The Inguinal Region. 185 



fascia, immediately to the inner side of the internal ring 

 and runs upwards and inwards from the middle of Pou- 

 part's ligament, towards the umbilicus. The internal 

 oblique has to be drawn upwards and outwards to expose 

 the ring, and, Turck, of Chicago, showed, from the exam- 

 ination of fifty cadavers, that the internal oblique arose, 

 on an average, from the outer four-fifths of the ligament, 

 in the female, and from the outer two-thirds, in the male, 

 and that the internal ring derives its greatest strength 

 from this muscle. Where the cord emerges from the ring, 

 it has prolonged over it, a portion of the transversalis fas- 

 cia, forming the iufiindibuliform process. The abdom- 

 inal rings are connected by means of the inguinal canal, 

 but, just as these rings, in the normal condition, are 

 neither rings nor openings, neither is the inguinal canal, a 

 canal or tunnel. The cord forms a part of the abdominal 

 parietes, though it did not occupy this position until the 

 latter months of foetal life, yet, it would be just as appro- 

 priate to say, that the last rib rests in a canal in the ab- 

 dominal wall, as to say that the spermatic cord does. It 

 is potentially a canal, capable of being converted into one, 

 in the pathological condition of rupture, but, since there 

 are no better terms in use, we still call them rings and 

 fcanal. The inguinal canal, then, is about one and a half 

 inches in length and extends from the internal ring to the 

 external. It has above it, the arching of the fibres of the 

 internal oblique and transversalis; below, is the junction 

 of the transversalis fascia with Poupart's ligament; in 

 front, are the aponeurosis of the external oblique, a por- 

 tion of the internal oblique, along with the superficial fas- 

 cia and the integument ; behind, are the fascia transversalis, 

 the conjoined tendon, the triangular ligament, the 

 subserous areolar tissue, and the peritoneum. Con- 

 tained in the canal is the spermatic cord, and the 



