A systeme of anatomy, treating of the body of man, beasts, birds, fish, insects, and plants illustrated with many schemes, consisting of variety of elegant figures, drawn from the life, and engraven in seventy four folio copper-plates. And after every part of man's body hath been anatomically described, its diseases, cases, and cures are concisely exhibited. The first volume containing the parts of the lowest apartiments of the body of man and other animals, etc. / by Samuel Collins ...

CHAP. II. Of the Testicles.

LIndenius, is of an opinion, That the Arteries relating to the Testicles, * 1.1 do exceed the Veins in Magnitude, which if granted, is different from the Arteries, dispensed through other parts of the Body: And I con∣ceive, the reason is this, Because the Blood is impelled with greater force through the Arteries, and the retrograde motion of the same Blood in quan∣tity being more slow in the Veins, must necessarily imply them to be more large, or more numerous at least, to give a due reception to the Blood, else the Circulation of it cannot be made good through the Veins. Perhaps it may be true, as this Learned Author will have it, in some Salacious Per∣sons, who are a kind of Monsters in Nature, as having the Arteries greater then the Veins; but this is a great rarity, as it is very evident to Autopsy.

Paraeus giveth an account of an Old Man, * 1.2 that was Hanged and Disse∣cted, in whom was found but one Preparing Artery. Sicut ait ille, Anno. 1598. Cadaver senis suspensi, qui venas quidem spermaticas circa initium ha∣bebat bifidas, Arteriam autem Spermaticam non nisi unam, ex medio Trunco ortam, decuplo majorem vulgaribus, duabus recta in Parastatas desinentes, hic quum annum ageret 67. tam erat faecundus, ut uxorem relinqueret gravidam, & cum duodecem Liberis. And the reason of the successful endeavours of the Old Man in point of Propagation, Pawius attributeth to the greatness of the Spermatick Artery: * 1.3 But I conceive it more probable to assign the cause of his fruitfulness of the Seminal Liquor, and laudable disposition of the Testicles, to the Hypogastrick Artery, transmitting a Branch into the Testicle, to supply the defect of the Spermatick Artery, which should have proceeded from the Descendent Trunk of the Aorta.

The use that Doctor Glysson assigneth to the Spermatick Arteries, * 1.4 is only to impart heat to the Testicles, and nothing in reference to generate the Seminal Matter. But with the permission of this Learned Author, the Preparing Arteries, do contribute to the production of the Semen, by reason they transmit a Serous and Chymous Liquor, associated with the Fibrous parts of the Blood, into the Testicles, wherein a separation is made of the delicate, the Crystalline Liquor, and Milky parts not assimilated into Blood; which I conceive, is the Materia Substrata productive of Seminal Liquor, which is generated in great quantity in Lustful Persons, highly indulging Venery, and cannot totally proceed from Nervous Liquor, moving very slowly, and in small quantity, between the Filaments of the small Nerves, belonging to the Testicles. But of this, with your leave, I will take the freedom to give a more full account in a subsequent Discourse, concerning the generation of Seminal Liquor.

Having discoursed the Origen and Progress of the Preparing Arteries, * 1.5 it followeth in course to Treat of their Associates, the Spermatick Veins, which do equal the Arteries in number, and exceed them in bigness, as it is manifest in most Men, according to Ocular Demonstration, to any Per∣son, that curiously enquireth into the secrets of Nature.

The right preparing Vein, * 1.6 taketh its rise out of the Trunk of the Cava † 1.7 (somewhat under the Emulgent Vein) out of which it ariseth for the most part in a single Origen, and rarely in a double.

The left Spermatick Vein, * 1.8 issueth out of the middle of the Interior Regi∣on, belonging to the Emulgent Vein † 1.9, and sometimes the Spermatick Veins do borrow their beginning in both sides, from the Emulgent Veins.

The Spermatick Veins, before they quit the lowest Apartiment, are ren∣dred fruitful in many Divarications, some of which do spring out of their Origination, and are dispersed into the Caul, and Rim of the Belly; and others here and there associate again, * 1.10 and afterward send forth many Branches, which pass in great Gyres toward the Testicles, and make the Pyramidal body, which being cut off four or five Fingers breadth above the Testicles, you may plainly discover the Cavities of the Vessels. So that, as Learned De Graaf will have it, If you put a Blow-pipe into one of the Veins, the Branches will swell immediately; which hath so far imposed upon some over-credulous Anatomists, as to make them believe upon this account, that the Veins have Inosculation with the Arteries; which cannot at all be evin∣ced by this Experiment, because the Branches of the Spermatick Arteries, having no immediate entercourse with the Veins, are not puffed up by the inflation of them, so that the Arteries remain lank, as unconcerned in the Dilatation of the Veins, when they are blown up with enspired Air.

In the Spermatick Veins, * 1.11 two or three Remarks do occur: The first is, That their inward Region is beset with many Valves, not only about their egress near the Cava, and Emulgent Veins, but also through their whole progress toward the Testicles, as so many Locks to promote the streams of Blood in their current upward toward the Cava, and to bound its recourse downward toward the Testicles.

The second observable is, * 1.12 That these Veins are often defaced with vari∣cose Tumors, chiefly about the Valves, produced as I conceive, by a gross Mass of Blood, which stopping about the Valves, doth enlarge the Coats of the Veins, and render the Pyramidal body knotty, and Varicose.

