VESSELS AXD NERVES OF THE TESTIS. 975 



These ejaculatory ducts serve to convey the fluid contained in the seminal 

 vesicles and vasa defereutia into the urethra. 



VESSELS AND NERVES OF THE TESTIS. 



The testicle and its excretory apparatus receive blood-vessels and nerves 

 from different sources from those which supply the coverings of those parts. 



The spermatic artery, or proper artery of the testicle (p. 414), is a slender 

 and remarkably long branch, which arises from the abdominal aorta, and 

 passing down the posterior abdominal wall reaches the spermatic cord, and 

 descends along it to the gland. In early foetal life its course is much shorter, 

 as the testis is then situated near the part of the aorta from which the artery 

 arises. As the ves-el approaches the testicle, it gives off small branches to the 

 epididymis, and then divides into others which perforate the tunica albuginea 

 at the back of the gland, and pass through the corpus Highmorianum ; some 

 spread out on the internal surface of the tunica albuginea, whilst others run 

 along between the lobes of the testis, supported by the fibrous processes of 

 the mediastinum. The smallest branches ramify on the delicate membranous 

 septa between the lobes, before supplying the seminiferous tubes. 



The vas deferens receives from the superior vesical artery a long slender 

 branch which accompanies the duct, and is hence named the deferent artery 

 or artery of the vas deferens (p. 421). It ramifies on the coats of the duct, and 

 reaches as far as the testis, where it anastomoses with the spermatic artery. 



The spermatic veins (p. 473) commence in the testis and epididymis, pass out 

 at the posterior border of both, and unite into larger vessels, which freely com- 

 municate with each other as they ascend along the cord, and form a plexus, 

 named the pampiniform plexus. Ultimately two or three veins follow the 

 course of the spermatic artery into the abdomen, where they unite into a 

 single trunk, that of the right side opening into the vena cava, and that of 

 the left into the left renal vein. 



The lymphatics (p. 495) accompany the spermatic vessels and terminate in 

 the lumbar lymphatic glands, which lie about the large blood-vessels in 

 front of the vertebral column. According to Ludwig and Tomsa, they begin 

 in a large network of spaces which completely fills the intervals between the 

 tubuli seminiferi. According to Henle, these intervals are occupied by 

 granular matter, which he compares with the contents of nerve-cells, and 

 which abounds in rounded nuclei. (Ludwig and Tomsa, in Sitzungsberichte 

 d. Kaiserl. Akad. Vienna, 1862.) 



The nerves are derived from the sympathetic system. The spermatic 

 plexus (p. 701) is a very delicate set of nervous filaments, which descend 

 upon the spermatic artery from the aortic plexus. Some additional fila- 

 ments, which are very minute, come from the hypogastric plexus, and 

 accompany the artery of the vas deferent. 



The vesiculse seminales receive branches from the inferior vesical and middle 

 hsemorrhoidal arteries. The veins and lymphatics correspond. The nerves 

 belong to the sympathetic system, and come from the hypogastric plexus. 



The semen is a thick whitish fluid, which consists of a liquor seminis, and of certain 

 solid particles. It is the combined product of the testes and accessory generative 

 glands, the former secreting spermatozoa, and little more fluid than is necessary to 

 convey these ; the latter diluting this secretion with additional fluid. 



The liquor seminis is colourless, transparent, and of an albuminous nature. It con- 

 tains floating in it, besides squamous and columnar epithelium cells, oil-like globules 

 and minute granular matter, seminal granules (Wagaer), and the spermatozoa or 

 spermatic filaments. 



