310 EXTERNAL GENERATIVE ORGANS, BY E. KLEIN. 



corpuscles, and surrounded by connective tissue, which may be 

 regarded as belonging to the lymphatic system. 



From the nerve trunks lying external to the albuginea 

 smaller branches extend into the corpora cavernosa, where 

 they first appear as medullated, and in their further course as 

 non-medullated, fibres. They proceed from the plexus caver- 

 nosus of the sympathetic, and to a smaller extent from the 

 nervi pudendi, the greater portion of the fibres of which 

 are distributed to the skin and the mucous membrane of the 

 urethra. 



Groups of fat cells and Pacinian corpuscles are distributed 

 in the loose tissue surrounding the albuginea. The latter 

 occur alike in the root and shaft of the penis, and in the vicinity 

 of the corona glandis. They have been seen by Schweigger- 

 Seidel at a distance of from eight to ten millimeters behind 

 the posterior border of the glans. They all present an elliptical 

 form, with their long axes arranged parallel to that of the 

 penis. Their axis-cylinders are very broad, and do not divide 

 at the apex of the corpuscles. I have myself observed them 

 in the corpus cavernosum of the crus penis. 



In the corpus cavernosum penis the muscular fasciculi are 

 collected into a longitudinal layer of 0'09 of a millimeter in 

 thickness, lying externally to the albuginea, which is con- 

 tinuous by means of oblique fasciculi with the muscular 

 bundles of the corpus cavernosum lying internal to the albu- 

 ginea. This external muscular layer is only partially and 

 feebly developed on the corpus cavernosum urethrse, and is 

 therefore to be regarded as a special layer belonging to the 

 corpus cavernosum penis, and especially developed on its 

 dorsum and sides. The muscular trabeculse stretched between 

 the vascular spaces, and bounding the latter, consist partly of 

 longitudinal, partly of oblique, and partly of circular fasciculi, 

 which consequently decussate in various directions. 



The individual muscular fibres are very short in proportion 

 to the length of their nuclei. 



The bloodvessels of the corpora cavernosa are arteries, 

 capillaries, veins, and a close plexus of spaces bounded by 

 muscular fasciculi, and lined by tesselated epithelium the 

 corpus cavernosum, in the proper sense of the word. 



