[191] EXERCITATIO QUARTA.
De infundibulo.

4th exercise
The infundibulum

PROXIMA uteri gallinae pars infundibulum a Fabricio nominatur. Est enim tanquam infundibulum seu tuba, ab ovario (quod undique complectitur) deorsum tendens; sensimque latior facta, in superiorem uteri productionem terminatur. Infundibulum hoc vitellis (abruptis pedunculis) ex ovario in uterum secundum (ita a Fabricio censetur) descendentibus transitum praebet: estque similis vaginali tunicae[1] in scroto, membrana tenuissima facileque dilatabili constans, ut devolutos quotidie vitellos excipiat et in dictum uterum deferat.

The following part of the uterus of the hen is called infundibulum by Fabrizi*. In fact it is like a funnel or a trumpet which goes downwards from the ovary (which it completely embraces), and after it becomes a little bit wider, it ends in the upper prolongation of the uterus. This infundibulum offers the transit to the yolks going down from the ovary (after the peduncles have broken) into the second uterus (so it is called by Fabrizi); and it is similar to the vaginal tunic of the scrotum, the former being constituted by a very slim and easily dilatable membrane with the purpose to house the yolks daily going down and to make them to arrive in the aforesaid uterus.

Cupis harum rerum specimen aliquod? Finge animo pusillam plantam, cuius radices tuberosae, vitellorum congeriem referant; et truncus, tubulum illum vaginalem: Ut plantae illius [192] stipites hieme moriuntur et evanescunt; ita similiter, ubi gallina ova parere desierit, integrum ovarium, cum infundibulo (ceu effoeta) exarescunt, retrahuntur et abolentur; relicto duntaxat fundamento, radicumque indicio.

Do you want an example of these structures? Imagine a small plant whose roots full of protuberances represent the heap of the yolks and the trunk represents that tubule structured as a scabbard. Like the branches of that plant in winter die and fade away, likewise, when the hen stopped to lay eggs, the whole ovary together with the infundibulum (as if they became sterile) dry up, withdraw and abase themselves, leaving only the base of the cluster and a clue of the roots.

Infundibulum hoc, solummodo transitus officium praestare, vel ex eo constat, quod vitellus in eo haerens nunquam deprehendatur: sed quemadmodum testiculi interdum per vaginalem tunicam sursum repunt in inguina, et quibusdam animalibus, ut lepori et talpae, intra abdomen reconduntur; rursusque prodeunt, et descendunt; ita per infundibulum hoc, vitelli ab ovario in uterum delabuntur; vicemque illius infundibuli supplet, uti formam refert, quo liquores e vase in vas aliud strictioris orificii transfundimus.

That this infundibulum carries out only the function of transit, results from the fact that the yolk is never found adherent to its inside, but as sometimes the testicles through the vaginal tunic by crawling climb up to the groins, and in some animals, as hare and mole, they go up inside the abdomen, and again they come out and go down, so through this infundibulum the yolks from the ovary slip in the uterus. As far as the shape is concerned, the role performed by such infundibulum corresponds to that of that funnel with which we pour liquids from a vase in another vase endowed with a narrower opening.