THE ABDOMEN. 



159 



uated outside of the peritoneum. It necessitates the 

 removal of the kidney, however, and when for any rea- 

 son one kidney is removed the other increases in size 

 and does double work to compensate for the loss. Re- 

 moval of both kidneys means death. Sometimes the 

 kidney becomes loose and moves about, a condition 

 known as floating kidney. Perinephritic abscess is ab- 

 scess in the loose fatty tissue about the kidney. 



The Ureters, one for each kidney, are tubes the size 

 of a goose quill and about fourteen inches long, extend- 

 ing from the hilum of the kidney to the base of the blad- 



iJnev 



'thro. 

 FIG. 61. The urinary organs viewed from behind. 



der. They have three coats, an internal mucous, a 

 muscular, and an external fibrous coat, this last being 

 continous with the cortex of the kidney and the fibrous 

 tissue of the bladder. In the female the ureters may 

 be felt through the wall of the vagina as they come into 

 the bladder. In tubercular disease of one kidney the 

 ureter becomes inflamed and enlarged and through the 

 vagina feels almost like a lead pencil, a sure diagnostic 

 sign. 



The Bladder and Urethra. In their course to the 

 bladder the ureters pass from the abdominal into the 



