112 RUDIMENTARY UTERUS IN THE MALE. 



the embryo, persists in a more or less developed state, throughout the 

 whole of adult life. In man this rudimentary uterus exists in the form of 

 a somewhat oval vesicular body imbedded in the substance of the prostate 

 gland : a portion of it projects as a narrow ridge along the middle of the 

 lower surface of the prostatic portion of the urethra, and is commonly 

 known as the caput gallinaginis or verumontanum. That it is a hollow 

 body, and has no communication with the prostate, may be shewn by inflat- 

 ing it with air. Very commonly the orifice of this, which Weber calls the 

 male uterus, remains patent and may be discerned on the middle line of 

 the urethra between the openings of the two ejaculatory ducts ; sometimes 

 it is very narrow, and in a few cases is even entirely closed. The male 

 uterus is still more manifest in the beaver, where it is found enclosed 

 within a fold of the peritoneum, and situated between the urinary bladder 

 and the rectum, exactly in the position occupied by the uterus in the 

 female beaver : in the male, also, as in the female, this organ is two- 

 horned. Likewise in the male rabbit a rudimentary uterus exists and 

 occupies the same situation as the fully developed organ of the female.* 

 The Vasa deferentia open into the lower part of this male organ just as 

 their analogues the Fallopian tubes open into the upper part of the female 

 uterus. It has also been found by Weber that the walls of this rudi- 

 mentary uterus possess distinct muscular fibres, and moreover that when 

 mechanically or electrically irritated they contract and manifest distinct 

 peristaltic movements. 



In the newly-born rabbit, the organs of generation, both external and 

 internal, so closely resemble each other in the two sexes, that it is only 

 possible to distinguish the male from the female by the manner in which 

 the Vasa deferentia differ from the Fallopian tubes. A male rudimentary 

 uterus has also been found by Weber, in the dog, cat, sow, and horse. In 

 the three former animals the orifice of the uterus usually appears closed : 

 but in the horse, as in man, it is frequently found open. 



The permanent existence of a rudimentary uterus in the male, accounts 

 satisfactorily, in Weber's opinion, for the presence of a large uterus in the 

 so-called male hermaphrodites of the human subject; such a uterus is of 

 course only the vesicula prostatica, or rudimentary uterus, in a more fully 

 developed state. 



* Weber's observations have been confirmed by Huschke. Lehre von Eingeweid. des 

 Menschl. p. 4 10. 



