1978 



HUMAN ANATOMY. 



Fig. 



Muscle cell 



^Small concretion 



of the colliculus. Beginning at their narrow orifices, tfiese excretory tubules (ductuli 

 prostatici) pass outward into the lobules, and after a course of about i cm. divide into 

 tubules that repeatedly branch and expand into the terminal alveoli. Throughout the 

 greater part of their course the wavy ducts are beset with saccular and tubular diver- 

 ticula, simple or compound, that give the canal an irregular lumen and constitute what 

 have been termed the duct alveoli as distinguished from the terminal alveoli. The 

 latter form a series of irregularly branched tubular and saccular spaces lined with a 

 single or imperfect double layer of columnar epithelial cells, — the secreting elements of 

 the gland. In places the alveoli intercommunicate and form net-works of spaces of 

 variable lumen. The epithelium in the ducts and their di\'erticula corresponds with 

 that lining the more deeply situated alveoli, the change into the transitional variety 

 of the prostatic urethra not taking place until very near the termination of the ducts. 

 Peculiar concretions ( ' ' amyloid bodies' ' or " prostatic calculi' ' ) are almost con- 

 stantly present within some of the tubules of the adult organ, especially in advanced 

 life. These bodies (Fig. 1683), round or oval in outline and very variable in size 

 (from .2-1 mm. and more in diameter), usually exhibit a faint concentric striation 



and a light brownish color. 

 Their nature is uncertain, 

 but they probably consist of 

 a colloid substance giving 

 protein reactions. 



The secretio?i of the 

 prostate gland {sticciis 

 prostaticiis) is milky in ap- 

 pearance, thin in consist- 

 ence, slightly alkaline in 

 reaction, and possesses a 

 characteristic odor ( Fiir- 

 bringer). It is discharged 

 into the urethra and min- 

 gled with the fluid enter- 

 ing by the seminal ducts 

 during ejaculation, and 

 probably ser\es an impor- 

 tant purpose in facilitating 

 and perhaps stimulating 

 the motility of the sper- 

 matozoa. The "sperm 

 crystals' ' formed in semen 

 after standing, and attributed to the products of the prostate, are not found in the 

 secretion of the living subject (although frequently present in the gland after death) 

 until after the addition of ammonium sulphate (Fiirbringer). 



Vessels. — The arteries supplying the prostate are small branches from the 

 inferior vesical and middle hemorrhoidal. They enter the periphery of the gland at 

 various points, particularly in company with the ejaculatory ducts, and break up into 

 capillary net-works that surround the alveoli. The veins are exceedingly numer- 

 ous, forming close mesh-works within the glandular tissue and around the ducts. 

 They leave the organ on either side and unite into a plexus within the capsule, which, 

 receiving the deep dorsal veins of the penis and communicating with trunks from the 

 bladder, seminal vesicles, and rectum, is continued as the prostatico-vesical plexus, 

 tributary to the internal iliac veins. The lymphatics are numerous and form a net- 

 work on the lower and posterior surface of the organ from which on either side pass 

 two trunks, a superior and a lateral. The upper and smaller trunks are afferent to 

 the obturator lymph-nodes of the pelvic wall, and the lateral and larger terminate in 

 the internal iliac nodes (Sappey). 



The nerves of the prostate are chiefly sympathetic fibres derived from the 

 hypogastric plexus, numerous minute ganglia being included along their course. 

 Peripherally situated Pacinian corpuscles are said to be connected with the sensory 

 fibres (Griffiths). 



Epithelium 

 lining alveoli 



Interalveolar 

 tissue 



Blood-vessel 



Portion of section of prostate gland, showing details of alveoli. 



X 270. 



