THE TESTES. 



1941 



THE MALE REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS. 



This group comprises the sexual glands (the testes), the ducts {vasa deferentid) 

 and their appendages (the seminal vesicles), the copulative organ (the penis), and 

 certain accessory glands (the prostate and Cowper s glands). Although at first 

 situated within the abdominal cavity, the testes migrate through the inguinal canals 

 into the scrotum, which sac they usually gain shortly before birth. In their descent 

 they are accompanied by blood-vessels, lymphatics, nerves and their ducts, which 

 structures, with the supporting and investing tissue, constitute the spermatic cords that 

 extend from the internal abdominal rings through the abdominal wall to the scrotum. 



THE TESTES. 



As often employed, the term ' ' testicle' ' includes two essentially different parts, 

 the testis — the true sexual gland— and the epididymis, the highly convoluted begin- 

 ning of the spermatic duct. 

  The testes, or testicles proper, the glands producing the seminal elements, are two 



slightly compressed ellipsoidal bodies so suspended within the scrotum — the left lower 



Fig. 1650. 



Lower end of spermatic cord, with 



strands of cremaster mus 



Tunica vaginalis 

 communis, cut 



Tunica vaginalis 

 cut 



Digital 

 fossa 



Epididymis 



Globus 

 minor ^ 



Reflection of 

 tunica vaginalis 

 covering scrotal 

 ligament 



Tunica vaginalis comm 



Tunica vaginal 



Globus major of 



epididymis 

 Appendix epididym 



Appendix testis 



Sac of tunica 

 vaginalis 



Right testis 



Serous sac 



Reflection of serous covering 



A, antero-lateral view of right testicle after enveloping membranes have been cut and 

 turned aside ; B, antero-median view of same. 



than the right — that their long axes are not vertical, but directed somewhat forward 

 and outward. Each testis measures from 4-4.5 cm. (ij4-i^/i in.) in length, about 

 2.5 cm. in breadth, and 2 cm. in thickness, and presents a lateral and a medial sur- 

 face, separated by an anterior and a posterior border, and an upper and a lower pole. 

 The lateral surface looks outward and backward, and the flatter medial one inward 

 and forward. Both surfaces, as well as the anterior border, are completely covered 

 with serous membrane (the visceral layer of the tunica vaginalis) and are, therefore, 

 smooth. The rounded anterior border is free and most convex, the much less arched 

 posterior border, covered by the epididymis and attached to the spermatic cord, being 

 devoid of serous membrane and corresponding to the hilum. In consequence of the 

 obliquity of the long axis of the organ, the upper pole, capped by the head of the 

 epididymis, lies farther outward and forward than the more pointed lower one, which 

 is related to the tail of the epididymis and attached to the scrotal ligament (page 



