Till: .V.i// ; i:\lT\l. nlti;.i\.f. 861 



j//x. The fibrous coat of tho vesiculro is merely condensed cellular 

 tissue.) Tho mucous and muscular coats are supplied with blood by tho 

 vesico-prostatic artery (inferior vesical) ; their nerves are derived from tho 



pelvie pleXUS. 



The richness in glands of the mucous membrane of the vesicul 

 seminalc s, has led several anatomists to consider them as organs of secretion, 

 and not as reservoirs for the semen. But the large cavity that each forms, 

 appears to demonstrate that they serve as reservoirs and secretory organs at 

 the same time. Their fluid production is added to the semen, as is the 

 secretion of the prostate and (,'owper's glands. 



The cjaculatory duct is very short, and succeeds the narrow canal of the 

 vesicula after the latter opens into the vas deferens. The two ducts pass 

 between the prostate gland and urethra, and, after a brief course, terminate 

 in the latter, on the side of the rent montanum a tubercle which will be 

 noticed presently. 



Near to, and in front of this tubercle, is a third very small orifice thd 

 opening of the third pouch included between the serous duplicaturcs joining 

 the vasa deferentia. (This is the sinus pocularis, or utricidus prostatia, 

 vesicula geminalis ttrtia or media of Gurlt.) Improperly designated the 

 third vesicula, or masculine uterus (Weber), this pouch (sometimes double) 

 tos a fluid which is thrown into the urethra. (This third vesicula is 

 present in all the domesticated animals.) 



The cjaculatory ducts may become obliterated ; then the secretion of the 

 vesiculse seminales accumulates in their interior, and gradually distends 

 them until they attain enormous dimensions. We found, in a Gelding, a 

 vesicula which was nearly as large as the bladder ; it contained a brownish, 

 sticky fluid, holding in suspension epithelial cells, free nuclei, and mucus 

 corpuscles. 



(The vesicula} seminales, in addition to their own secretion, receive the 

 semen conveyed by the spermatic ducts, and keep it in reserve until 

 copulation ; when the contraction of its muscular apparatus expels it into the 

 ejaculatory ducts, and from these into the urethral canal.) 



3. The Urethra. 



The urethra is a canal with membranous and erectile walls, commencing 

 at the nock of the bladder, and terminating at the free extremity of the penis. 



Course. When followed from its origin to its termination, it is seen to 

 proceed at first horizontally backwards, then bend downwards at tho ischial 

 arch to leave tho cavity of tho pelvis, placing itself between tho two roots of 

 the corpus cavernofwm, and passing forward in tho channel formed at tho 

 lower lior.lrr of these, until it arrives at the head (glans) of tho penis, where 

 it terminates by forming a small (cylindrical) prolongation, named tho 

 urethral tube. In its track, tin- ur tlira is divided into two very distinct 

 portions: the iittni]lri<-, tho shortest, and the ejctmjH-lrir, the most ex- 

 tensive, and supported by tho corpora cavernosa. Tho latter division being 

 alone enveloped by the erectile tissue that enters into tho formation of tho 

 un 'thrill walls, has been also named tho spongy portion, tho first being 

 designated the membranous portion. 



/'.r. Internally, this canal has not tho same width throughout 

 Very constricted at its origin, towards the nock of tho bladder, it . \punda 

 somewhat suddenly at the prostate gland; its dilatation, improperly named 

 in Man the .///-,//-*, f tl,>- bulb (buttwu* portion), or, better, tho 



