HERMAPHRODITISMUS VERUS IN MAN 269 



THE TESTICULAR STRUCTURE 



The mass of the testicle is surrounded by an extremely broad 

 tunica albuginea, the elements of which are arranged in a some- 

 what undulating manner and contain elastic fibres with but few 

 nuclei and vessel. As might be expected the testicular tissue 

 proper (fig. 2) is not of the appearance of the normal male sexual 

 gland since the organ developed under very abnormal conditions. 

 It resembles the well known pathological condition of a degenerat- 

 ing testicle, and the hyaline type of degeneration is typical of the 

 kryptorchic mammalian testicle retained in the inguinal canal. 

 The sections through the contorted tubules vary much in size, the 

 smaller ones are circular in shape, the larger ones more or less 

 oval and some a little bent or even S-shaped owing to the plane of 

 section. The average diameter of the tubuli contorti is much 

 smaller than normal. The epithelium which lines the tubules 

 shows only one row of basal cells, and these are propably all of the 

 Sertoli's cell type being rather large, triangular or cubical in shape 

 with clear cytoplasm and large nuclei (fig. 2, ct). From their sur- 

 faces protoplasmic processes project into the lumen. Germ cells 

 seem to be entirely absent since there are no indications of sperma- 

 togonia, spermatids or spermatozoa. It is not improbable that in 

 the younger years of the individual anlagen of germ cells were 

 present in the tubules, but failed to undergo further development 

 on account of the abnormal physiological conditions. It must be 

 assumed that formerly germ cells existed, for without them the 

 development of male sexual glands is hardly conceivable. 



The cells of Sertoli show different stages of degeneration as is 

 indicated by the different densities and staining abilities of the 

 nuclei. In some cells the nuclei are shrunken and lie in a nuclear 

 cavity. This degeneration of the epithelial cells is probably due 

 to the above mentioned hyaline degeneration of the wall of the 

 seminal tubules. The inner layers of the tunica propria upon 

 which the epithelial cells lie are swollen, while the constituent 

 cell nuclei disappear entirely, forming a hyaline mass which lies 

 as a band between the follicular wall and the epithelium (fig. 2, 

 ct). This swollen band of cells pushes the epithelium towards the 



