The Triangular Ligament of the urethra assists the preceding purposes.
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Testicles.—The testicles are two glandular oval bodies suspended in the scrotum. They furnish the male seed. They are supported by what is called the Spermatic Chord, which consists of the spermatic artery that supplies the testicle with arterial blood, whence the semen is concocted; the veins that return the superfluous blood, and the tube that conveys the semen to the urethra. The testicles are very liable to inflammation, and particularly to changes resulting from the wear and tear of human life—changes that not simply produce pain or inconvenience, but those whereby the power of the organs becomes partially if not wholly lost. A rather ample description of their complicated structure will show the necessity of attending to the earliest symptoms of disturbance. The testicles, in embryo, are lodged in the belly, but they gradually descend, and usually are found in the scrotum at birth. There are occasional exceptions, when one or even both testicles do not descend, but are retained in the groin. Mr. Hunter considered that their virility was thereby impaired, although such an opinion is negatived by numerous illustrations. The non-descent of the testicle, necessarily from its confined situation when in the groin, can not be so fully developed as where it is allowed to range in the scrotum. It is also exposed to accidents when retained, and cases have occurred where Hydrocele, a disease to be noticed hereafter, has ensued, producing much inconvenience, and occasionally the same has been mistaken for rupture. The testicles have several coats. The Scrotum should be considered as one, which is merely a continuation of the common integuments, exceedingly elastic, nearly destitute of fat, and possessing a peculiar contractile power of its own, whereby it can closely embrace the testicles, and at other times yield or become distended, as in hernia or hydrocele, to the size of a melon. The contractile powers of the scrotum have been assigned to the supposed presence of a muscle, which is merely a thickened cellular membrane, and called Dartos. It was stated that the testicles were suspended by their spermatic chords—their support is rendered more perfect by the presence of a muscle to each, that descends into the scrotum, and which is called the Cremaster—it is an expansion of one of the muscles of the abdomen, called the internal oblique, and it spreads itself umbrella fashion around the chord, over the upper part of the testicle, and its fibres extend ray-like over the other coats of the testicle—its office is to draw up the seminal organs during procreation.
The testicles, thus suspended, have two coats, one adhering closely, and the other loosely surrounding the former—between the two, a lubricating fluid is secreted, whereby the various movements of the body are permitted without injury; it is between these coats that water is secreted occasionally, constituting the disease known as hydrocele. The closely fitting coat is termed from its whiteness and density Tunica Albuginea—the other Tunica Vaginalis. These coverings are formed of that extensive membrane in the abdomen called the Peritonœum. The Tunica Albuginea which surrounds the testicle previous to its descent, accompanies it into the scrotum, propelling, as it were, the Tunica Vaginalis before it. On the descent of the testicles into the scrotum, the opening through which they passed becomes impermeably closed.
The annexed diagram will explain the coats and facilitate the understanding of subsequent descriptions.
| 1. Body of the Testicle. 2. Epididymis. 3. Vas Deferens. 4. Spermatic Artery. 5. Veins. 6. Cremaster Muscle 7. Tunica Albuginea. 8. Tunica Vaginalis. 9. Scrotum. 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8 constituting the Spermatic Chord. View larger image |
1. Body of the Testicle.
2. Epididymis.
3. Vas Deferens.