The third remark is, * 1.13 which divers Antient Anatomists have not observed: That the Veins do not keep the same uniform progress with the Arteries, which in them is more straight; but the course of the Veins is more crooked, and full of Labyrinths, by reason they emit great variety of Branches up∣ward, and do terminate within the Membranes, resembling the Tendrels of Veins; whence the former Anatomists have stiled these Plexes of nume∣rous Veins Corpus Pyramidale, and Pampiniforme.

The use of the Spermatick Veins, * 1.14 is to reconvey the superfluity of Blood, after it hath been serviceable to the Testicles upward, into the great Trunk of the Cava, and afterward into the right Auricle, and Chamber of the Heart, to enoble the Vital Liquor with Spirituous and Saline Particles, received from the Testicles; which make the Blood more active and vivid, imparting vigor and strength to the whole Body. So that Persons upon Castration, made destitute of these useful parts, which speak them perfect Men, lose their chearful Manly Looks, and their noble parts grow faint and languid, and are bereaved of their gay Temper, and daring Courage, gal∣lantry of Mind, Strength, and Activity of Body, as well as the excellency of the Intellectual Faculties. * 1.15

Thus having Treated of the Spermatick Arteries, separately in their single Capacities, I will now, with the leave of the worthy Reader, make bold to speak somwhat, how they are in Association, and make their progress

toward the Testicles; which are each of them endowed with an Artery, and a Vein, which though they be disjoyned near the Kidneys, yet after∣ward they approach each other and unite, and make some small Flexures, encompassed within each others soft embraces, which are made so close by the mediation of a Membrane, derived from the Peritonaeum, that they can scarce admit any parting without Laceration.

Sattsmannus, in his Anatomical Observations, * 1.16 made a description of three Humane Bodies, in which he discovered the left Artery, arising out of the Trunk of the Aorta, a little under the Emulgent, not to enter im∣mediately into confaederacy with the Spermatick Veins, but to ascend first toward the Emulgent Vein, and afterward overtopping it, did twine about its surface, and then descend into association with it, to the Groins, where they enter into society with a small Nerve, a Branch of the Par Vagum, derived from a Plex lodged in the lowest Apartiment.

Sometimes the Spermatick Arteries and Veins being in conjunction with the Spinal Nerve, springing out of the 21 pair of Vertebral Nerves, * 1.17 and with the Cremaster Muscle, do pass out of the Cavity of the more free Abdomen, into the more straight enclosure of the Scrotum, through a Process, which is a production of the outward Membrane of the Peritonaeum, making a case in which the Spermatick Vessels and Testicles are lodged, as in a secure Repository.

And the Spermatick Vessels in their passage are secured, * 1.18 and tied to each other by the interposition of many small Membranes and Nerves, and when they land and enter into the Testicles, they part company, and the Arte∣ries are partly dispensed into the Parastats, and partly into the Testicles, and for the most part creep under the proper Coat, immediately encircling the Testicles, making Flexures, sometimes toward the right side, and sometimes toward the left, after the manner of a Roman S, and emit numerous Branches into the body of the Testicles, and at last unite in a common Duct, and afterward quit the Duct, and have recourse to the Ambient part of the Testicles.

The Spermatick Veins into small Branches, * 1.19 are entangled with the Ar∣teries, and interwoven with each other, after the manner of a curiously wrought Network; and the Veins do not only accoast each other in super∣ficial embraces, but have a more intimate converse by mutual Inosculations, * 1.20 by a perforation made through the Coat of one Vein into its associate, wherein they hold an entercourse by the transmission of Vital Liquor, out of one Vein into another.

But on the other side, the Preparing Arteries, contrary to the opinion of many Anatomists, do not Inosculate with Veins: Perhaps divers have been mistaken, by reason the Spermatick Arteries are frequently in conjunction with the Spermatick Veins, which is no true Anastomosis, because the as∣sociation of the Arteries and Veins is only superficial; and there is no Aper∣ture interceding those Vessels of different kinds, so that they have no near correspondence with each other, by the transfusion of Liquor out of the Ar∣teries into the Veins, if they were related to each other by mutual Inosculati∣ons. And this may be rendred clear Experimentally, by making a Ligature up∣on the Preparing Vessels near the Testicles, and a quantity of Liquor being emitted into the Trunk of the Spermatick Artery above, the Arterial Branches grow big below, and at the same time none of the venal Branches are at all concerned in this Injection, as keeping the same uniform Dimensions they had before; and if the Ligature of the Spermatick Vessels be taken off,

and Liquor be freely injected by a Syringe into the Arterial Trunk above, the Liquor will descend gradually into the Testicles, and from thence be reconveyed into the Veins, and afterward fill the Branches of the Pyrami∣dal body, and no way affect the Arteries associated with them.

And it doth not only contradict Experience too, * 1.21 that the Preparing Ar∣teries should have Inosculations with the Veins, but also being supposed, this ill Consequence will follow; that the Blood descending out of the Trunk of the Aorta, into the Spermatick Arteries, would from thence be immedi∣ately impelled through the Anastomosis, into the Veins: So that the course of the Vital Liquor would be so far intercepted, as not at all to be poured into the substance of the Testicles, whereupon they would not communicate the Serous and Chymous Particles to the Parenchyma of the Testicles, where∣in they are to be severed from the Red Crassament of the Blood, as a subject matter of Genital Liquor.

