282 GENERATIVE SYSTEM. 



in cases of extreme contraction these folds assume rather a re- 

 markable appearance ; the cellular tissue interposed between this 

 and the middle tunic being loose enough to admit of this. It is 

 this same cellular intertexture which, from its being pressed into 

 a pretty regular layer wherein the vessels and nerves ramify, has 

 been described by some as the nervous coat. The internal mem- 

 brane is white, soft in its texture, and highly organized. It 

 possesses numerous follicles from whose excretory pores issue a 

 plentiful mucous secretion to defend it from the acrimony of the 

 saline matters contained in the urine : this mucous matter being 

 perpetually washed off the surface by the urine, is kept con- 

 tinually renewed ; and it is occasionally voided in considerable 

 quantities, especially when any calculi or other irritants are 

 within the bladder. About an inch anterior to the cervix, in the 

 sides of the bag, are seen the orifices of the ureters, whose 

 oblique insinuations in perforating the parietes operate in pre- 

 venting any reflux of the urine at the time that the bladder is 

 contracting, and thereby possess all the effect of valves. 



Section VIIL 

 GENERATIVE SYSTEM. 



COMPRISING THE MALE AND FEMALE ORGANS OF 

 GENERATION. 



MALE ORGANS OF GENERATION. 



THE male animal, although the part he appears to contribute 

 towards the work of procreation appears but insignificant, when 

 contrasted with the lengthened, tedious, critical process per- 

 formed by the female, is, nevertheless, provided with an assem- 

 blage of organs whose individual structures and functions may 

 be ranked among the most complicated in the system. These 

 organs consist of the testicles — whose office it is to prepare the 

 fluid necessary for impregnation; of the vasa deferentia and 

 vesicu/cE seminales — canals and receptacles for this fluid ; and of 

 the penis — the instrument by which this same fluid is transmitted 

 into the parts destined for its reception in the female body. 



OF THE TESTICLES AND SCROTUM. 

 The testes or testicles (the truly essential organs of procreation 

 in the male species) are the two oval glandular bodies suspended 



