OF NATURAL HISTORY. 59 



In the male, the organs of generation confift of the teftes, 

 the feminal vefTels, and the penis. The teftes are two glan- 

 dular bodies which pofTefs the power of converting the blood 

 into femen. They are originally formed and lodged in the 

 abdomen ; and it is not till after birth that they commonly 

 pafs into the groin, and fi'om thence fall into the fcrotum, 

 which is a miifcular bag prepared for their reception and 

 defence. The teftes of the hedgehog and of fome other 

 quadrupeds remain in the abdomen during life. Inftances 

 of the fame kind fometimes happen 'in the human fpecies. 

 Each tefticle is compofed of the fpermatic artery and vein. 

 The blood paiTes very flowly through the fpermatic artery, 

 and produces an infinite number of convolutions in the fub- 

 ftance of the tefticle, where it depofits the femen, which is 

 taken up by the femeniferous tubes. Thefe tubes at length 

 unite, and, by an immenfe number of circumvolutions, form 

 a kind of appendix to the tefticle, commonly known by the 

 term epididymis. The tubes of the epidydymis, after termi- 

 nating in an excretory du6l called vas defet\msy afcend toward 

 the abdominal rings, and depofit the femen in the feminal 

 veficles, which are two foft convoluted bodies fttuated be- 

 tween the re£tum and bladder, and unite at their lower ex- 

 tremity : From thefe refervoirs the femen is occafionally 

 difcharged through the fhort canals which open into the 

 urethra. The penis is a cavernous and fpungy fubftance 

 perforated longitudinally by a canal called urethra^ which, by 

 communicating with the bladder and feminal veflels, anfwers 

 the double purpofe of difcharging both the urine and 

 femen. 



With regard to the female organs, the uterus and its ap- 

 pendages merit a principal attention. The uterus is a hol- 

 low mufcular body fituated between the redham and bladder, 

 and, when not in an impregnated ftate, refembles a pear, 

 with the thickeft end turned toward the abdomen. The en- 