The structure of the Testicles, which discriminates a Man from the other Sex, is the subject of our present Discourse, as they are encircled with ma∣ny Tunicles, beautified with an elegant Figure, composed of a uniform substance, and various Vessels, and enobled with an excellent use.

The Tunicles, * 1.22 or Coats, investing the Testicles differ in largeness, stru∣cture, and fineness: Vesalius, Diemerbroeck, Westlingius, and most Anato∣mists, have enumerated only Four; but Columbus and Lindanus, have given out a fifth, and have been more curious in their Phancy, then Nature in her Production; and have made two of one Coat. And therefore I will insist in the steps of most Anatomists, in assigning only four Tunicles enwrap∣ping the Testicles, which being framed together, do represent a Purse (con∣sisting of outward thicker stuff, furnished with many Linings) the Cabbanet of two precious Stones.

These Tunicles may admit another division of common and proper, * 1.23 of which the first is External, vulgarly receiving the appellative of Bursa, from the Figure of a Purse, composed of Leather; and from this thick Coat, the whole compage of Tunicles borrow their denomination of Scrotum, which was originally given to any Pouch made of a Skin or Hide, * 1.24 and up∣on this account it is called so in Man: And its outward Skin, called Bursa, is nothing else but a composition of Cutis and Cuticula, of the outward and inward Skin, which is much thinner then in other parts of the Body, ador∣ned with many small Arteries, Veins, and Nervous Filaments, interspersed with fleshy Fibres, curiously interwoven.

This outward Coat is destitute of all Fat: Christopher Riedenger, an Am∣sterdam Chirurgeon, giveth an account of Mr. Martin Schatius, who as the Chyrurgeons conceived, laboured with a Hiernia Intestinalis, which no Art or Industry could so far reduce, but there always remained beside the Te∣sticle, a Tumour as big as an Egg. So that when this Person was Dead, the Chyrurgeon of Amsterdam, being desirous to see the Hiernia, they could not reduce, opened the Body, and more especially the swelled Scrotum, wherein upon a curious enquiry, they discovered a quantity of Fat growing to the bottom of the Scrotum, and some parts of the Ileon fastned to the vagi∣nal Coat, by the interposition of many Fibres.

And I conceive the cause why Nature is so kind to it self, * 1.25 as to deny all Fat to the inside of the Scrotum, is to keep it from a troublesome Extension, which would give a discomposure, and hinder the quickness and ease of Pro∣gressive Motion; and furthermore, this uneasie Lining, if stuffed with Fat, would disorder the Relaxation and Corrugation of it: Which, as I appre∣hend

hend, proceedeth from the various disposition of Carnous Fibres.

This outward thick and rough Coat, * 1.26 is divided into two equal Aparti∣ments by a Suture, or Seam, running the whole length of the Bursa, by which the Scrotum is distinguished into a right and left Region.

The second common Coat, or Vest of the Testicles, * 1.27 is lodged immedi∣ately under the Bursa, stiled Dartos, and taketh its origen from the Membrana Carnosa, a thin Muscular Membrane, dressed with many Carnous Fibres, and accommodated with many Ramulets and Veins, shading this fine Coat, which revive it with the course and recourse of Vital Liquor: And by the help of this Covering, assisted with fleshy Fibres, * 1.28 the neigh∣bouring Coat, called the Bursa, contracteth and purseth up it self, whence it is endued with various Folds and Wrinkles, especially when it is exposed to the cold Air, which causeth the Carnous Fibres to contract themselves, and narrow the dilated Dimensions of the first Coat of the Scrotum. And I have read a History of a Man, who had a power given him by Nature, flowing from the Carnous Fibres, to contract his Scrotum at pleasure; as some Men have a freedom to contract their Foreheads when they please, which proceedeth from the Muscular Fibres, lodged under the Skin in the Forehead.

And it is further observed by Women, skilful in Nursing of Children, * 1.29 that the contraction of the Scrotum, is an emblem of Health and Strength; and they think it an ill Omen in Infants when they Suck, to have a relaxed Scrotum, proceeding from the Muscular Fibres, which are not able to contract the Scrotum, an argument of weakness in the Body.

The proper Membranes, or Vests, more nearly encircling the Testicles, * 1.30 are two: The first is stiled Erythroeides, from its red Colour, as adorned with great variety of Blood Vessels; and thereupon Paulus Aegineta calleth it Capreolaris, as Enameled with divers Vessels, * 1.31 resembling the Minute Branches of Vines. And others call this third Coat Unginalis, as enclosing the Testicles as in a Sheath, * 1.32 derived from the Coat relating to the Rim of the Belly; and to the outward surface of this Tunicle, is conjoyned the Mus∣culus Cremaster dictus, which borroweth its origen from the Ligament of the Os Pubis in Man: And in other Animals, from the Tendons of the transverse Muscles appertaining to the Abdomen, which take their rise from a very obscure Principle, which is scarce discernable, and the Carnous Fibres of this Coat run the whole length of the inferior region of the Vaginal Tunicle; and I conceive these Fibres are auxiliary to those of the Dartos, in order to contract the Scrotum.

