152 



PROSTATE GLAND. 



to the vesiculae seminales of man ; bat in the 

 hare as an uterus for the reception of semen, 

 as the female uterus receives the ovule. 

 A more minute examination of this hag 

 strengthens this conviction. Its orifice is 

 transverse, and represents an os tinea; in the 

 arrangement of its labia ; 2dly, there is an 

 evident distinction in the mucous lining of its 

 neck and fundus, it being arranged in five or 

 six longitudinal folds, so as to form a true 

 arbor vitae, and seems covered with muscular 

 fibres. The following are the deductions of 

 Huschke : 1st, That the utriculus is a male 

 uterus; 2dly, that it is originally a recep- 

 tacle of seminal fluid ; 3dly, that its develop- 

 ment is in the inverse ratio of the develop- 

 ment of the vesiculas seminales and prostate 

 gland in man ; 4thly, that it is a vestige of a 

 structure existing in the foetus, and in man 

 is really of no use whatever. 



Cuvier has described a long membranous 

 canal with a spherical extremity, situated be- 

 tween the two vasa deferentia in the solipeds. 

 This long bag opens on to the urethra, in 

 front of the common orifices of the vasa defe- 

 rentia and vesiculae seminales, rather to the 

 left side. A fluid of the consistency of honey 

 can be squeezed out of it. This is evidently 

 the utriculus. 



In an interesting case of hypospadias, a 

 case peculiarly favourable for the investiga- 

 tion, Professor Theile, of Berne, most care- 

 fully examined the utriculus, and described 

 its anatomical relations. 1 take the following 

 account of this examination from the first 

 number of the " British and Foreign Medico- 

 Chirurgical Review:" " The scrotum con- 

 tained two testicles ; the vasa deferentia, 

 vesiculae seminales, and prostate gland were 

 present. The latter was fourteen lines long, 

 eight and a- half thick, and sixteen broad. Theile 

 found a canal originating in the usual opening 

 on the utriculus, run backwards for an inch 

 and a half, ending in a cul-de-sac four lines in 

 diameter, and placed between the two vasa 

 defertntia; this canal (vesica prostatica), with 

 the exception of its anterior part, did not lie 

 within the prostate, but below or behind this 

 gland. Besides this structure, a small, oval, 

 glandular body, five lines long, four broad, and 

 two thick, was found behind, lying between 

 the vesica prostatica and the prostate itself; 

 it did not appear that this substance was 

 continuous with the substance of the prostate, 

 although this continuity might have existed 

 and escaped detection. Examined by the 

 microscope, this body presented an aggrega- 

 tion of cells and vesicles, which were much 

 more easily seen in it than in the proper pros- 

 tate. Theile regards this body, lying closely 

 upon the vesica prostatica, as a middle lobe of 

 the prostate. In order to ascertain the rela- 

 tion of the ductus ejaculatorius with the 

 vesicle, a wax injection was thrown into the 

 lower part of the vas deferens. On a careful 

 examination, it was found that the ejaculatory 

 duct did not open into the utriculus, but was 

 only closely applied to its lateral wall, and 

 then penetrated into the urethra in the usual 



place." In this case the membranous portion 

 of the urethra opened into a normal bulbous 

 portion. 



Professor Theile also gives an account of 

 another case of hypospadias, " dissected by 



Fig. 106. 



e, utriculus prostaticus, from Muller's Archiv. 



the elder Soemmerring, in which the urethra 

 and scrotum were fissured, the testicles re- 

 maining in the abdomen. Between the glands 

 and the anus two openings were found, 

 separated by a partition of about one line in 

 breadth. That next the penis was the orifice 

 of the urethra ; the latter led into a canal, into 

 which a quill could be passed. It was an 

 inch and a half long, and when inflated it was 

 nearly as large as the little finger, and was 

 situated between the bladder and rectum, but 

 nearer to the former. Soemmerring laid open 

 the canal towards the rectum, and it appeared 

 like ' an alveus communis,' into which the 

 vesiculae seminales opened. When quicksil- 

 ver was injected into the vasa deferentia, it ran 

 partly into the vesiculae seminales, but partly 

 into this pouch." " The existence in the male 

 of a central sac or canal, occupying precisely 

 the same relation to the orificium urethrae, the 

 bladder, and the rectum, as the vagina in the 

 female, is particularly elucidative ; and, among 

 other facts, for which we are indebted to em- 

 bryological research, further corroborates the 

 conclusion of the most scientific anatomists of 

 the present day, that every variety of so-called 

 hermaphroditical malformation is referrible to 

 an abnormal condition, either of the male or 

 of the female organs, existing singly, and but 

 rarely conjoined in the same individual." 



