SITUATION OF THE RECTUM. 



857 



still lower, it quits the intestine altogether, and is reflected forwards to 

 ascend upon the back of the bladder in the male, and of the upper part of 

 the vagina and the uterus in the female. In passing from the rectum to 

 the bladder, the peritoneum forms a cul-de-sac, or recto-vesical pouch, 

 which extends downwards between the intestine and the bladder to within 

 an inch or more from the base of the prostate, and is bounded on the sides 

 by two lunated folds of the serous membrane. 



Fig. 601. 



Fig. 601. VERTICAL SECTION OP THE PELVIS AND ITS VISCERA IN THE MALE 

 (from Houston). | 



This figure is introduced to illustrate the form, position, and relations of the rectum ; 

 it also shows the bladder and urethra with the pelvic inflection of the peritoneum over 

 these viscera : r, r, r, the upper and middle parts of the rectum, and at the middle 

 letter the fold separating the two; r a, the lower or anal portion ; v, the upper part of 

 the urinary bladder ; v', the base at the place where it rests more immediately on the 

 rectum ; p, the prostate gland and prostatic portion of the urethra ; b, the bulb ; c c, 

 the corpus cavernosum penis and suspensory ligament ; s c, the divided tissue within the 

 scrotum. 



Below the point where the peritoneum ceases to cover it, the rectum is 

 connected to surrounding parts by areolar tissue, which is mostly loaded 

 with fat. In this way it is attached behind to the front of the sacrum and 

 the coccyx, and at the sides to the coccygei and levatores ani muscles. In 

 front, it is in immediate connection with a triangular portion of the base of 

 the bladder ; on each side of this, with the vesiculse seminales ; and farther 

 forwards, with the under surface of the prostate. Below the prostate, 

 wLere the rectum turns downwards to reach the anus, it becomes invested 

 by the fibres of the internal sphincter, and embraced by the levatores ani 