The fourth Tunicle of the Testicles, is the Albuginea, * 1.33 which is a very thin Coat, and may be called a fine white vail for its Colour and Contex∣ture, immediately covering the substance of the Testicles, adorned with variety of Vessels, every way exactly complying with the shape of them, and being of a close Compage, do every where encircle the tender frame of the Testicles, to conserve them in their proper place, as in a safe Reposi∣tory, and is very conducive by its mediation, for the better dispensation of the Vessels; which is evident in the Testicles of Calves, in which the San∣guiducts may easily be discerned, to make their progress between the Du∣plicature of this Coat.

The outward surface of this Coat, seemeth to be smooth, as well polish∣ed by Nature, and bedewed with a clear Crystalline Humour, setting a kind of Gloss upon this Tunicle, in which the soft compage of the Testicles are immured, as gently every way fastned to this Albugineous Coat; and to its

upper surface, the preparing Vessels, the Arteries and Veins, and also Nerves and Lymphaeducts, seem first to be conjoyned, and afterward to quit its com∣pany by piercing its Coat, thereby making way into the body of the Testicles.

The use of this Triade of Membranes, * 1.34 is to aray the Testicles, as with so many Vests, to secure them as tender parts, pendulous without the confines of the lowest Apartiment, and thereupon to guard them against the frequent attempts of Cold, * 1.35 and other ill Accidents.

The second use of the Coats, enwrapping the Testicles, is to keep them in a due Balance, lest their weight should force them to fall too low, and stretch their preparing Vessels beyond their due limits, and thereby too much contract their Cavities, and hinder the due Motion of the Blood into the Testicles, and so frustrate the design of Nature, in reviving the chil and faint substance of the Testicles, with the heat and vital spirits of the Blood.

The third use is that of the Dartos, * 1.36 proceeding from the Membrana Car∣nosa, as dressed with many Muscular Fibres, which contracting themselves do narrow the Cavity of the Scrotum, and keep the Testicles in a due posi∣tion, which is most requisite in Coitu, wherein an Excretion is made of the Seminal Liquor, * 1.37 coming out of the Testicles, to supply the emptied Semi∣nal vesicles, after the ejection of Semen. And indeed, the drawing up the Testicles toward the Abdomen, doth not so much proceed from the Corru∣gation of the Scrotum, made by the fleshy Fibres of the Dartos, but from the contraction of the Musculi Cremasteres, which being rendred tense, do pull up the Testicles toward the process of the Rim of the Belly.

The Testicles are endued with a peculiar substance, * 1.38 somewhat different from any part of the Body, and is of a delicate, white and soft Compage; a Systeme made up of an innumerable company of small Vessels, curiously interwoven, Arteries, Veins, Nerves, Lymphaeducts, and Seminal Ducts, as so many Tubes, conveying and reconveying several Liquors, to and fro the Body, and Ambient parts of the Testicles.

The substance of the Testicles, * 1.39 is Spungy and Glandulous, according to Galen, Bauhinus, Fallopius, Spigelius, Westlingius, Maebius, Doctor High∣more, and Doctor Wharton, and many other Antient and Modern Ana∣tomists.

These excellent Twins of Glandulous bodies, * 1.40 are enobled with many sorts of excellent Vessels, whose Interstices are filled up with a delicate white soft Parenchyma, every way adhaering to the Coats of the Vessels.

Others are of an opinion, * 1.41 that the Testicles are accommodated with a Pulpy substance, as Ruffus Ephesius hath affirmed: And Renowned Lindanus hath given his Suffrage also, in favour of this Opinion, Medic. Physiolog. Cap. Sept. de Testibus, Ait ille Pultaceam hanc Testium substantiam sui generis Parenchyma esse. Saith he, This Pulpy substance of the Testicles, is a Paren∣chyma of its kind; and is much akin to the substance of Marrow, as Celsus will have it in his Seventh Book, and Eighteenth Chapter; Testiculi simile quiddam medullis habent. Whence it may be easily inferred, that the sub∣stance of the Testicles is very obscure and intricate, according to Learned De Graaf, who conceiveth, that no Anatomist as yet, hath discovered the true substance of the Testicles, in his Book De Virorum Organis. And to to do him Justice, I will take the freedom to quote his Words: Nam pace eorum dixerimus, nullus hactenus veram Testiculorum substantiam scriptis dilu∣cidavit, immo quod magis est, ne quidem veritatis umbram attigit.

Illi enim qui Testes corpora Glandulosa pronuntiant, vehementer errant; quan∣doquidem in toto Teste, ne minima quidem pars Glandulae conspiciatur, & adhuc magis à veritate aberrant, qui Testiculorum substantiam pelliculosam, vel me∣dullarem indicant, quia nullam cum illa similitudinem obtinent.

