VESICULA PROSTATICA. 
1420 
each other ; or it is even, as Weber found it, 
completely closed. In the same manner 
Gurlt found that the Weberian organ, instead 
of opening by a special aperture, sometimes 
communicated with one or other of the eja¬ 
culatory ducts. The lower end of the tube 
is considerably dilated for a length of 1 to 
3 inches. Above, this dilated part gene¬ 
rally passes into a narrow cylinder, which 
Ruminantia. — In the Llama, which pos¬ 
sesses a heart-shaped parenchymatous pro¬ 
state, I have been unable to find either a 
median, single, opening into the commencement 
of the uro-genital canal, or a Weberian organ. 
But, on the other hand, one finds a very dis¬ 
tinct rudiment in the new-born male deer.* 
Here it courses as a single cord-like thread 
in the peritoneal fold between the two eja- 
Fig. 878. 
Weberian Organ of the Ass (reduced in size.) 
a, a, Vasa deferentia, with the seminal vesicles, b, b; c, Weberian organ. 
sometimes attains a length of 5 to 7 inches, 
and then divides into tw’o short and usually 
unequal horns. Not unfrequently this upper 
part is, as was observed by Leydig and seen by 
myself, a simple solid thread. In the instance 
described by Weber the cavity was altogether 
absent ; and an absence of the whole Webe¬ 
rian organ has been observed by Leydig. 
In the male ass I have also seen a very con- 
derable Weberian organ {fig. 878), the^existence 
of which I was first made aware of by Berg¬ 
mann. It is here a straight canal, four and a 
half inches long, which ascends in the peri¬ 
toneal fold between the two ejaculatory ducts, 
and divides at its extremity into two, much 
wider, horns. These have blind ends, and a 
length on the right side of 5, on the left of 9, 
lines. There is no opening into the uro¬ 
genital canal, but the lower end has a vesi¬ 
cular dilatation of four lines in length, and 
is separated by a longitudinal fold into two 
blind sacs lying close behind each other. 
dilatory ducts until finally it bifurcates at 
about an inch from the place of their inser¬ 
tion. It is only during the earlier stage of 
embryonic life that I have been able to find 
a cavity and its opening: in the new-born in¬ 
dividual the Weberian organ is already ob¬ 
literated and solid. Some larger and smaller 
hydatidous vesicles which are found in its 
course, and especially at the site of its bifur¬ 
cation, are the only relics of this its earlier 
condition. 
The same form of Weberian organ is re¬ 
peated in the goat ; but its development seems 
here to be very variable. I examined a large 
number of genitals, which had been preserved 
some time in spirit. In all, the Weberian 
organ was of considerable size and develop¬ 
ment. Nevertheless I have reasons for the 
conjecture that this is not the rule, and that 
* See my description in the Göttingische Gelehrte 
Anzeige, 1848, No. 174.