THE TESTES. 



1159 



Tunica Yaginalis. 



Tunica Albuginea. 



Its Septa 



FIG. 7-10. Vertical section of the testi- 

 cle, to show the arrangement of the ducts. 



measures upward of twenty feet in length, and increases in breadth and thick- 

 ness as it approaches the vas deferens. The convolutions are held together by fine 

 areolar tissue and by bands of fibrous tissue. 



The vasa recta are of smaller diameter than 

 the seminal tubes, and have very thin parietes. 

 They, as well as the channels of the rete testis, 

 are lined bv a single layer of flattened epithe- 

 lium. The vasa efterentia and the tube of the 

 epididymis have walls of considerable thickness, 

 on account of the presence in them of muscular 

 tissue, which is principally arranged in a circular 

 manner. These tubes are lined by columnar 

 ciliated epithelium. 



The Vas Deferens, the excretory duct of the 

 testis. is the continuation of the epididymis. 

 Commencing at the lower part of the globus 

 minor, it ascends along the posterior border of 

 the testis and inner side of the epididymis, and 

 along the back part of the spermatic cord, 

 through the spermatic canal to the internal or 

 deep abdominal ring. From the ring it curves 

 round the outer side of the epigastric artery, 



-<-s the external iliac vessels, and descends 

 into the pelvis at the side of the bladder ; it 

 arches backward and downward to its base, 

 crossing over the obliterated hypogastric artery 

 and to the inner side of the ureter. At the base 



of the bladder it lies between that viscus and the rectum, running along the inner 

 border of the vesicula serninalis. In this situation it becomes enlarged and 

 sacculated, forming the ampulla, and then, becoming narrowed at the base of the 

 prostate, unites with the duct of the vesicula seininalis to form the ejaculatory 

 duct. The vas deferens presents a hard and cord-like sensation to the fingers ; it 

 is about two feet in length, of cylindrical form, and about a line and a quarter in 

 diameter. Its Avails are dense, measuring one-third of a line, and its canal is 

 extremely small, measuring about half a line. 



Structure. The vas deferens consists of three coats : 1. An external or cellular 

 coat. 2. A muscular coat, which in the greater part of the tube consists of two 

 layers of tmstriped muscular fibre : an outer, longitudinal in direction, and an 

 inner, circular ; but in addition to these, at the commencement of the vas deferens, 

 there is a third layer, consisting of longitudinal fibres, placed internal to the circular 

 stratum, between it and the mucous membrane. B. An internal or mucous coat, 

 which is pale, and arranged in longitudinal folds ; its epithelial covering is of the 

 columnar variety. 



A long narrow tube, the vas abcrrans of Haller, is occasionally found connected 

 with the lower part of the canal of the epididymis or with the commencement of 

 the vas deferens. It extends up into the cord for about two or three inches, where 

 it terminates by a blind extremity, which is occasionally bifurcated. Its length 

 varies from an inch and a half to fourteen inches, and sometimes it becomes dilated 

 toward its extremity ; more commonly it retains the same diameter throughout. 

 Its structure is similar to that of the vas deferens. Occasionally it is found uncon- 

 nected with the epididymis. (For organ of Giraldes or paradidymis see page 136). 



Surgical Anatomy. The testicle frequently requires removal for malignant disease ; in 

 tuberculous disease, to prevent systemic infection: in cystic disease; in cases of large hernia 

 testis, and in some instances of incompletely descended or misplaced testicle, and for prostatie 

 hypertrophy. The operation is a comparatively simple one. An incision is made from the 

 external ring to the bottom of the scrotum into the tunica vaginalis. The coverings are shelled 

 off the organ, and the mesorchimn. stretrhinir between the back of the testicle and the scrotum, 

 divided. The cord is then isolated, and an aneurism needle, armed with a double ligature, 



