VESICULA PROSTATICA. 



1419 



projects verv far,behind the urinary bladder. It 

 BUS the- form of a flask, and in its anterior 

 half, which is compressed somewhat flat, it has 

 a breadth of live to six lines. Its base is bi- 

 lobed, as if drawn out into two lateral short 

 and rounded horns. Its mouth in the uro- 

 m/nital canal is wide (about one line), yet not 

 round or linear, but rather placed across, and 

 somewhat arched in shape, as if bent around 

 tlie swelling of the verumontanum. In new- 

 born individuals the organ is much smaller, 

 scarce ly three lines long ; but it is otherwise 

 exactly similar. In the male hare it is al- 

 ways smaller. In one example it measured 

 five lines, and was devoid of horns at the 

 ba.se ; but these are sometimes little developed 

 in the rabbit also. But the most extraordi- 

 nary circumstance about the utriculus of these 

 animals is this, that it receives the ejaculatory 

 ducts. In all other instances, these open in- 

 dependency, by its sides, into the uro-genital 

 canal ; but here, departing from this rule, 

 they open into the undermost part of the 

 \\Yberian organ, at a short distance (in the 

 new-born rabbit half a line, in the adult two 

 liivjs) above its orifice previously described. 

 They occupy the anterior wall ef the organ, 

 on which they course downwards, and each 

 terminates in a small papilla. In Lagcmis 

 the same arrangement seems to occur. At 

 lea^ Pallas* states of the Lagomis ogstona 

 that the two ejaculatory ducts open together 

 by a common tube, which must doubtless be 

 regarded as a Weberian organ, f 



Another very remarkable form of Weberian 

 organ is possessed by the beaver. The first 

 information concerning it we owe to Brandt 

 and ItatzeburgJ, who compared this struc- 

 ture, on account of its form, to the uterus 

 bicornis of the female individual, yet without 

 recognising any nearer relation between the 

 two. They regarded it as a kind of sup- 

 plementary seminal vesicle. Its correct inter- 

 pretation is due to the acuteness of Weber.$ 



The Weberian organ is simple only at its 

 lower end, or that which usually opens be- 

 tween the orifices of the two vasa deferentia. 

 Very soon it is split into two horns, which 

 ascend in the peritoneal fold between the two 

 seminal ducts, and finally, after they have 

 dwindled to the form of threads, are apposed 

 to these. Brandt and Ratzeburg were "able 

 to follow the terminal threads to the testicles; 

 while in the example which Weber inves- 

 tigated, where the horns measured 2^ inches, 

 they ceased much earlier. The lower half of 

 the horn is of very considerable thickness, as 



* Nov. Spec, quadruped, e glirium ordine. Erlan- 

 gen, 1778, p. 67. 



f According to Rynier Jones (loc. cit. p. 393.), 

 the two vasa deferentia in the Agouti also open by a 

 common duct into a cavity of the verumontanum. 

 But since this at the same time receives the excre- 

 tory ducts of the seminal vesicles, it certainly is not 

 the cavity of the Weberian organ. Probably the 

 same structure is repeated here which I formerly 

 (loc. cit. p. 130.) described in the Cavia, and have 

 recently found in the Dipus. 



J Medizinische Zoologie. Band I. S. 137. 



Amtlicher Bericht., c., loc. cit. 



much as four lines, and it encloses a spacious 

 cavity. 



Edentata. The sloth (Bradypw indue- 

 ty/us), the only animal of this class of Mam- 

 malia whose genitals I was able to examine, 

 is completely devoid of this organ. 



Pachydermata- Duvernoy* mentions the 

 Weberian organ in the elephant as a deep, 

 blind sac, which lay concealed in the venir 

 montanum. In the swine it has been de- 

 scribed by Weber. It consists here of a body, 

 which is nine lines in length and almost a line 

 in thickness, and which lies in the peritoneal 

 fold between the two ejaculatory ducts. At 

 its upper end it passes on either side into 

 a \et longer but thinner horn. Leydig, who 

 also mentions the opening of this body into 

 the uro-genital canal, states that, when in the 

 inflated condition, it has the thickness of a 

 goose quill. 



In an adult boar with hypospadias, I found 

 this organ of yet larger size. The opening, 

 which lay between the points of aperture of 

 the two ejaculatory ducts, and had a length 

 of 1* lines, led into a cylindrical body, which, 

 gradually dilating to some extent as it passed 

 upwards, finally, after a course of fourteen 

 lines, split into two horns. These were placed 

 against the seminal ducts, and, as cords of 

 areolar tissue, could be followed with the cover- 

 ings of those tubes to the testicles. In other 

 instances the Weberian organ of the pig ex- 

 perienced a more considerable reduction. 

 Thus in a new-born individual whom I ex- 

 amined, I found only a single solid- cord in 

 the middle line of the peritoneal fold between 

 the vasa deferentia ; it had neither cavity nor 

 opening into the uro-genital canal 



Solidnngula. The Weberian organ of the 

 horse t which is generally of very considerable 

 size, was known to Cuvier f, who referred it 

 to the vesicula seminalis. It has also been fre- 

 quently described and figured by Gurlt J as a 

 median seminal vesicle. The first who re- 

 cognised its morphological importance was 

 Hausmann. With a reference to the older 

 researches of Weber upon the vesicula pro- 

 statica of man and the beaver, but before 

 this author had published his later observations 

 on the horse, he explained it as the male 

 uterus. And independently of him, Adams || 

 was led to the same result. 



The Weberian organ of the horse is a wide 

 tube, which opens into the uro-genital canal 

 by a large opening between the two vesiculae 

 seminales, the ejaculatory ducts of which it 

 receives by the constricted neck of its lower 

 extremity. In particular instances this open- 

 ing is, as Leydig observed, divided by a median 

 bridge into two apertures, which lie close to 



* Cuvier, Lemons d'Anatomie comparee, nouv. 

 edit. t. viii. p. 210. 



f Cuvier, Lecons d'Anatomie comparee, nouv. 

 edit. t. viii. p. 170. 



J Anatomic der Hussaaugethieren, Berlin, 1834, 

 Th. II. S. 99. Anatom. Abbildungen der Haus- 

 saugethieren, Berlin, 1844, Tab. 69. 



According to the communication of Bergmann. 

 Op. cit. 



|| Loc. cit. p. 152. 



