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THE BULBOURETHRAL GLANDS 1253 



the urogenital diaphragm, which invests the prostate and the commencement 

 of the membranous portion of the urethra; and by the anterior portions of the 

 Levatores ani, which pass backward from the pubis and embrace the sides of 

 the prostate. These portions of the Levatores ani, from the support they afford 

 to the prostate, are named the Levatores prostatse. 



The prostate is perforated by the urethra and the ejaculatory ducts. The 

 urethra usually lies along the junction of its anterior with its middle third. The 

 ejaculatory ducts pass obliquely downward and forward through the posterior 

 part of the prostate, and open into the prostatic portion of the urethra. 



Structure. The prostate is immediately enveloped by a thin but firm fibrous capsule, 

 distinct from that derived from the fascia endopelvina, and separated from it by a plexus 

 of veins. This capsule is firmly adherent to the prostate and is structurally continuous with 

 the stroma of the gland, being composed of the same tissues, viz.: non-striped muscle and fibrous 

 tissue. The substance of the prostate is of a pale reddish-gray color, of great density, and not 

 easily torn. It consists of glandular substance and muscular tissue. 



The muscular tissue according to Kolliker, constitutes the proper stroma of the prostate; 

 the connective tissue being very scanty, and simply forming between the muscular fibers, thin 



abeculse, in which the vessels and nerves of the gland ramifj'. The muscular tissue is arranged 

 as follows: immediately beneath the fibrous capsule is a dense layer, which forms an investing 

 sheath for the gland; secondly, around the urethra, as it lies in the prostate, is another dense 

 layer of circular fibers, continuous above with the internal layer of the muscular coat of the 

 bladder, and blending below with the fibers surrounding the membranous portion of the urethra. 

 Between these two layers strong bands of muscular tissue, which decussate freely, form meshes 

 in which the glandular structure of the organ is imbedded. In that part of the gland which is 

 situated in front of the urethra the muscular tissue is especially dense, and there is here little or 

 no gland tissue; while in that part which is behind the urethra the muscular tissue presents a 

 wide-meshed structure, which is densest at the base of the gland that is, near the bladder 

 becoming looser and more sponge-like toward the apex of the organ. 



The glandular substance is composed of numerous follicular pouches the lining of which fre- 

 quently shows papillary elevations. The follicles open into elongated canals, which join to form 

 from twelve to twenty small excretory ducts. They are connected together by areolar tissue, 

 supported by prolongations from the fibrous capsule and muscular stroma, and enclosed in a 

 delicate capillary plexus. The epithelium which lines the canals and the terminal vesicles is of 

 the columnar variety. The prostatic ducts open into the floor of the prostatic portion of the 

 urethra, and are lined by two layers of epithelium, the inner layer consisting of columnar and 

 the outer of small cubical cells. Small colloid masses, known as amyloid bodies are often found 

 in the gland tubes. 



Vessels and Nerves. The arteries supplying the prostate are derived from the internal 

 pudendal, inferior vesical, and middle hemorrhoidal. Its veins form a plexus around the sides 

 and base of the gland; they receive in front the dorsal vein of the penis, and end in the hypogastric 

 veins. The nerves are derived from the pelvic plexus. 



The Bulbourethral Glands (Glandulse Bulbourethrales ; Cowper's Glands). 



The bulbourethral glands are two small, rounded, and somewhat lobulated bodies, 

 of a yellow color, about the size of peas, placed behind and lateral to the membran- 

 ous portion of the urethra, between the two layers of the fascia of the urogenital 

 diaphragm. They lie close above the bulb, and are enclosed by the transverse fibers 

 of the Sphincter urethrse membranacese. Their existence is said to be constant: 

 they gradually diminish in size as age advances. 



The excretory duct of each gland, nearly 2.5 cm. long, passes obliquely forward 

 beneath the mucous membrane, and opens by a minute orifice on the floor of the 

 cavernous portion of the urethra about 2.5 cm. in front of the urogenital diaphragm. 



Structure. Each gland is made up of several lobules, held together by a fibrous investment. 

 Each lobule consists of a number of acini, lined by columnar epithelial cells, opening into one 

 duct, which joins with the ducts of other lobules outside the gland to form the single excretory 

 duct. 





