540 SPERMATIC AND HYPOGASTRIC PLEXUSES. 



Some branches pass from them to the renal gland with the 

 capsular artery. 



Before the renal plexus arrives at the kidney, it sends off, 

 from its inferior part, some new fibres, which, after joining 

 some others from one of the lumbar nerves, accompany the 

 spermatic arteries, and are, therefore, called the Spermatic 

 Plexus. In the male, these fibres proceed through the abdomi- 

 nal ring, and many of them go to the testis, but they are 

 followed with great difficulty, on account of their small size. 



In the female, they go to the ovary and the Fallopian 

 tubes. 



From the great plexuses above, a small network continues 

 downwards on the aorta, receiving fibres from the intercostals 

 on each side ; at the great bifurcation of the aorta it divides, 

 and is joined on each side by many ramifications from the 

 third lumbar nerves, which thus form a plexus of considerable 

 extent, that sends nerves to the bladder, rectum, and vesiculae 

 serninales in males ; and to the uterus and vagina, as well 

 as the bladder and rectum, in females.* This is called the 

 Hypogastric Plexus. 



The plexuses above mentioned are derived from the 

 splanchnic nerve, which come off from the Sympathetic in the 

 thorax. 



The Sympathetic Nerve, after giving off the lesser splanch- 

 nic, is diminished in size, and approaches nearer to the bodies 

 of the vertebrae. It passes through the crura of the diaphragm, 

 and then proceeds forwards and downwards upon the spine, 

 between the tendinous crura of the diaphragm and the psoas 

 muscle ; near the vena cava on the right side, and the aorta on 

 the left. In this course, it generally receives one or two small 

 cords from the anterior branch of each of the lumbar nerves ; 

 these cords proceed downwards and forwards, between the 



* Although the testicle receives nerves which are derived from the sympa- 

 thetic, the penis and other external parts of the organs of generation do not to 

 much extent : the nerves which accompany the pudic artery being derived from 

 those which unite to form the great sciatic. 



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