436 CLINICAL APPLIED ANATOMY. 



infected. Pain also in the inguinal canal may indicate an 

 inflamed condition of that part of the vas which lies therein. 



The sub-mucosa of the urethral wall is abundant, hence the 

 marked swelling which occurs in urethritis, leading, not in- 

 frequently, to an obstruction of the channel and acute reten- 

 tion of urine. In relieving such retention by the use of a 

 catheter, one of a large size should be employed, so as to press 

 aside the swollen mucous membrane, and not to pierce the soft 

 tissue. 



Stricture of the Male Urethra. The urethra in the male 

 commences at the internal meatus at the neck of the bladder, 

 the lowest part of the trigone, and ends at the external meatus 

 at the termination of the glans penis. Between these two points 

 in the adult the prostatic portion measures a little more than 

 one inch, the membranous a little less than one inch, and the 

 penile about five inches. It is therefore obvious that a catheter 

 to reach the bladder by way of the urethra, and to project into it, 

 must be at least eight inches in length for the fully-developed 

 male. 



The channel is narrowest at the external meatus, this being 

 a vertical slit. An instrument which will pass through this 

 aperture will traverse any portion of the rest of the normal 

 urethra, even the membranous part which comes second in 

 narrowness. Just within the external meatus is a wide area of 

 the urethra, owing to the fossa navicularis found in its floor, and 

 in the roof the lacuna magna, in which the tip of a small catheter 

 may be caught. 



Numerous mucous glands open, in depressions or lacunae, into 

 the distal portion of the penile urethra. It is these pits 

 which are so liable to be hiding places for micro-organisms, 

 particularly the gonococcus, and casts of these sulci often appear 

 in urethritis, being washed out by the flow of urine. 



In the bulbous portion of the urethra just below the anterior 

 layer of the triangular ligament may be seen the openings of 

 the ducts of Cowper's glands, the glands themselves being 

 situated between the two layers of the ligament, on either side 



