The works of Francis Maitland Balfour, Volume 1 (of 4) : $b Separate memoirsBalfour, Francis M. (Francis Maitland)
Science
The works of Francis Maitland Balfour, Volume 1 (of 4) : $b Separate memoirs
Balfour, Francis M. (Francis Maitland)
Embryology; Zoology
There is at _pd_, the segmental duct of the kidneys, opening in front (_o_)
into the body-cavity, and behind into the cloaca, and there are a series of
convoluted segmental tubes (_st_), each opening at one end into the
body-cavity, and at the other into the duct (_pd_).
The next important change which occurs is the longitudinal division of the
segmental duct of the kidneys into Müller's duct, or the oviduct, and the
duct of the Wolffian bodies or Leydig's duct. The splitting[31] is effected
by the growth of a wall of cells which divides the duct into two parts
(fig. 3, _wd._ and _md._). It takes place in such a way that the front end
of the segmental duct, anterior to the entrance of the first segmental
tube, together with the ventral half of the rest of the duct, is split off
from its dorsal half as an independent duct (vide fig. 2, _x_).
Footnote 31: This splitting was first of all discovered and an
account of it published by Semper (_Centralblatt f. Med. Wiss._
1875, No. 29). I had independently made it out for the female a
few weeks before the publication of Semper's account--but have
not yet made observations about the point for the male.
My own previous account of the origin of the Wolffian duct
(_Quart. Journ. of Micros. Science_, Oct. 1874, and this
edition, Paper V.), is completely false, and was due to my not
having had access to a complete series of my sections when I
wrote the paper.
[Illustration: FIG. 3. TRANSVERSE SECTION OF A SELACHIAN EMBRYO
ILLUSTRATING THE FORMATION OF THE WOLFFIAN AND MÜLLERIAN DUCTS BY THE
LONGITUDINAL SPLITTING OF THE SEGMENTAL DUCT.
_mc._ medullary canal; _mp._ muscle-plate; _ch._ notochord; _ao._ aorta;
_cav._ cardinal vein; _st._ segmental tube. On the one side the section
passes through the opening of a segmental tube into the body-cavity. On the
other this opening is represented by dotted lines, and the opening of the
segmental tube into the Wolffian duct has been cut through; _wd._ Wolffian
duct; _md._ Müllerian duct. The Müllerian duct and the Wolffian duct
together constitute the primitive segmental duct; _gr._ The germinal ridge
with the thickened germinal epithelium; _l._ liver; _i._ intestine with
spiral valve.]
The dorsal portion also forms an independent duct, and into it the
segmental tubes continue to open. Such at least is the method of splitting
for the female--for the male the splitting is according to Professor
Semper, of a more partial character, and consists for the most part in the
front end of the duct only being separated off from the rest. The result of
these changes is the formation in both sexes of a fresh duct which carries
off the excretions of the segmental involutions, and which I shall call the
Wolffian duct--while in the female there is formed another complete and
independent duct, which I shall call the Müllerian duct, or oviduct, and in
the male portions only of such a duct.
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