BLOODVESSELS OF KIDNEY. 



477 



and the fibrous coat, unite into larger veins, which anastomose freely 

 around the bases of the pyramids of Malpighi. At this spot they are 

 joined by offsets from capillary plexuses in the pyramids ; and the larger 

 trunks then accompany the arteries to the sinus of the kidney. Finally 

 all are united into one trunk, which opens into the vena cava. 



Fig. 166. 



.. a. Urine tube. 



b. Ead-dilatation. 



c. luterpyramidal artery. 



d. Afferent branch. 



e. Glornerulus. 



/. Efferent vessel. 



g. Plexus of capillaries around the 



urine tube. 



h. Radicles of the veins. 

 t. e. Glornerulus. 

 d. Afferent, and 



/. Efferent vessel of the glomerulus 

 (Bowman). 



PLAN OF THE VESSELS CONNECTED WITH THE URINE TUBES. 



Nerves. The ramifications of the sympathetic nerve may be traced to 

 the smaller branches of the artery. 



The absorbents are superficial and deep : The deep absorbents are sup- 

 posed to begin in a plexus between the urine tubes. Both unite at the 

 hilum of the kidney, and join the lumbar glands. 



The URETER is the tube by which the fluid secreted in the kidney is 

 conveyed to the bladder. Between its origin and termination the canal 

 measures from sixteen to eighteen inches in length. Its size corresponds 

 commonly with that of a large quill. Near the kidney it is dilated into a 

 funnel-shaped part, named pelvis ; and near the bladder it is again some- 

 what enlarged, though the lower aperture by which it terminates is the 

 narrowest part of the tube. Its relative anatomy must be studied after- 

 wards, when the body is in a suitable position. 



In its course from the one viscus to the other, the ureter is close beneath 

 the peritoneum, and is directed obliquely downwards and inwards along 

 the posterior wall of the abdomen as far as the pelvis ; here it changes its 

 direction, and becomes almost horizontal. At first the ureter is placed 

 over the psoas, inclining on the right side towards the inferior vena cava ; 

 and about the middle of the muscle it is crossed by the spermatic vessels. 

 Lower down it lies over the common or the external iliac artery, being 

 beneath the sigmoid flexure on the left side, and the end of the ileum on 

 the right side. Lastly, it lies below the level of the obliterated hypo- 

 gastric artery. 



Sometimes the ureter is divided into two for a certain distance. 



Part in the kidney (fig. 163, b). Near the kidney the ureter is dilated 

 into a pouch called pelvis ; and it begins by a set of cup-shaped tubes, 

 named calices or infundibula, which vary in number from seven to thir- 

 teen. Each cup-shaped process embraces the rounded end of a pyramidal 

 mass, and receives the urine from the apertures in that projection ; some- 

 times a calyx surrounds two or more masses. The several calices are 



