ABDOMEN. 241 



This canal acquires surgical importance in inguinal hernia, of which there are two 

 arbitrary divisions direct and oblique : the former being internal to, the latter 

 being external to, the deep epigastric artery. 



(2) The femoral canal, being that part of the initial three-quarters of an inch 

 of the femoral sheath unoccupied by the femoral vessels. (Fig. 165.) Normally, 

 the canal is occupied by a fatty connective tissue, with or without a lymphatic gland. 

 The entire amount of this connective tissue called technically the septum crurale, 

 or septum femorale weighs three grains. The surgical importance of this septum 

 is due to the fact that it is inferred to form one of the coverings of a femoral hernia. 

 Just why rational medical literature should continue to dignify this frail structure, 

 and place it in the same category with such structures as Gimbernat's and Pou- 

 part's ligaments, the femoral sheath, and the skin itself, is difficult to determine. 



(3) The umbilicus is the point where the two hypogastric branches of the inter- 

 nal iliac arteries and the umbilical vein came together to form the umbilical cord, 

 a foetal arrangement that took impure blood to the placenta and returned in its 

 stead the same blood plus O and minus CO 2 . 



10. Where is the spermatic cord made up and of what structures does it consist ? 



It is made up at the internal abdominal ring, to the outer side of the deep 

 epigastric artery, by the coming together of the spermatic artery, the spermatic 

 veins, the deferential artery, and the excretory duct of the testicle the vas 



PARIETAL PERITONEUM 



VISCERAL PERITONEUM 



MESENTERIC MARGIN 

 CAVITY OF PERITONEUM 

 MESENTERIC STALK 



MESENTERIC ROOT 



The aorta 



FIG. 171. SHOWING SIMPLE VISCERAL AND PARIETAL LAYERS OF PERITONEUM WITH CAVITY 



BETWEEN THEM. 



deferens. These structures are loosely bound together by connective tissue. In 

 practical dissection the cord is found below and external to the pubic spine, not 

 as a cord, but as a flattened band. The cord lies on the shelved inner and upper 

 part of Poupart's ligament, in the inguinal canal. The function of the spermatic 

 artery is to supply the testicle with blood, from which the testicle secretes semen. 

 The spermatic veins return the blood to the general circulation, the right being 

 tributary to the ascending vena cava, the left to the left renal vein. The vas is 

 the conduit that leads the semen to the vesiculae seminales at the base of the 

 bladder. The artery of the vas nourishes this conduit and inosculates with the 

 spermatic artery. 



1 1 . Tell all you can about tJie femoral sheath. 



It is composed of two fasciae that come down out of the abdominal cavity, 

 one in front of and the other behind the femoral vessels. These fasciae surround 

 the vessels and take the name "femoral sheath." 



1 2. What are the fascia t/iat form the femoral sheath and why are they so 

 called? 



The one in front of the femoral vessels is the transversalis ; the one behind the 

 vessels, the iliac fascia. They are named in accordance with the rule governing the 

 naming of deep fasciae i. c., according, in this case, to the name of the muscles. 



