66 



HEALTH AND DISEASE 



4--J 



the outer part of the upper border; this is not a part of the testicle 

 proper, but an appendage to it, and consists of the excretory ducts of the 

 organ thrown into a number of closely-united coils. The anterior extremity 

 of this body is large and rounded, and is called the " globus major" 

 (G, fig. 223). The ducts of which it is composed are continuous with those 

 of the testicle. The posterior extremity, much smaller than the anterior, 

 is the "globus minor" (B, fig. 223); from it springs the "vas deferens", or 



chief excretory duct of the gland. 



Tunica Albuginea. This is 



a dense membrane not unlike the 

 sclerotic coat or white of the eye. 

 It is made up of a number of 

 closely - interwoven strands of 

 white fibres, and encloses within 

 it the glandular or secreting struc- 

 ture of the organ (D, fig. 223). 



At the superior border of the 

 testicle an offshoot from this tunic 

 dips down into its substance for a 

 short distance, forming an incom- 

 plete vertical partition, which Sir 

 Astley Cooper named the "media- 

 stinum testis". In this ramify the 

 small blood-vessels of the gland, 



Fig. 223. Section of Testis showing the arrangement of 



the Duets composing the Testicle and a net-work of seminal ducts 



A, Vas Deferens or Spermatic Duet. B, Globus Minor, termed the " rete testis " (F, fig. 



c, Vasa Recta or Straight Seminal Tubules. D, Tunica 99 q\ TliPrP ni-P nlsn rrivpn off 



Albuginea. K, Spermatic Tubules forming the Lobules. **)- 



F, Rete Testis or net-work formed by the straight tubes, from it nUmei'OUS fibrOUS COrds, 



o, Globus Major. H, Tunica Vaginalis Reflexa. I, Sper- . T j ^ i 1 



matic Vein. J, Spermatic Artery. which, after dividing the gland 



up into a number of incompletely- 

 separated compartments, become united with the interior of the tunic 

 from which they spring. These strands of fibrous tissue preserve the 

 shape of the gland, and serve as a matrix by which the blood-vessels 

 traverse its structure. 



The blood supply to the testis is derived from the spermatic artery 

 {j, fig. 223), whose branches on entering the organ form a close net-work 

 over the inner surface of the tunica albuginea, which is known as the 

 " tunica vasculosa". 



Gland Substance. The substance of the testicle is composed of large 

 numbers of minute convoluted tubes termed "tubuli seminiferi" (E, fig. 223). 

 These are grouped together in small masses or "lobules", and occupy the 



