652 



THE TESTES. 



Fie. 209. 



feri, and are in coils or convolutions. Being collected in 

 bundles or fasciculi, they are termed lobules, of which lat- 

 ter there are estimated between three and four hundred, 

 having a length, according to Dr. Monroe, of about 5208 

 feet. The diameter of each tube is made to measure from 

 the 1-200 to the 1-150 part of an inch, and the length of 

 each about 1*7 feet. Their commencement is either in loops 

 of anastomosis or ccecal terminations, which communicate, 

 though the tubes of one lobule are said not to inosculate 

 directly with those of another. 



The lobules present a conical form, having their bases 

 towards the surface, and their apices towards the mediasti- 

 num testis, consisting of one or many convoluted tubuli 

 seminiferi, and are enclosed and separated by processes from 

 the tunica albuginea and vasculosa. The tubuli seminiferi 

 of the lobules coalesce in about twenty 

 or thirty straight tubes, called vasa 

 recta, which, entering the mediastinum 

 and interlacing here with each other 

 and with the vessels and nerves of the 

 gland, receive the name of rete testis. 

 The rete testis is situated at the poste- 

 rior part of the gland, and, at its upper 

 part, passes through the tunica albugi- 

 nea, by from ten to thirty tubes, called 

 vasa efferentia, each of which, becoming 

 convoluted, receives the name of conus 

 vasculosus. From the bases of these 

 coni vasculosi, larger tubes are formed, 

 constituting the epididymis. 



The epididymis is situated upon the 

 outside of the tunica albuginea, upon the back of the testis, 

 being connected to the latter by the reflected tunica vagin- 

 alis, and taking a vertical direction. It is formed of the 



FIG. 209 represents the minute structure of the Testicle. 1 1 Tunica albu- 

 ginea. 2 2 Corpus Highmorianum. 33 Tubuli seminiferi. 44 Vasa recta. 

 5 Rete testis. 6 Vasa-efFerentia. 7 Coni-vasculosi, or globus major. 8 Epi- 

 didymis. 9 Globus minor. 10 Vas-deferens. 11 Vasculum aberrans. 



