THE ABDOxMEN, 247 



gated from before backwards, slightly flattened from side 

 to side. It is firm to the touch, but on laying it open we 

 find that it consists of a quantity of soft greyish matter. 

 From its antero- superior part the epididymis commences 

 and extends from before backwards, consisting of an ante- 

 rior and a posterior glohus^ and a hody. The anterior ^ or 

 ^mailer globus consists of the contorted vasa efferentia ; 

 they, however, unite and reunite, becoming larger in 

 calibre, until they form but one tube, which, by its extreme 

 convolution, forms the hody and the ]josterior or major 

 globus, from which, as the vas deferens, it passes up the 

 posterior part of the spermatic cord towards the pelvis, 

 where it becomes dilated on the superolateral part of the 

 bladder, and, after passing beneath the prostate, opens into 

 the urethra near its commencement. 



The epididymis is connected to the testis by a double 

 fold of visceral vaginal serous membrane, which is con- 

 tinued upwards to the internal abdominal ring surrounding 

 the spermatic cord. In the anterior part of the cord runs 

 the extremely convoluted spermatic artery with the plexus 

 of spermatic vems or cmyus pamjnniforme ; in the poste- 

 rior part the vas deferens with the artery of the cord. The 

 walls of the sperni-bearing vessels or tuhuli seminiferi increase 

 in complexity from their commencement to the termination 

 of the vas deferens in the urethra. At first they consist of 

 but basement membrane and epithelial cells, in which 

 latter may be seen round bodies, which in their course to 

 the vas deferens gradually acquire tails, and at length 

 become free as spermatozoa, small, actively moving bodies, 

 propelled by the vibration of an elongated cilium, running 

 from the posterior part of the cell, giving it a " tadpole- 

 like" appearance. The muscular walls of the vas deferens 

 ^re thick, giving it its distmctively firm feel in its course 

 through the spermatic cord. 



The testis derives its nerves from the hypogastric 

 plexus. 



Vesiculae seminales are pyriform sacs, resting upon the 

 supero-posterior part of the bladder, in such a manner 

 -as to conceal the terminations of the ureters. They have 

 but very thin walls, and each terminates anteriorly in a 

 blind pouch, posteriorly in the duct which unites with 

 vas deferens to form the ejaculatory duct, which runs 

 to a special opening on the veru montanunu It pre- 



