REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS IN THE MALE. 299 



organ, but interlace radially toward its center, form- 

 ing a network in whose meshes the glandular parts are 

 located. Areolar tissue and blood-vessels accom- 

 pany the muscle tissue. The alveoli of the glands 

 are lined by simple columnar epithelium, which 

 sometimes show two rows of nuclei. These alveoli 

 contain a serous acid coagulum and usually oval 

 laminated concretions called prostatic bodies. The 

 latter are more numerous in old men. The numer- 

 ous excretory ducts unite to form twelve to fifteen 

 collecting tubes which open into the urethra, most 

 of them into the prostatic sinus. These ducts are 

 lined by simple columnar epithelium, except near 

 their terminations where it is transitional. The 

 organ dorsal or in front of the urethra is mostly 

 smooth muscle tissue. 



In old people the prostate gland frequently hyper- 

 trophies and produces urethral stricture with reten- 

 tion of urine. Prostatectomy or the removal of the 

 lateral lobes, usually corrects this defect, but is a 

 serious opera-tion on account of the commonly feeble 

 condition of these patients. Vasectomy, a much 

 simpler operation, sometimes gives satisfactory re- 

 sults, but is not to be relied upon. 



Couuper's glands are a pair of small oval bodies 

 about the size of a pea, situated in the space between 

 the triangular ligaments and in close proximity to 

 the membranous portion of the urethra. They are 

 compound tubulo-alveolar mucous glands lined by 

 simple cubical epithelium. Their excretory ducts, 

 one for each gland, are one and one-half inches long 