And this Learned Author, * 1.42 having denied the substance of the Testicles to be neither Glandulous, Pulpy, nor Medullary, proceedeth to give a far∣ther account of the substance of the Testicles, according to his own Senti∣ments in subsequent words: Qualis igitur sit Testiculorum substantia, si quis nos interroget, eam dicemus nihil aliud esse, quam congeriem minutissimorum vas∣culorum semen conficientium. In which he supposeth, that the substance of the Testicles is nothing else, but an aggregate body of most small Vessels. And I confess this Opinion hath much of reason in it, and doth enervate the Hypothesis of those Learned Anatomists, that assert the substance of the Testicles to be Glandulous, which is very agreeable to the Structure of these parts, which are framed of many Vessels of different kinds, Arteries, * 1.43 Veins, Nerves, and Lymphaeducts; and the Glands of the Testicles have peculiar Seminal Vessels, which cannot be found, in any other Glands of the Body. And therefore those of the Testicles, may upon a good title, assume to themselves the denomination of Glands, as they have a white soft Compage, furnished with great variety of Vessels, con∣sisting of many bodies, different in shape and size; whence the Testi∣cles may be truly stiled Colatories of several Liquors, and thereupon they merit the appellative of Glands; as it will be more clearly set forth hereafter, in a Discourse relating to the use of the Testicles, in order to the percolation of different Liquors, made by variety of Vessels, and more especially by the Seminal Ducts, in reference to the Seminal Matter.

And to prepare the way to vindicate this Assertion, I will make bold to entertain you for the present, with the Description of the different Tubes, the main constituents of the Glands of the Testicles.

The first Vessels that present themselves in order, are the Arteries: * 1.44 Some are of an Opinion, that it is doubtful, whether any Vessels enter into the Compage of the Testicles, or only insert themselves into the proper Tuni∣cle of the Testicles. But Hyppocrates, the great Master of our Art, de∣termines this Controversie, In Libro de ossium Natura, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Venae tendunt juxta 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Musculos ex utraque parte in Testi∣culos. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, are promiscuously used by this great Author, for Arteries and Veins, which do enter into the Testicles: Others, because the Vessels have an obscure ingress into the Testicles, conceive that they are not at all trans∣mitted in their substance, but only lose themselves, and die in the Albu∣gineous Coat, where the Divarications are most discernable, and afterward are difficult to be traced into the body of the Testicles, by reason they are so small, that they evade an ordinary Eye; but in Emaciated Bodies, it is more easie to discover a multitude of small Arteries, transmitted through the whole Compage of the Testicles, which pass under their Albugineous Coat, and then make many Maeanders toward the right and left side of the Testicles, and afterward insinuate their numerous Ramulets into their more inward Recesses, and perforate the common Nervous Channel, and afterward make a Retrograde Progress toward the Circumference of the Testicles.

The Veins do also answer the Arteries, * 1.45 as having a constant entercourse with them, and are very numerous both in the Albugineous Coat, and in the Ambient, and more inward parts of the Testicles, which are garnished with geat variety of venal Branches, as well as Arterial, making many

Divarications, both this and that way, through the whole substance of the Testicles; and their Capillary Extreamities are open to give a reception to the Blood, unuseful to the Testicles, and to reconvey it upward into the Trunk of the Cava, and from thence into the right Cistern of the Heart.

The Testicles have fruitful Nervous Fibres, * 1.46 derived partly from the Par Vagum, and partly from the Spine, and more immediately from the lower Abdominal Plex; as Learned Doctor Wharton hath observed, in which the Nervous Fibres are variously interwoven and conjoyned, and the Nerves springing out of the Plex, do associate with the Arteries and their Divarica∣tions, to secure them from being intangled one with another; and the Nerves, the lower they descend, grow more numerous, and do impart ma∣ny Fibres into Coats investing the Testicles, and at length being propaga∣ted to their Ambient parts, do seem to be expanded into a Membrane, and constitute the Albugineous Coat, from whose upper surface, divers Fibrils are transmitted into the Nervous Ducts, which is a fair Tube composed of them. * 1.47

The Lymphaeducts furnishing the Testicles, are more in large Animals, accommodated with fair Vessels, and do seem to take their rise from the Tunicles encircling the Testicles; * 1.48 but in truth, as I humbly conceive, they proceed from their Glandulous substance, and pass thence to the Coats, and afterward accompany the Veins, and do enter into the Cavity of the lowest Apartiment, and thence take their course toward the Mesentery, and at last discharge their Liquor into the common Receptacle. * 1.49

The Lymphaeducts of the Testicles, as well as Veins, are accommoda∣ted with many Valves, discovered by most Ingenious Mr. Steno, and are rendred very conspicuous, when the Lymphaeducts are big with Liquor, and then these fine Vessels appear as it were joynted and knotty, where the Valves are seated.

Learned De Graaf, * 1.50 a Person very inquisitive into the secrets of Nature, giveth an account of a Memorable Experiment, whereby he rendred the Lymphaeducts of the Testicles more evident, by fastning a Ligature upon the Spermatick Vessels with the Lymphaeducts, at the distance of four Fin∣gers breadth from the Testicles: And in Cattle new killed, a discovery may be made without a Ligature, because the Lymphaeducts do swell, as being full of Liquor, without the assistance of Art; and two days after the Cattel have been flain, the Preparing Vessels being tied, the Lymphaeducts were plainly enlarged upon a gentle handling of the Testicle: Whereupon it may be inferred, that the Lympha, moving upon the soft compression of the Testicle, doth flow from the inward substance of the Testicle.

