PROSTATE GLAND. 157 



Fig. 163.* From these vesicles or modified 



follicles, originate many excretory 

 canals, which unite together so as 

 to constitute about twelve ^ucts, 

 that open into the urethra by the 

 sides of the caput gallinaginis. 

 Loder asserts that there are 

 from thirty-two to forty-four of 

 these excretory ducts but this is 

 probably an error. I have sought 

 for these ducts in several cases where they were so much en- 

 larged from catarrhal inflammation of the bladder, as to admit 

 the end of a small probe, without being able to detect more 

 than the number above mentioned. The whole structure of 

 the prostate appears to be that of a compound mucous gland, 

 designed to throw a lubrifying rnucus in great abundance into 

 the urethra, at the spot where the urine first enters it, in its 

 passage outwards. 



The substance of the prostate, in which these ducts and 

 vesicles are placed, is not exactly understood. It is of a whitish 

 appearance, very dense, distensible and yet easily lacerated. 

 The superior face of the prostate is in contact with the anterior 

 ligaments of the bladder ; its inferior with the rectum to which 

 it adheres. It is overlapped by the rectum upon the sides 

 when the latter is distended with feculent matter ; laterally it 

 corresponds to the levator ani muscles ; by its base, it corres- 

 ponds to the neck of the bladder; and by its apex or anterior 

 extremity to the membranous portion of the urethra. Its dis- 

 tance from the skin of the perineum, measuring from a point an 

 inch in front of the anus, varies, according to Dupuytren, from 

 two to three inches and a half, as the subject is thin or fat. 

 The prostate belong to the urethra, and not to the bladder 

 as students generally suppose. The urethra passes through it 

 near the centre, and this portion of it is called the prostatic 

 portion of the urethra. The prostate gland is about an inch in 



* Section of the prostate gland magnified. a, a, The two lobes separated, b, 

 Excretory ducts. p. 



VOL. II. 14 



