, THE PROSTATE GLAND. 427 



said to be chiefly distributed to the upper part of the bladder, whilst the spinal 

 nerves may be traced more directly to its neck and base. According to Kisseleer, 

 the neiTes form a net-^-ork immediately under the epithelium, from which 

 filaments pass amongst the epithelium cells. Gangliated plexuses of nerves 

 accompany the blood-vessels, and send branches both to these and to the muscular 

 coat of the bladder (F. Darwin). 



THE UEETHEA. 



The ni-Gthra is 'a membranous tube directed in the median line first 

 Torticallj and then from behind forwards, beneath the arch of the 

 juibes, in whicli situation it opens in the female into the vulva, while in 

 the male it is enclosed in the corpus spongiosum, and prolonged beneath 

 the corpora cavernosa penis. In the female, it serves simply as the 

 excretory passage for the urine ; in the male, it conducts also the 

 seminal fluid. The detailed anatomy of the male and female urethra 

 M-ill be given with that of the organs of generation of the respective 

 sexes. 



EEPRODUCTIYE OEGANS. 



I. IX THE MALE SEX. 



TJkder this head are included — 1, the testes or reproductive glands, 

 with their excretory apparatus, and their integumental and other cover- 

 ings in the scrotum; and, 2, the uro-geuital canal or urethra, together 

 with certain accessory parts, such as the prostate and Cowper's glands. 

 The second group of these organs, being most nearly related to 

 those which have gone before, will be first described. They are all 

 closely connected with the urethra, which in the male is at once 

 the outlet for the urine from the bladder and the products of secre- 

 tion from the sexual glands. This canal, extending from the neck 

 of the bladder to the extremity of the penis, is surrounded in its 

 first part In- the prostate gland, and there receives the excretory ducts 

 of the testicles and vesicular seminales ; its second part passes through 

 the triangular ligament of the perineum ; the canal is then surrounded 

 by the bulb and cylindrical part of the spongy body as it passes along the 

 perineum and penis, and lastly it goes through the glans of that organ. 



THE PKOSTATE GLAND. 



The jyrostafe filand is a firm, glandular, and muscular body, some- 

 what resembling a chestnut in shape and size, which adjoins the neck 

 of the bladder, and encloses the first part of the urethra : it is placed in 

 the pelvic cavity, on the inner aspect of the subpubic fascia, and rests 

 posteriorly upon the rectum. Its form may be compared to that of a 

 short cone flattened anteriorly, with its base in contact with the 

 bladder, and cut obliquely, so that its posterior or rectal surface is 

 larger than its anterior or pubic surface. It usually measures about an 

 inch and a half across at its widest part, an inch and a quarter from its 

 base to its apex, and nearly an inch in depth or thickness. Its ordi- 

 nary Aveight is about six drachms. 



The anterior or pubic surface of the prostate is flattened and marked 



