On the Wolffian bodies of the foetus, and their remains in the adult : including the development of the generative system / by William Mitchell Banks.

  • William Mitchell Banks
Date:
1864
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the Wolffian bodies of the foetus, and their remains in the adult : including the development of the generative system / by William Mitchell Banks. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    bodies in a state of atrophy. lu snakes they certainly do exist, as Rathke has pursued his researches on this sub- ject mainly on the Coluber natrix. In birds, the Wolffian bodies can be very readily exa- mined, appearing in them on the third day of incubation, and increasing till they extend along the sides of the vertebral column from the heart to the posterior extre- mity of the body.' Mtiller^ iigures them as composed of CEecal tubes, running in a lateral direction, and bound to- gether by an excretory duct, which opens at each side into the cloaca. He further particularly notices, that in the female, in addition to this excretory duct, a special oviduct (Fallopian tube) is provided, to which he found no corresponding structure in the male, for in it the ex- cretory duct of the Wolffian body at once formed a junc- tion with the testicle by means of certain vasa efferentia. It is of importance to bear in mind this statement of Miiller, because, as will afterwards be seen, his views in regard to the conduct of these bodies and their ducts in the mammalia are very different, whereas, according to the most recent opinions, should his own statement about birds be correct, a distinct homology can be traced be- tween them and the mammalia as regards the develop- ment of these structures. My own observations have been made almost entirely upon the sheep, although I have also examined a good many calves and pigs. I could never obtain a human specimen early enough to shew the Wolffian bodies, but I have examined human foetuses from about the fifth month upwards, in connection with their remains. The period of gestation in the sheep is about nineteen weeks, but I am sorry to say that I never could obtain any correct infor- mation as to what might be the various ages of the foetal ' Muller's Pliysiology, translated by Baly, vol. ii. 1G64.
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