adjacent diverticula 



PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS : SEMINAL VESICLES. i959 



number as they approach the bladder and seminal vesicle ; in the vicinity of the latter 

 they communicate with the seminal plexus and empty with the trunks of the posterior 

 bladder-wall into the vesico-prostatic plexus. The posterior and lateral surfaces of 

 the seminal vesicle are covered with a net-work of large veins (plexus venosus semi- 

 nalis) that become tributary to the vesico-prostatic plexus. 



The lymphatics of the seminal ducts and vesicles are numerous and arranged as 

 deeper and superficial sets which form afferent trunks that pass to the internal iliac 

 lymph-nodes. Those 



from the lower part Fig. 1669. 



of the seminal vesi- 

 cles join the vesical 

 lymphatics. 



The nerves sup- 

 plying the spermatic 

 duct are derived 

 from the hypogastric 

 plexus of the sympa- 

 thetic and consist 

 chiefly of pale fibres 

 destined for the in- 

 voluntary muscle, 

 some medullated 

 fibres, however, be- 

 ing present. They 

 accompany the 

 greater part of the 

 duct as the deferen- 

 tial plexus and have 

 been traced into the 

 muscular tissue and 

 the mucosa. Within 



the former they form the dense, plexus myospermaticus described by Sclavunos,' and 

 are fairly plentiful within the mucous coat (Timofeew^). The nerves distributed to 

 the seminal vesicles are very numerous and are derived in part directly from the 

 hypogastric plexus (FraenkeP), or through prolongations of the latter as secondary 

 plexuses that follow the vesical and middle hemorrhoidal arteries. 



Epithelium 



Mucous coat 







 ' Jlxt^''^ Circular 

 ^_^ muscle 



— Longituditi 

 muscle 



"^'^^^^ 





-Fibrous coat 





Portion of wall of seminal vesicle in longitudinal section, 

 showing pitting of mucous coat. X 45. 



PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS : THE SEMINAL VESICLES. 



The seminal vesicles are rarely injured. The two forms of infection that are 

 most common are the gonorrhoeal and the tuberculous, although vesiculitis may be 

 due to the ordinary staphylococci or to the colon bacillus. The channels of infection 

 are comparable to those which convey disease to the epididymis; the ejaculatory 

 ducts are continuous with the vas deferens and the vesicular duct, and the inferior 

 vesical and middle hemorrhoidal arteries replace the spermatic artery. The tuber- 

 culous disease is, however, usually secondary to similar infection of the prostate or 

 of the epididymis. 



The anatomical relations of the vesicles to (a) the vesical trigonum, {b) the 

 prostate and prostatic urethra, and (c) the rectum sufficiently explain the usual 

 symptoms of acute vesiculitis : (a) frequent, painful, straining urination, hypogastric 

 pain ; (b) priapism, painful emissions of blood-stained semen, occasionally epididy- 

 mitis as a complication ; {c) painful defecation, rectal tenesmus, perineal and anal 

 pain. 



Rectal exploration (page 1692) will usually establish the diagnosis, as it will in 

 tuberculous vesiculitis, in which condition, as in other forms — acute and chronic — 

 of vesiculitis, there are apt to be pains referred to the loins, the hypogastrium, the 



' Anatom. Anzeiger, Bd. ix., 1894. 

 ^ Anatom. Anzeiger, Bd. ix., 1894. 

 ^ Zeitsch. f. Morph. u. Anthrop., Bd. v., 1903. 



