Observations on the structure and diseases of the testis / by Sir Astley Cooper.

  • Astley Cooper
Date:
1830
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the structure and diseases of the testis / by Sir Astley Cooper. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    which covered the testis whilst still in the abdomen. It is very thin, and is soon incorporated with the surface of the tunica albuginea, from which it can be separated only to a small extent; but as it is a serous membrane, it renders the outer part of the tunica albuginea a secreting surface. The tunica albuginea is by dissection farther divisible into two layers or portions. The outer tunic is fibrous, tendinous, and inelastic, resembling the sclerotic coat of the eye, and external portion of the dura mater ; and, like other tendinous structures, it is endowed with but little vascularity. It is strong and inelastic, to protect the tender tubular substance of the testis from violence ; for the most severe blow or pressure rarely injures it whilst sus- pended in its natural situation : and although extravasations of blood into the tunica vaginalis are not uncommon, yet the testis generally escapes any severe injury; as blows inflicted upon the eye, produce great ecchymosis in its neighbourhood, yet how rarely is the eye itself ruptured ! The inner coat or layer of the tunica albuginea I should call the tunica vasculosa; for in it the spermatic artery ramifies. It is easily separated by dissection from the outer layer, excepting at the anterior edge of the testis, where some of the internal ligamentous cords are fixed ; but it may be entirely separated from the outer layer of the tunica albuginea, so as to form a separate preparation, enclosing the tubuli, and leaving the outer
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