And the Lymphaeducts being swelled (as this Learned Author hath inti∣mated in Libro de virorum Organis) if they be cut off above the Ligature near the Testicles, no Liquor contained in the Lymphaeducts will destil, be∣cause the Valves hinder the flux of it downward toward the Testicles, but if the Vessels be cut off between the Ligature and the Testicles, whatsoever is contained between the Apertion and the Testicles will ouse out; which plainly argueth, that the Lympha doth flow from the Testicles toward the common Receptacle, and not from the Abdomen toward the Testicles

And these Glandulous bodies, * 1.51 not only adorned with Arteries, Veins, Nerves, Lymphaeducts, but also with other more proper Vessels, then any of these, which make up a great part of the substance of the Testicles, and speak them much to participate of the nature of Glands, and are the princi∣pal ingredients of the Testicles, as being endued with a faculty chiefly pro∣ductive

of the Seminal Liquor, from whence they borrow the title of Se∣minal Ducts, and are a Systeme of many Minute Vessels, that are Colatories, by whose help the more gentle and delicate are separated from the Fibrous; and sharp parts of the Blood, in reference to the production of Semen.

These Seminal Tubes, are Nervous Ducts, * 1.52 taking their rise near the Albu∣gineous Coat, in the ambient parts of the Testicles, and are from thence propagated into then more inward substance toward the common Duct, in∣to which these Seminal Ducts do discharge their Liquor, and then into the Parastars, and Deferent Vessels; which being tied, the motion of the Seminal Liquor, is suppressed toward the Vesicles, the Repositories of it, whereupon the Seminal Ducts grow Tumefied, and offer themselves to the Eye of the Spectator.

Perhaps this Experiment may seem too mean, * 1.53 and unworthy of our Re∣mark, therefore I will propound, if you please, a more easie one, wherein the Seminal Tubes may be seen with less trouble and difficulty, by procu∣ring the Testicles of the greater Dormouse, in which through the Albugi∣neous Coat as being transparent, the white Seminal Vessels may be seen; which being dispoiled of the Albuminous Coat, and thrown into a Bason full of Water, a little stirred up and down, a prospect will present it self as full of pleasure as admiration. So that the whole Compage of the Testicles, seemeth to be framed of innumerable small white Vessels, which appear as clear as Light, without the assistance of Art.

If any Person shall be so curious as to demand the Original of these Se∣minal Ducts, Renowned De Graaf, will ingenuously inform him, that he could never arrive upon a diligent search to the discovery of them, because they are apt to break, when they are traced with a gentle Hand, near their Origen, by reason of their great fineness and tenderness; whereupon the best way to discern the beginning of these white Vessels, may be effected in the Testicles of a Dormouse, through whose transparent Albugineous Coat, you may see the first rise of these Seminal Tubes, near the inside of the albugineous Tunicle in the ambient parts of the Testicles, near the Ex∣treamities of the Spermatick Arteries.

The termination of these Seminal Vessels, are more obvious to the Eye, * 1.54 then their Origination, by reason when they have made many Circumvolu∣tions, they end into six or seven large Ducts, as De Graaf doth conceive. And as Doctor Wharton will have it, they terminate into one common Duct, and afterward make many Gyres, and Spires, resembling those of Serpents, or Eels, when they turn and wind their Bodies into divers Spiral Wreaths, to move from place to place.

The use of these various Maeanders attending the Seminal Vessels, is to bring the Genital Liquor by a slow Motion, performed in these various La∣byrinths of Vessels, to a great Consistence; which being accomplished, * 1.55 the numerous white Vessels discharge their Liquor (as I conceive) into one common Duct, through which it is transmitted into the neighbouring Para∣stats, wherein after some stay, it is receptive of a farther Maturity; whereup∣on it is dispoiled of its Ash-coloured hue, and clothed with a more white aray.

And the Testicles are many Minute Glandulous Bodies, as so many Sy∣stemes of Arteries, Veins, Nerves, Lymphaeducts, and Seminal Tubes, in∣terlined with a white spungy Parenchyma.

Having already Treated of the Origen, Process, Divarications, of all the Vessels, my Concern at this time, is to speak somewhat of the Parenchyma, as an appendant to these numerous Vessels, the Channels of various Liquors.

Many Learned Modern Anatomists, will not allow any Parenchyma at all, asserting all Glandulous Bodies to be aggregated of many Vessels of se∣veral kinds; and because they are invested with a white attire, not wholly made up of Seminal, but of Blood Vessels, Nervous Fibres, and Membranes. But I humbly conceive it probable, * 1.56 which may easily be discovered, that there is another substance beside that of Vessels, which entreth into the composi∣tion of Glands, and is a soft white Affusion, or Parenchyma, a spongy Sub∣stance different from the various Tubes which are of a more solid nature, and also from the Parenchyma of the Viscera, and Muscles, endued with a firm Consistence, and a red Colour.

