CORPUS HIGHMORIA.NUM OR MEDIASTINUM TESTIS. 



147 



vas deferens, or excretory duct of the testis, in a retrograde 

 course, it can be perceived in these ducts in the human subject. 

 Fig. 158.* These delicate septa, or partitions, are 



united to the internal surface of the tunica 

 albuginea at the posterior part of the testi- 

 cle, at which place there is a body called 

 Corpus Highmorianum, which has been 

 regarded very differently by different anato- 

 mists. It is a long whitish substance, which 

 extends lengthwise on the posterior part of 

 the testis; and was supposed by Haller to 

 resemble one of the salivary ducts. It is 

 now, however, generally agreed to be of a 

 fibrous structure, and to contain and support 

 the ducts which pass from the substance of 

 the testicle to the epididymis. 



The blood-vessels pass into the body of the testicle upon 

 these septa, and are continued from them to the filaments or 

 tubes of which the body of the testicle consists. As in some 

 animals blood-vessels are distinguished on these tubes, there is 

 the greatest reason to believe that a direct communication sub- 

 sists between the two without the intervention of any other 

 structure, no other structure having been discovered : but at 

 the same time it ought to be observed, that these tubes have not 

 yet been injected from the blood-vessels. Some ingenious anat- 

 omists have injected the artery going to the testicle so success- 

 fully that the injection has passed from it Into the veins coming 

 out of the testicle ; but it is not now said by any of them, that 

 they have filled the tubes in this manner. 



* A transverse section of the testicle. 1. The cavity of the tunica vagina- 

 lis ; the most external layer is the tunica vaginalis reflexa ; and that in contact 

 with the organ, the tunica vaginalis testis. 2. The tunica albuginea. 3. The 

 mediastinum testis, giving off numerous fibrous cords in a radiated direction to 

 the internal surface of the tunica albuginea. The cut extremities of the ves- 

 sels below the number belong to the rete testis ; and those above to the arteries 

 and veins of the organ. 4. The tunica vasculosa, or pia mater testis. 5. One 

 of the lobules, consisting of the convolutions of the tubuli seminiferi, and ter- 

 minating by a single duct — the vas rectum. Corresponding lobules are seen 

 betweeu the other fibrous cords of the mediastinum. 6. Section of the epi- 

 didymis. 



