THE TESTICLES AN& THEIR COVERINGS 1373 



The fibrous coat consists of white fibrous tissue which supports the other coats. 



The urethra, because it is noi surrounded by dense resisting structures, as in the male, admits 

 of great dilatation, which enables the surgeon to remove with considerable facility calculi or 

 other foreign bodies from the cavity of the bladder. 



INTERNAL 



ORIFICE OF 



URETHRA 



RECTO- 

 UTERINE 

 POUCH 



POSTERIOR 



FORNIX OF 



VAGINA 



RECTO- 

 VAGINAL 

 SEPTUM 



EXTERNAL 



ORIFICE OF 



URETHRA 



FIG. 1122. Mesal section through the pelvis of a woman, aged twenty-one years. Peritoneum in blue. 



(Corning.) 



THE MALE REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS. 



The male reproductive organs (organa genitalia virilia) include the testes, the 

 vasa deferentia, the seminal vesicles, the ejaculatory ducts, and the penis, together 

 with the following accessory structures viz., the prostate and Cowper's glands. 



THE TESTICLES (TESTES) AND THEIR COVERINGS (Figs. 1123, 1124). 



The testes are two glandular organs, which secrete the spermatozoa; they are 

 situated in the scrotum, being suspended by the spermatic cords. At an early 

 period of fetal life the testes are contained in the abdominal cavity, behind the 

 peritoneum. Before birth they descend to the inguinal canal, along which they 

 pass with the spermatic cord, and emerging at the external abdominal ring, they 

 descend into the scrotum, becoming invested in their course by coverings derived 



