98 ORGANS OF GENERATION. 



globus minor it becomes less convoluted, enlarges, turns up- 

 wards on the inner side of the epididymis, and obtains the name 

 of Vas Deferens. Before it reaches the top of the epididymis 

 it has become perfectly straight, or almost so. There is a blind 

 duct which begins at the top of the epididymis and terminates 

 below; the object of it is not understood. 





 Of the Spermatic Chord. 



The Spermatic Chord is a fasciculus of about half an inch in 

 diameter, which may be felt very readily through the skin of 

 the scrotum, passing from the upper end of the testicle to the 

 external abdominal ring. It is formed by the Vas Deferens; 

 the Spermatic Artery and Veins; the Lymphatics of the Tes- 

 ticle; and the Nerves; all being covered in by the Tunica Va- 

 ginalis Communis, and by the Cremaster Muscle. 



The Cremaster Muscle, also called the tunica elythroides,* 

 being derived from the internal oblique and the transverse 

 muscle of the abdomen,f forms a very complete envelope to 

 the chord from the abdominal ring to the testicle. But when 

 it reaches the latter its fibres spread out and become indistinct 

 upon the tunica vaginalis communis, as they there consist in 

 small, pale, scattered fasciculi; many of which terminate in- 

 sensibly, while others form on the front of the tunica vaginalis 

 loops, having their convexities downwards. This muscle draws 

 the testicle upwards, an action very diffeient from the corruga- 

 tion of the scrotum. 



The Vas Deferens. or the proper excretory duct of the testi- 

 cle, is a white tube of about a line and a half in diameter, and 

 has a cartilaginous feel. Its parietes are thick, as its cavity 

 will not receive a body larger than a bristle, without being put 

 upon the stretch. It traverses a long space, and in doing so, 

 first passes at the back of the chord from its commencement to 

 the internal abdominal ring: having reached the latter, it then 

 abandons the spermatic artery and vein, and dipping into the 

 pelvis, by the side of the bladder, goes between the lower fun- 



* EM/7gov a sheath. -j- See Abdominal Muscles. 