This Hypothesis of a Parenchyma, is opposed by many eminent Anato∣mists of this Age, and therefore I shall use my endeavours with their leave, to confirm it with some probable Arguments; at last begging their Pardon, if they be not satisfactory, to evince the truth of a Parenchyma, in the Glandulous substance of the Testicles: And though it be not accompanied with Fat, * 1.57 which would enlarge their Bulk to a discomposure, yet they are much lessened in Atrophies, the sad Consequents in Hectick Fevers, and Consumptions: So that the Extenuation of the Testicles, would not attend the Emaciation of the Body, were they not interspersed with a soft delicate substance, adhaering to the Interstices of the Vessels, called Parenchyma. And though I confess, that the Testicles may be lessened by the exhausting of Blood, and Nervous Liquor, caused by unnatural heat in Hectick Fe∣vers, whereby they lose much of their tenseness, and plumpness: Yet I humbly conceive, that the defects of Liquors, would not make so great a diminution of the substance of the Testicles, were they not dispoiled of their Parenchyma (else they would appear more full) which being Colliquated by extraordinary heat, groweth thin and fluid, fit for Motion, whereupon it is received into the Extreamities of the Spermatick Veins, and accompanieth the Blood in its Motion toward the Cava, and right Chamber of the Heart. And furthermore, it is worth our farther remark, that the Viscera (which hold much analogy with the substance of the Testicles as being Glands) have their Parenchyma much lessened in Dimensions in some Chronick Dis∣eases, * 1.58 which doth not proceed so much from the Extenuation of the Vessels and Fibrous parts, but from the Colliquation of the Vital Liquor, adhaering to the outward surface of the numerous Vessels, which being entertained into the Roots of the Veins, incorporates with the Blood to support its decay.

The Parenchyma of the Testicles, * 1.59 may be farther cleared up by the Ex∣periment of Excarnating their Vessels, wherein the Testicles will lose their Magnitude, Figure, and Beauty, when they are divested of their white tender Lining, and then they appear to be a naked Composition, made up of loose disunited parts; whereupon the Vessels growing flabby, and highly defaced, by reason they are stripped of their Union and Ornament, the tender white Pulp filleth up the empty spaces interceding the Arteries, Veins, Nerves, and Seminal Ducts: This Experiment may be celebrated by the long Maceration of the Testicles in fair Water, and afterward they may be divested of their white pulpy Lining, by a gentle scraping, and by frequent washing the Testicles, whereby the Vessels may be parted from their tender allies; so that their compage appears uncouth in the change of Figure and Colour, as bereaved of its Parenchyma.

But it may be, * 1.60 some will inquire into the origen and nature of the Pa∣renchyma, belonging to the Testicles: To which this Reply may be given, That the beginning of this Parenchyma, is originally produced by a viscid Genital Liquor concreted, and accrescing to the sides of the several Vessels, which are the main constituent parts; and the Parenchyma is only a Com∣plement, whose tender Pulpy frame supplieth the place of a soft Bed for their repose.

The Parenchyma of the Testicles, as to the nature of it, is Mucilaginous, * 1.61 and of a clammy white disposition, whereupon it is easily agglutinated to the Testicular Vessels, whose outward surfaces it every way encompasseth, keep∣ing them safe and disintangled in a due position, to conserve the free Mo∣tion of the different Liquors, which would be much disordered, if the Ves∣sels were twined or displaced; which would lessen, if not obstruct the Ca∣vities of the different Tubes, and discompose, if not wholly intercept the Current of various Juices, which ought to move regularly in their different Channels.

And the Parenchyma being of a soft pliable substance, * 1.62 easily insinuates it self between the Vessels, and filleth up their Interstices, which flow from the roundness of their Tubes, whereupon they cannot be closely united, by reason they touch only in some small parts; whence follow those Spaces, which otherwise would remain empty, were they not supplied with this soft tender Matter, adhaering closely to the outsides of the Cylinders, and doth not only line the Interstices of the inward Recesses of the Seminal Ducts, and other different Tubes, but also faceth the ambient parts of the Testicles, and rendreth them even, smooth, and graceful.

But some may ask, * 1.63 How this spungy substance stuffing up the vacuities of the Vessels, is nourished and maintained? To which this answer may be returned, That it is supported by the same principles, or by somewhat ana∣logous to them, of which it is primarily Constituted, which are Particles of Genital Liquor concreted: And I conceive, the Nervous Juice, and the delicate part of Blood, much resembling the Seminal Liquor in nature, do repair the decay of the white soft substance interlining the Vessels; * 1.64 so that when the Serous parts of the Blood, and the Nervous Liquor do pass be∣tween the various Cylinders, some parts are left behind, and being Con∣creted, do Caement the Testicular Vessels one to another, and do detain every Minute Vessel in their proper place, as they are lodged in the easie pliable substance of the Parenchyma, as in a soft Bosome, which may be assigned upon good grounds, as one use of the Parenchyma of the Te∣sticles.

A second use of it may be fetched from the first Elements, * 1.65 as being ori∣ginally produced of Seminal Juice, and also from the Aliment, by which it is restored; the Nervous Liquor, and the more mild parts of the Blood, which do exalt the Parenchyma in their passage, with volatil saline Parti∣cies: So that the Vital Liquor, moveth out of the terminations of the Ar∣teries, into the soft and pulpous interspersions of the Vessels, where it recei∣veth new impraegnations of Spirituous and Saline Particles, whereby it is ren∣dred more fit for Seminal Liquor.

The third use of this delicate substance, * 1.66 interlining the various Tubes of the Testicles, is not only to exalt the gentle parts of the Blood, one In∣gredient of the Materia Substrata of the Semen, but also to give it the ad∣vantage in its Motion through the Parenchyma, to obtain a Secretion of the serous mild parts from the more sharp and fierce, and the more delicate

Minute Particles of the Nervous Juice, from its Recrements, in reference to the production of Seminal Matter, as the main end to which the Testicles are consigned by Nature.

