64 



contractes within the acinus. It appears to be of a granular nature 

 and contains a large number of small rounded bodies, the presence 

 of which forms one of the distinctive characters of the secretion of 

 this gland as compared with that of the true prostate. So far as I 

 am aware no mention has hitherto been made of these bodies, and 

 OuDEMANS does not represent them in his figure. Griffiths describes 

 "a great many small round cells resembling leucocytes" as present in the 

 prostatic secretion. I have not been able to demonstrate them in the 

 prostate gland. Their shape for the most part is circular ; exceptionally, 

 oval forms are met with. In size they vary and at times appear 

 somewhat larger than the nuclei of the functional cells, though very 

 slightly so. They are, perhaps, less frequent in the simple unplicated 

 acini than in those which have a convoluted epithelium. Their affinity 

 for nuclear stains is very marked and is much greater than that of 

 the nuclei of the secreting cells themselves. These bodies will receive 



further attention later. 

 Another type of acinus, 

 in addition to the one 

 just discussed, is pre- 

 sent and appears to be 

 characteristic of the 

 glands under discussion. 

 These acini (Figs. 1 — 3&) 

 differ very markedly 

 from the simple acini 

 already discussed. The 

 appearance of these 

 pecuHar tubules as I 

 have found them in a 

 mature hedgehog is as 

 follows. In the place 

 of the single layer of 

 cylindrical cells, which 

 line the ordinary secret- 

 ing tubules, the epi- 

 thelium is composed of polyhedral cells many layers deep, usually from 

 six to eight (Figs. 2 and 3) but sometimes more. The cell outlines are 

 difficult to determine and the nuclei, which are relatively large as com- 

 pared with the cell bodies, are for the greater part circular, though 

 some are slightly oval. The small size of the cells, as compared with 

 the nuclei, gives to the whole mass a very crowded appearance. The 



Fig. 1, A section of the so-called Cowper's gland 

 from a full-grown and sexually mature animal killed in 

 July. Low magnification, a simple acinus lined by a 

 single layer of cylindrical cells, b the multi-layered type 

 of acinus, c extruded nuclei in the secretion. 



