

 may occur. In an endeavor to demonstrate this relationship 

 three pigs were operated; in two the internal spermatic veins 

 were ligated and in the third the veins of the ductuli deferentes 

 were ligated, care being taken not to occlude the ducts them- 

 selves. After seven days one'of the pigs with internal spermatic 

 vein ligature was killed. On the left side the ligature had not 

 been made sufficiently tight to occlude the vessel, and the blood 

 supply was found to be normal, but adhesions had followed 

 handling the organ which was found within the abdominal 

 cavity. In section this testis showed a very early stage in the 

 degenerative process, earlier than that described for the six-day 

 stage; and in this the contents were seriously deranged. Des- 

 quamation of the germinal epithelium had begun and spermatids 

 were forming into giant cells in abundance. In some cases as 

 high as forty nuclei could be seen together. On the right side, 

 however, the testis was in the scrotum and the attached fat 

 body was firmly adherent to the inguinal ring, thus preventing 

 the return of the testis to the abdominal cavity. This testis 

 was deeply cyanosed, the spermatic vein being completely 

 occluded while the veins of the ductus deferens were greatly 

 dilated. Microscopically this testis showed a vastly greater 

 amount of hyperemia than any of the cryptorchid testes exam- 

 ined, yet there was nowhere the typical degeneration that was 

 found in the abdominally-retained testes. There was no vacuol- 

 ization nor emptying of the seminiferous tubules; instead, the 

 tubular contents were considerably disarranged, swollen, and 

 more or less coagulated in situ. The condition might well be 

 compared to one of coagulation necrosis following infarction. 

 The material stained very poorly with the stains which were 

 being used. On the fourteenth day the other two pigs were 



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