370 SURGICAL APPLIED ANATOMY. [Chap. xvm. 



resist the growth of testicular tumours. When the 

 testicle suppurates and matter finds an escape through 

 the skin, it is the unyielding character of the tunica 

 albuginea that is mainly answerable for any "fungus" 

 that may form. This fungus merely means the escape 

 of swollen, softened, and inflamed structures through a 

 hole in a more or less rigid membrane, and were that 

 membrane yielding no such protrusion would form. 

 A " fungus " never develops in connection with 

 suppuration of the epididymis alone ; at the most 

 an abscess of that part will lead to a troublesome 

 sinus. 



It should be borne in mind that the lymphatics 

 of the scrotum go to the inguinal glands, those of the 

 testicle to the lumbar. 



The spermatic cord. The structures in the 

 cord are (1) the vas deferens, (2) the cremaster 

 muscle, (3) the spermatic and (4) cremasteric arteries, 

 and (5) the artery to the vas deferens, (6) the sper- 

 matic plexus of veins, (7) the genito-crural nerve, (8) 

 sympathetic nerve-fibres, and (9) lymphatics. The vas 

 deferens lies along the posterior aspect of the cord, and 

 can be readily detected by the firm, cord-like sensation 

 which it gives when pinched between the thumb and 

 finger. Mr. Birkett (Holmes' " System ") gives three 

 cases of rupture of the vas deferens during severe and 

 sudden exertion. The duct appears to have in each 

 case given way within the abdomen at some point 

 between the internal ring and the spot where it ap- 

 proaches the ureter. The injury is followed, as may 

 be supposed, by atrophy of the corresponding testicle. 

 The size of the cremaster muscle depends mainly upon 

 the weight it has to suspend. In atrophy of the tes- 

 ticle it almost entirely disappears, while in cases of 

 large slow-growing tumours of the gland it attains 

 considerable proportions. If in children or young 

 adults the skin over the middle of the thigh just 



