01' THE GENITAL FUNCTION IN MAN. 



down into the scrotum, precisely in the same manner as the sper- 

 matic vessels pass down in adult bodies, and is there lost. That 

 part of the ligamentum testis, which is within the abdomen, is 

 covered by the peritonaeum all round, except at its posterior 

 part, which is contiguous to the psoas, and connected with it by 

 the reflected peritonaeum and by the cellular membrane. It is 

 hard to say what is the structure or composition of this liga- 

 ment : it is certainly vascular and fibrous, and the fibres ran iu 

 the direction of the ligament itself, which is covered by the fibres 

 of the cremaster or musculus testis, placed immediately behind 

 the peritonaeum. This circumstance is not easily ascertained in 

 the human subject ; but is very evident in others, more espe- 

 cially in those whose testicles remain in the cavity of the abdo- 

 men after the animal is full grown." * 



(D) We know that the skin of every part relaxes by heat and 

 contracts by cold, although it be not muscular : in the cold fit of 

 an ague, it is constricted throughout so forcibly as to have ac- 

 quired, during this state, the appellation of Cutis Anserina. The 

 scrotum, being much more lax than any other portion of the 

 skin, experiences these effects to the greatest extent. What is 

 termed dartos is merely thick cellular membrane. 



(E) Another coat, exterior to the rest, is described by M. Roux, 

 and termed Envelope fibreuse. It is an elongated sac, large be- 

 low to contain the testis and epididymis, and narrow above, afford- 

 ing a sheath to the chord. It vanishes among the cellular mem- 

 brane of the ring.f M. Roux considers this coat as having been 

 known to Haller, from the following passage in Haller's account 

 of the testicle. " Ita fit ut interiores caves duse sunt ; superior 

 vasculis spermaticis circumjectaj inferior testi propria." But 

 Haller continues thus, " Ita saepe se habet, ut etiam aquae vis aut 

 in partem testi propriam solam, intacta parte vasculosi funiculi, 

 aut in istam solam, intacta testis vagina, effundatur, neque flatus 

 impulsus de ea vaginali ad istam commeet.J He appears there - 



* 1. c. p. 6. 



f Bichat's Anat. Descrip. T. ij. p. 176. 



* ElcmciUa Phi/siolugue, T. vij. p. 420, 



