138 DR PETER THOMPSON. 



diaphragm. Further inwards, some loose areolar tissue separates 

 the two structures. 



Internally, at the sides of the viscera, and along the vessels 

 supplying them, the visceral fascia divides into an ascending 

 and a descending layer. The ascending layer passes upwards 

 on the sides of the bladder, vagina, and rectum, and is soon lost 

 on their walls. The descending layer passes downwards on the 

 rectum and forms a specially developed sheath, which can be 

 followed as far as the sphincters encircling the lower end of 

 the bowel. 



In man, the visceral pelvic fascia is similarly arranged, 

 though there are one or two points of difference. It is a well 

 marked fascial structure, extending on each side of the pelvic 

 viscera, from the front to the back of the pelvic cavity. Ex- 

 ternally, it is directly attached, as in the orang-utan, to the 

 upper fascia of the levator ani, along a line which extends from 

 the pubo-prostatic ligament to the spine of the ischium. At 

 this level there is usually a more or less definite streak, the 

 ' white line ' of the pelvic fascia, which simply indicates the 

 line of fusion of the two fascia?. From its external or lateral 

 attachment, the fascia is directed downwards and inwards, in 

 contact for a variable distance with the upper fascia of the 

 levator ani, to the prostate, to the bladder, and to the rectum, 

 and then divides into two layers, ascending and descending, 

 which serve to partly cover the viscera and to attach them to 

 the lateral pelvic wall. The ascending layer is reflected 

 upwards over the bladder, and soon becomes closely united 

 with its muscular coat ; behind and above the prostate it gains 

 attacliment to the base of the bladder, immediately outside thB 

 line of the vesiculte seminales. At the side of the rectum it is 

 connected with the sheaths of the hypogastric vessels, and is 

 lost in the loose areolar tissue of this region. 



The inferior layer descends on the side of the prostate, and 

 at the apex of the gland joins with the muscular fascia of 

 the levator ani, and is continued round the inner margin of 

 the pubo-coccygeus into the superior layer of the triangular 

 ligament of the urethra. In the posterior part of the pelvic 

 cavity the layer descends along the lateral wall of the rectum, 

 behind which it joins with the corresponding layer of the 



