94 ORGANS OF GENERATION. 



and the two halves are marked off from each other by a middle 

 line or elevation of the skin, called the Raphe, which begins in 

 the perineum at the anus, and, winding around the scrotum, is 

 continued along the under surface of the penis to the prepuce. 

 The skin of the scrotum is thin, darker than elsewhere, but 

 has a thick, strong epidermis; it has many sebaceous follicles in 

 it, and is sparingly furnished with hair. It is very extensible, as 

 manifested in fatigue, and by hydrocele ; and may be contracted 

 again so as to draw the testicles close under the pubes, though 

 for the latter power it principally depends upon the subjacent 

 coat. Its surface is covered with wrinkles, for the most part 

 transverse, and ending at the raphe: they are effaced during its 

 great distentions in hernia and dropsy, and then it has a smooth 

 shining surface. 



The Dartos is placed within the scrotum, and forms two dis- 

 tinct sacs or tunics, one for each testicle. It arises from the 

 inferior margins of the crura of the ischia and of the pubes, and 

 lines the scrotum till it reaches the raphe; it is then reflected 

 upwards to form the partition between the testicles, (septum 

 scroll,) and terminates at the corpus spongiosum urethras. This 

 membrane, according to the observations of MM. Chaussier, 

 Lobstein, and Breschet,* does not exist in the scrotum till the 

 descent of the testicle, and then appears to be an expansion of 

 the gubernaculum testis. 



It receives a considerable number of blood vessels, which, 

 owing to the thinness of the skin, may be seen in the living body, 

 ramifying through its substance: its general appearance is, 

 therefore, reddish. It is destitute of fat, and consists in long 

 fibres much matted together, and passing in every direction : 

 they are easily separated by distention with air or water, and 

 by slight maceration. Its powers of contraction are exceeding- 

 ly well marked upon the application of cold to the scrotum, from 

 which cause it has been considered, by many anatomists as 

 muscular: the only distinct evidences, however, which I have 

 met with of a resemblance to the latter, have been found gene- 

 rally on its posterior face, near the perineum.f From its equi- 



* Dictionnaire des Sciences Med. tome viii. 



t Since the first edition, I have dissected one subject, (January, 1830,) where 

 the fibres were evidently muscular, though interwoven. 