Notes

• * 1.1

  The prepa∣ring Arteries are not grea∣ter then the Veins.
• * 1.2

  A Hanged Man having but one Sperma∣tick Artery, and two Veins.
• * 1.3

  The goodness of the Semen proceedeth chiefly from the good di∣sposition of the Testicles.
• * 1.4

  The use of the Spermatick Arteries.
• * 1.5

  The preparing Veins.
• * 1.6

  The origen of the right pre∣paring Vein.
• † 1.7

  T. 11. ω ω.
• * 1.8

  The rise of the left-p••e∣paring Vein.
• † 1.9

  T. 11. π π.
• * 1.10

  The preparing Veinshave ma∣ny Maeanders in their pro∣gress toward the Testicles.
• * 1.11

  The Valves of the preparing Veins.
• * 1.12

  The vericose Tumours of the prepgring Veins.
• * 1.13

  The preparing Veins have a different course from the Arteries.
• * 1.14

  The use of the Spermatick Veins.
• * 1.15

  The associati∣on of the pre∣paring Arte∣ries and Veins in their pas∣sage toward the Testicles.
• * 1.16

  The left ari∣sing out of the Trunk of the Aorta.
• * 1.17

  The associati∣on of the Spermatick Arteries and Veins, with Spinal Nerve.
• * 1.18

  The Sperma∣tick Arteries are distribu∣ted into Pa∣rastats and Testicles, and make circum∣volutions.
• * 1.19

  The Sperma∣tick Veins and Arteries joyn in the manner of Network.
• * 1.20

  The Inoscula∣tions of the Veins with Veins, and not with Arteries.
• * 1.21

  The Inoscula∣tions of Ar∣teries with Veins, would hinder the ge∣neration of Seminal Li∣quor in the Testicles.
• * 1.22

  The Tunicles of the Testi∣cles.
• * 1.23

  The division of the Tuni∣cles of the Testicles into common and proper.
• * 1.24

  The make of the Scrotum or Burfa.
• * 1.25

  The reason why the Scro∣tum hath no Fat.
• * 1.26

  The Seam of the Scrotum.
• * 1.27

  The second Coat of the Testicles, cal∣led Dartos.
• * 1.28

  The use of the fleshy Fibres of the Dartos.
• * 1.29

  The cotracti∣on of the Scro∣tum in Chil∣dren is a sign of Health.
• * 1.30

  The proper Membranes clothing the Testicles.
• * 1.31

  The first Mem∣brane is called Erythroeides.
• * 1.32

  The second proper coat is stiled Vagina∣lis. The rise of the Cremaster Muscles.
• * 1.33

  The fourth Tunicle of the Testicles.
• * 1.34

  The first use of the proper Membranes of the Testicles.
• * 1.35

  The second use of the coats of the Testicles.
• * 1.36

  The third use of the coats of the Testicles.
• * 1.37

  The action of the Crema∣ster Muscles.
• * 1.38

  The substance of the Testi∣cles.
• * 1.39

  The Glandu∣lous substance of the Testi∣cles.
• * 1.40

  The Paren∣chyma of the Testicles.
• * 1.41

  The pulpy substance of Testicles.
• * 1.42

  The Testicles are Systemes of many Ves∣sels.
• * 1.43

  The peculiar Seminal Ves∣sels of the Testicles.
• * 1.44

  The Sperma∣tick Arteries enter into the substance of the Testicles.
• * 1.45

  The Veins do answer the Arteries in point of en∣tercourse with them.
• * 1.46

  The Nerves of the Testicles, and their rise.
• * 1.47

  The Lymphae∣ducts of the Testicles, and their rise.
• * 1.48

  The Lymphae∣ducts of the Testicles asso∣ciates of the Veins.
• * 1.49

  The Vaives of the Lymphae∣ducts.
• * 1.50

  An Experi∣ment demon∣strating the Lymphaeducts of the Testi∣cles.
• * 1.51

  The proper Vessels of the Testicles, are the chief parts of their Te∣sticles.
• * 1.52

  The rise of the Seminal Ves∣sels of the Testicles.
• * 1.53

  The Experi∣ments to ma∣nifest the Se∣minal Tubes of the Testi∣cles.
• * 1.54

  The extrea∣mities of these Seminal Ves∣sels may be better seen then their Origens.
• * 1.55

  The Seminal Vessels dis∣charge their Liquor into one common Duct.
• * 1.56

  The Paren∣chyma of the Testicles.
• * 1.57

  The bulk of the Testicles is much lessen∣ed in an Atro∣phy.
• * 1.58

  The Paren∣chyma of the Viscera is ve∣ry much les∣sened by the colliquation of Vital Liquor.
• * 1.59

  The Paren∣chyma of the Testicles may be evidenced by the excar∣nation of them.
• * 1.60

  The primary production of the Parenchy∣ma of the Te∣sticles.
• * 1.61

  The nature of the Parenchy∣ma, relating to the Testi∣cles.
• * 1.62

  The Paren∣chyma filleth up the Inter∣stices of the Vessels be∣longing to the Testicles.
• * 1.63

  The nourish∣ment of the Parenchy∣ma of the Testicles.
• * 1.64

  The manner of the producti∣on of Paren∣chyma belong∣ing to the Te∣sticles, and its first use.
• * 1.65

  The second use of the Parenchyma.
• * 1.66

  The third use of the Paren∣chyma.