GENliRATlVE SYSTEIVl. 285 



constitute the glandular apparatus for the secretion of the male 

 sperm or semen ; the penis, as was stated before, being simply the 

 instrument of transmission. We have already seen that these 

 bodies, although loose and pendulous, are not wiattnclied within 

 the cavity of the scrotum : we have found them enclosed within 

 peritoneal tunics; confined by cellular and fibrous envelopes; 

 and fenced in their respective apartments by the septum scroti. 



Figure, Magnitude, Division. — The general figure of the tes- 

 ticle IS that of an oval flattened at the sides ; the magnitude, 

 that of the egg of a hen : M. Girard says, that the left is gene- 

 rally a little larger and more pendent than the right. The tes- 

 ticle is suspended within the scrotum by the spermatic chord ; 

 and in such a position, that its long axis corresponds to that of 

 the body. It possesses, therefore, anterior and posterior ends: 

 to the latter is joined the termination of the chord, while the vas 

 deferens departs -from the globus major of the epididymis, which 

 is attached by a ligamentous band to the former^ It has also an 

 i)iferior or convex border, along which are seen the tortuous 

 windings of the spermatic artery ; a superior or straight border, 

 to which is attached the epididymis ; and two convex sides, free 

 and unconnected. 



The Spermatic Chord, the substance by means of which Ihc 

 testicle is connected with the abdomen, and by which it is sus- 

 pended within its scrotal cavity, is composed in the following 

 manner: — 1st. It has four coverings: — there is, immediately 

 underneath the skin, the faschia superficialis ; next, the cremas- 

 ter; thirdly, the tunica vaginalis; and, lastly, the tunica vagi- 

 nalis reflexa. Within the cavity formed by the vaginal tunics it 

 is that the intestine is protruded in inguinal and scrotal herniae : 

 the hernial coverings, consequently, exclusive of the sac, will be 

 the faschia and the cremaster muscle. 2dli/, The constituent 

 parts of the chord itself are — a. The arteries, which are two 

 in number: — the artery of the chord, a small branch of the ex- 

 ternal iliac, which ramifies and expends itself upon the chord ; 

 and the spermatic artery, which, as soon as it reaches the inter- 

 nal ring, enters the inguinal canal, runs down the posterior part 

 of the chord, growing tortuous as it descends, serpentines along 

 the superior border of the testis, between it and the epididymis, 

 winds round the anterior end of the gland, and lastly reaches the 

 convex border, where it becomes extremely convoluted, and 

 whereto its branches are principally distributed. In its descent 

 it detaches small unimportant twigs to the adjacent parts ; and 

 as it approaches the testicle becomes surrounded by an assem- 

 blage of venous vessels, b. The veins accompany their corres- 

 pondent arteries ; and they indeed uuiy be said to make up the 



