SPHINCTER MUSCLE. 131 



of the bladder, by four tendons two on each side, one of 

 which comes from the pubic bone, and the other from the ramus 

 of the ischium, and spread out as they ascend over the anterior 

 surface of the bladder to the upper fundus. They then con- 

 verge as they descend on the back part of the organ. Some of 

 these descending fibres may be traced by very careful dissection, 

 to an insertion in the back part of the prostate gland ; others 

 into the fasciae covering the surface of the gland. A small deli- 

 cate band of fibres, according to Harrison, enters the notch at the 

 base of the gland, into which it is sometimes inserted, but can 

 frequently be traced forward between the mucous membrane 

 and the gland, in front of which it is attached by a delicate 

 tendon, at the lower part of the seminal caruncle or caput 

 gallinaginis. The office of this strip of fibres, is, he thinks, 

 to depress the uvula, and thus open the neck of the bladder, 

 and to draw down the seminal caruncle, (which he considers a 

 vascular erectile body like the glans penis,) into the cavity which 

 surrounds it, called sinus pocularis, out of the way of being 

 irritated by the urine. The fibres which cover the prostate 

 gland, connect it with the bladder in urination, and probably 

 force out its mucus to lubrify the passages. 

 There has been much contrariety of opinion among anatomists 

 of reputation, in regard to the existence of a sphincter muscle 

 at the neck of the bladder, arising from the colorless appearance 

 and reticulated character of the fibres of the part. 

 Those who deny the existence of a sphincter, as Bichat, 

 Cloquet, Marjolin, consider the neck of the bladder made up of 

 elastic fibro-ligamentous tissue, continuous with the longitudinal 

 fibres, and which expands under the action of the detrusor 

 muscle, to give passage to the urine. Those who admit the 

 existence of a sphincter, as C. Bell, Meckel, Horner, Harrison, 

 etc., describe it, however, very differently. 



The inferences drawn from diseased conditions of the organ, 

 are evidently much in favor of the existence of a muscular 

 sphincter; viz. the paralysis and incontinence of urine, resulting 

 from affection of the brain or spinal marrow, and the spasmodic 

 closures of the neck in strangury, resulting from neighboring 

 disease, or the acrimonious qualities of the urine. 



