EXTRACT LII. 



ON THE PERINEAL RAPHE IN THE MALE. 



WE have not hitherto been able to secure an exhaustive 

 description of this structure in any of the anatomical 

 treatises with which we have been supplied. We, there- 

 fore, purpose considering shortly what it is, and what 

 purposes it serves to fulfil, anatomically and histologically. 



Histologically it may be regarded as composed mainly 

 of elastic or fibre-elastic tissue, arranged somewhat in the 

 form of a broad fan-shaped band, extending from near 

 the anus posteriorly to the root of the penis anteriorly, 

 dipping into the perineal structures in its path across the 

 posterior and medial portions of the perineum, and thence 

 through or across the whole extent of the antero-posterior 

 diameter of the scrotum, and upwards through the whole 

 depth of that structure, finally attaching itself to the floor 

 of the pelvis, and thus dividing the perineum and scrotum 

 into two equal parts, sides, or halves. 



Hereby, it will be perceived, a surface of central attach- 

 ment is afforded for the plentifully developed fibrous and 

 contractile, fibro-elastic, and muscular tissues of the peri- 

 neum, and a fulcrum, so to speak, secured, by which 

 these structures can operate in the contraction and 

 dilatation or relaxation movements of that region such, 

 for instance, as are to be witnessed under the influence of 

 cold or heat, as in a hot or cold bath, when the former 

 relaxes the perineo-scrotal tissues, and the latter contracts 

 them, until the raphe stands out as a prominent band or 

 ridge, and the skin of the scrotum on either side of it is 

 drawn into a multitude of wrinkles. 



