RUDIMENTARY ORGANS. 253 



bearing to the smaller tubules the relation of the back of a comb to its teeth. 

 The transverse tubules are the remains of the sexual tubules of the Wolffian 

 body; the common canal, the ductus longitudinalis , is closed at both ends 

 and represents a persistent portion of the Wolffian duct. The longitudinal 

 duct may be interrupted and connected with the tubules in groups, or, on 

 the other hand, it may be prolonged as Gartner's duct far beyond its usual 

 length. In the child, the transverse tubules (-3-.4 mm. in diameter) usually 

 possess a lumen, but later in life they may undergo partial or complete 

 occlusion and may be the seat of cysts. The walls of the tubules and duct 

 consist of a fibrous coat, which sometimes contains bundles of unstriped 

 muscle, lined with a single layer of epithelial cells that vary in form from 

 low cuboid to columnar and occasionally bear cilia. 



Gartner's duct results from the more or less extensive persistence of 

 portions of the Wolffian duct that usually disappear by the end of foetal life; 

 it is, therefore, a continuation, direct or interrupted, of the longitudinal duct 

 of the epoophoron. When complete, as it very exceptionally is, the duct 

 continues from the epoophoron, along the oviduct and the side of the uterus, 

 to the lower end of the vagina. Such extensive persistence is unusual, 

 Gartner's duct being mostly limited to the lower part of the body and the 

 upper cervix of the uterus. The canal is lined with a single layer of 

 columnar epithelium and beset with uncertain lateral diverticula, which may 

 be short branched tubules resembling glands. Accumulations of secretion 

 within the duct or its diverticula may lead to the production of cysts. 



The paroophoron is an inconspicuous rudimentary organ, distinct at 

 birth but usually disappearing after the second year, that lies within the 

 broad ligament between the epoophoron and the uterus. It consists of a 

 small irregularly round group of blind canals, lined with a single layer of 

 columnar epithelium, that often resemble the Wolffian tubules, which struct- 

 ures, in fact, they represent. A second group of similar rudimentary tubules 

 lies lateral to the epoophoron. It is this group, perhaps, that should be 

 regarded as the paroophoron proper and the homologue of the paradidymis 

 in the male. The tubules may be the seat of cysts. 



The vesicular appendages include the small vesicles or hydatids 

 attached to the broad ligament by longer or shorter stalks. They comprise 

 two groups, the one being represented by the conspicuous long-stalked 

 hydatids of Morgagni and the other by the smaller vesicles, varying in form 

 and size, connected by short sterns. The hydatid of Morgagni is a spheri- 

 cal or pyriform thin-walled sac, that contains a clear fluid and usually 

 measures from 4-8 mm. in diameter. The vesicle is attached by a slender 

 stalk, from 1.5-4 cm - l n g> to the anterior surface of the broad ligament 

 and is continuous with the upper blind end of the longitudinal duct of the 

 epoophoron. The hydatid consists of a fibrous coat, lined by a single layer 

 of columnar epithelium, and covered 'externally by a delicate prolongation 

 of peritoneal tissue. The small vesicles are attached to the anterior surface 

 of the broad ligament, usually over the epoophoron. The origin and mor- 

 phological significance of the vesicular appendages have occasioned much 

 discussion, but it may be accepted as established that the hydatid of 

 Morgagni is derived from the upper end of the Wolffian duct, and is, 

 therefore, the equivalent of the appendage of the ep*ididymis. The 

 smaller vesicles, which correspond in structure with the larger one, 

 probably owe their origin to the distention and elongation of some of the 

 transverse tubules of the epoophoron, and, hence, are derivations of the 

 Wolffian tubules. 



