990 



and probably incapable of performing their 

 natural functions ; and that this imperfection 

 prevents the disposition for descent taking 

 place. That they are more defective even 

 than those which are late in passing to the 

 scrotum, he infers from the circumstance, that 

 in quadrupeds, the testicle that has reached 

 the scrotum is considerably larger than the 

 one which remains in the abdomen. Mr. 

 Hunter had seen only one case in the human 

 subject where both testicles continued in the 

 abdomen, but this proved an exception to the 

 above observation, since we are led to con- 

 clude that they were perfectly formed, as the 

 person had all the powers and passions of a 

 man.* Professor Owen in commenting upon 

 these observations, states, " It seems remark- 

 able that with this experience Mr. Hunter 

 should have formed from inconclusive analogy, 

 and promulgated, an opinion tending to occa- 

 sion so much unhappiness as that which attri- 

 butes exceeding imperfection and probable 

 incapacity of performing their natural func- 

 tions to testes which in the human subject 

 are retained within the abdomen. That there 

 is nothing in such a situation which neces- 

 sarily tends to impair their efficiency is evident, 

 from the number of animals in which they 

 constantly form part of the abdominal vis- 

 cera; and in those in which the testes na- 

 turally pass into a scrotum, their continuance 

 in the abdomen, ^according to our author's 

 own observation, is accompanied only with 

 a difference of size or shape ; now we may 

 readily suppose that this may influence the 

 quantity, but not necessarily the quality, of 

 the secretion." There are very few accounts 

 on record of the dissection of undescended 

 testicles. In a case, in which M. Cloquet 

 found the left testicle situated within the 

 abdomen, the gland was well formed, and 

 of the same size as the right, which had de- 

 scended into the scrotum. The parts taken 

 from an apprentice of Sir A. Cooper, who 

 unfortunately committed suicide in conse- 

 quence of the infirmity, are preserved in the 

 Museum of Guy's Hospital. I have ex- 

 amined the preparation ; and the testicles, 

 which are both within the abdomen, close to 

 the internal ring, appear to be nearly, if not 

 quite, the natural size, and it is stated that 

 the ducts contained semen. In a lad, aged 

 nineteen, whose left testicle was found, by 

 Dr. Bright, within the abdomen, near the brim 

 of the pelvis, the gland was considerably 

 smaller than natural, but the ducts and se- 

 creting structure were quite perfect.f These 

 are the only cases of testicles situated within 

 the abdomen in which we have any account 

 of the anatomical condition of the gland. In 

 addition to the evidence they afford of the ca- 

 pability of testicles thus placed to exercise their 

 functions, may be adduced the case of Mr. 

 Hunter, just alluded to, in which a person, 

 both of whose testicles continued in the ab- 

 domen, had all the powers and passions of 



* Works by Palmer, vol. iv. p. 18. 

 | Hospital Reports, vol. ii. p. 258. 



TESTICLE (ABNORMAL ANATOMY). 



a man ; and a case recorded by Mr. Poland, 

 of a man so formed, who was aged twenty- 

 nine. He had all the signs of virility, had 

 married twice, and was the father of two 

 children.* On the other hand, Mr. Wilson 

 mentions the case of a young man, twenty-five 

 years of age, whose testicles never descended. 

 He had some beard, and not an unmanly ap- 

 pearance ; but although an imprudent, and 

 in some things a dissipated person, he had 

 never shown the least desire for women, or 

 disposition for sexual intercourse, f John 

 West, a lad, aged sixteen, died in the London 

 Hospital, in a state of universal anasarca. 

 There was no appearance of beard, and only 

 a few hairs were scattered over the pubes. 

 My attention was particularly directed to the 

 state of the genital organs, by observing that 

 the scrotum, which was greatly distended with 

 serous effusion, was not fully developed on 

 the right side. I found the right testicle 

 within the abdomen, about an inch and a half 

 above the internal ring. It was very small, 

 not larger than that of a child two years of 

 age ; and on cutting into it, the gland pre- 

 sented the granular appearance usually re- 

 marked at that early period. 



Passage of the Testicle into the Perineum. 

 Mr. Hunter first observed that the testicle in 

 changing its situation does not always pre- 

 serve a proper course towards the scrotum, 

 there being instances of its taking another 

 direction and passing into the perineum. How 

 this is brought about, he remarks, it is difficult 

 to say: it may possibly be occasioned by 

 something unusual in the construction of the 

 scrotum, or more probably, by a peculiarity in 

 that of the perineum itself. For it is not easy 

 to imagine how the testicle could make its 

 way to the parts about the perineum, if 

 these were in a perfectly natural state. He 

 met with two instances of this imperfection. 

 Many years ago a little boy, one of whose 

 testicles had thus deviated from its proper 

 course was brought to the London Hospital. 

 The gland was lodged in the perineum at the 

 root of the scrotum. M. Ricord met with 

 this singular anomaly in two instances. M. 

 Vidal (de Cassis) observed it in two brothers : 

 their father was exempt from it. The testicle 

 abnormally placed was smaller than the other. J 

 The irregularity is exceedingly rare, and the 

 above cases are all with which I am acquainted. 



Passage of the Testicle through the Crural 

 Ring. M. Vidal relates the case of a man, 

 one of whose testicles, instead of passing out 

 of the abdomen at the inguinal canal, made its 

 exit at the crural ring. The organ was 

 mounted upon the abdomen like a crural 

 hernia. A portion of intestine traversed the 

 inguinal canal, forming a rupture on that side. 

 I know of only one other instance of this 



* Guy's Hospital Eeports. Second series, vol. i. 

 pp. 162, 163. 



f Lectures on the Urinary and Genital Organs, 

 p. 408. 



t Traite de Pathologic externe, t. v.p. 432. 2eme, 

 edit. 



Ibid p. 431. 



