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.