TUNICA ALBUGINEA. 145 



The testicles, as has been already stated, are of a flattened 

 oval form. Their position is somewhat oblique, so that their 

 upper extremities look upwards and forwards, their lower 

 extremities downwards and backwards, and their edges present 

 forwards and backwards. 



The body of the testicle is very firm, in consequence of its 

 enclosure in a very firm coat called Tunica Albuginea. Upon 

 the upper and posterior part of it is the protuberant substance, 

 called Epididymisj which is less firm, being exterior to the 

 tunica albuginea. The blood-vessels of the testicle pass into 

 it on the posterior edge, at some distance below the upper 

 e-nd. 



The Tunica Albuginea, 



In which the body of the testicle is commonly enclosed, 

 is firm and dense ; and upon this coat its particular form depends. 

 It is of a whitish color, and has a smooth external surface. 

 It is thick as well as strong. The epididymis is exterior to it. 

 It is only perforated by the blood-vessels, lymphatics and nerves, 

 and by the vasa eiferentia, which carry out the secretion of the 

 testis. One portion of the tunica vaginalis adheres very closely 

 to it, and the other appears to contain it. The portion which 

 adheres to it is with difficulty separated, but it is a distinct 

 membrane. 



The tunica albuginea is a fibrous membrane, considerably 

 thinner than the sclerotic coat of the eye. It is very strong- and 

 resisting, and is susceptible of very considerable distention, 

 when the dilating cause acts slowly, as in the engorgements of 

 the testicle called hernia humoralis. It is also endowed with 

 retractile properties, as is seen when the, distending cause has 

 ceased to act. Its internal surface, which is immediately applied 

 upon the substance of the 'gland, gives origin to a great number 

 of flattened filaments or septae, which divide the gland into 

 compartments for the separate lobules, and upon which the 

 blood-vessels run, to be distributed in the glandular tissue. 

 These septa3 are directed to the back part of the organ neces- 

 sarily, (as that is the direction in which the efferent ducts of the 

 testis pass,) and form by their accumulation that thickened, 

 oblong, fibrous mass, called the corpus highmorianum. The 



VOL. II. 13 



