562 DESCENT OF THE TESTIS. 



vaginalis ; and as this membrane must be obviously a shut sac, one por- 

 tion of it investing the testis, and the other being reflected so as to form a 

 loose bag around it, its two portions have received the appellations of 

 tunica vaginalis propria, and tunica vaginalis reflexa. 



The descent of the testis is effected by means of the traction of the 

 muscle of the gubernaculum (cremaster). " The fibres," writes Mr. Curl- 

 ing,*/ " proceeding from Poupart's ligament and the obliquus internus, 

 tend to guide the gland into the inguinal canal ; those attached to the os 

 pubis, to draw it below the abdominal ring; and the process descending 

 to the scrotum, to direct it to its final destination." During the descent, 

 u the muscle of the testis is gradually everted, until, when the transition 

 is completed, it forms a muscular envelope external to the process of peri- 

 toneum, which surrounds the gland and the front of the cord." " The 

 mass composing the central part of the gubernaculum, which is so soft, 

 lax, and yielding as in every way to facilitate these changes, becomes gra- 

 dually diffused, and, after the arrival of the testicle in the scrotum, con- 

 tributes to form the loose cellular tissue which afterwards exists so abun- 

 dantly in this part." The attachment of the gubernaculum to the bottom 

 of the scrotum is indicated throughout life by distinct traces. 



Loc. cit 



