534 TBE ABTEBIES. 



small curvature of the colon; the other branches, which are destined for 

 the terminal part of that viscus and the rectum, ramify in the intestinal 

 membranes without having previously formed any arches. 



The anterior ramuscule of the first branch anastomoses directly with tha 

 artery sent to the small colon by the great mesenteric, and from this 

 anastomosis results the first colic arterial arch. 



5. Benal or Emulgent Arteries. (Fig. 275, 2.) 



These are two arteries, one for each kidney, detached laterally, and at a 

 right angle, from the abdominal aorta, near the great mesenteric artery ; 

 passing outwards to the internal border of these organs, each divides 

 into several branches, which enter the gland either by its notch or by its 

 inferior face. Eeaching the interior of the kidney, these branches subdivide, 

 and form a network of large vessels placed on the limit between the cortical 

 and medullary substances, from which a multitude of ramuscules are given 

 off, and pass almost exclusively into the tissue of the cortical portion. (See 

 the description of the kidneys.) 



The right renal artery, longer than the left, passes between the small 

 psoas muscle and the posterior vena cava, to reach the right kidney. Both 

 arteries are in relation with the posterior extremity of the supra-renal 

 capsules. 



Eemarkable for their relatively enormous volume, when compared with 

 that of the glands receiving them, these arteries do not, before penetrating 

 the proper tissue of the kidneys, give oif any but a few unimportant 

 ramuscules, the principal of which proceed to the supra-renal capsules 

 (Fig. 275). Other twigs from the great mesenteric artery, or even from the 

 aorta itself, also supply these small bodies. It is not unusual to find 

 the kidneys receiving vessels from the arteries in their vicinity. Thus, we 

 have seen an artery from the external iliac pass into a kidney by its lower 

 face ; and we have also observed an artery, detached from the aorta along 

 veith the great mesenteric, enter the kidney by its anterior border. 



6. Spermatic Arteries. 



These arteries differ in the male and female ; in the male they are 

 -also named the great testicular arteries ; in the female they are exclusively 

 designated as the utero-ovarian arteries. 



Geeat Testicular Aetbry (Fig. 275, 3).— This arises close to 

 the small mesenteric artery, either before, behind, or to one side of it, but 

 rarely on the same level as the artery of the opposite side ; it is then 

 directed backwards and downwards, sustained, with its satellite vein, in a 

 particular fold of peritoneum, and reaches the entrance to the vaginal sheath 

 (internal abdominal ring), into which it is seen to pass with the other 

 constituent portions of the spermatic cord, and to descend on the testicle 

 by forming remarkable flexuosities united in an elongated mass. Arrived 

 within the head of the epididymis, this artery insinuates itself under the 

 tunica albuginea, becomes incrusted, as it were, in its substance, and 

 successively passes round the superior border, posterior extremity, and the 

 inferior border and anterior extremity of the testicle. In this course it is 

 very sinuous, and detaches at a right angle a large number of equally 

 flexuous branches, which creep over the faces of the organ while sending 

 numerous ramuscules into its structure. The epididymis also receives its 

 blood by this artery. 



