MALE ORGANS OF GENERATION 



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tubes. From the mediastinum, delicate radiating processes of connec- 

 tive tissue pass to the inner surface of the tunica albuginea, dividing the 

 substance of the testicle into imperfect lobules which lodge the seminif- 

 erous tubes. The number of these lobules has been estimated at two 

 hundred and fifty to four hundred. Their shape is pyramidal, the larger 

 extremities presenting toward the surface, with the pointed extremities 

 situated at the mediastinum. 



Lining the tunica albuginea and following the mediastinum and the 

 processes which penetrate the testicle, is a tunic, composed of blood- 



Fig. 210. Lobes of the testicle and epididymis (Sappey). 



A, A, i, i, i, lobes of the testicle; 2, rete testis; 3, 3, vasa efferentia; 4, 4, 4, epididymis ; 5, vas 

 aberrans; 6, opening of the vas aberrans into the epididymis; 7, 7, convoluted beginning of the vas 

 deferens; 8, vas deferens. B, B, i, beginning of one of the vasa efferentia; 2, 3, 3, convoluted por- 

 tion ; 4, opening into the epididymis ; 5, 5, beginning of the epididymis. 



vessels and delicate connective tissue, called the tunica vasculosa, or pia 

 mater testis. 



Lodged in the cavities formed by the trabeculae of connective tissue, 

 are the seminiferous tubes, in which the male elements of generation are 

 developed (see Plate XV, Fig. 2). These tubes exist to the number 

 of about eight hundred and forty in either testicle and constitute almost 

 the entire substance of the lobules. The larger lobules may contain five 

 or six tubes, the lobules of median size, three or four, and the smallest 

 enclose sometimes but a single tube. Each tube presents a convoluted 

 mass, which can be disentangled under water, particularly if the testicle 

 is macerated for several months in water with a little nitric acid. The 

 entire length of the tube when thus unravelled is about thirty inches 



