1028 



THE MALE REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS 



rarely absent, lias about the same dimensions, but is usually sessile and flattened, 

 and may be subdivided into two or three lobes. It is believed to correspond to the 

 upper end of the Falloijian tube, and to be a relic of the Miillerian duct (page 

 1057), the fatal structure from which are developed the most important parts of the 

 internal genitals of the female. 



Another relic, called the paradidymis, or organ of Giraldes, probal)ly derived 

 from the Wolfhan body (page 1056), is seen over the lowest portion of the 

 spermatic cord immediately above the head of the epididymis. It consists of coiled 

 tubules, blind and dilated at both ends, lying beneath the visceral layer of the 

 funicular portion of the tunica vaginalis. It usually has the appearance of a white 

 or yellowish irregular patch about one-fifth of an inch in diameter. Any of these 

 embryonic structures may give rise to cystic tumors, and the aberrant tubes are 

 probably not an uncommon source of origin of true spermatic cysts containing 

 seminal fluid. 



Fig. 624.— Vasa Deferentia and Vesicul^ Semixales. (After Sappey. 



EJACULATORY DUCT 

 SINUS POOULARIS 



VERUMONTANUM 

 ORIFICE OF EJACULATORY DUCT 



AMPULLA OF VAS DEFERENS 



UNION OF VESICULA WITH VAS 



EJACULATORY DUCT ENTERING 

 PROSTATIC FISSURE 



MEMBRANOUS URETHRA 



VAS DEFERENS 



ORIFICE OF SINUS POCULARIS 

 LOWER END OF VERUMONTANUM 



VESICULA SEMINALIS 



The testicle remains small until the period of pubert}'-, and then, together Avith 

 the penis and prostate, it begins to undergo rapid development; but in some cases its 

 evolution is arrested before it has attained its full dimensions, and this is particu- 

 larly liable to occur when its descent into the scrotum has been intercepted, or when 

 a varicose dilatation of its veins appears before adolescence. In old age it usually 

 loses much of its functional activity, but this is not invariably the case. 



The VAS DEFERENS is the continuation of the tube of the epididymis, and 

 extends from the globus minor to the prostatic portion of the urethra. In the lower 

 part of its course it is slender and tortuous, but it l)ecomes thicker and straighter as 

 it ascends along the })ack of the epididymis (testicular stage), and attains its full 

 size before it reaches the top of the organ. From this point it is the principal 

 element of the spermatic cord, and runs upwards almost vertically as far as the 

 external inguinal ring (funicular stage); entering the inguinal canal, it runs 

 obliquely outwards, upwards, and slightly backwards to the internal ring (inguinal 

 stage). It then quits the associated vessels of the cord, and, winding around the 

 origin of the deep epigastric artery to the inner side of the external iliac artery and 



