LENGTH OF THE URETHRA. 169 



The prostatic portion of the canal is of the length of the 

 gland, and varies from fifteen to eighteen lines. It is conoidal 

 in its shape, the base of the cone being on the side of the blad- 

 der, and its narrowest part or apex continuous with the^mem- 

 branous portion. In consequence of this shape, small calculi 

 frequently drop into it from the bladder, and sometimes imbed 

 themselves in the substance of the prostate gland. The direc- 

 tion of the prostatic and membranous portions of the urethra 

 is from above downwards and backwards, towards the neck 

 of the bladder, forming a curve, the concavity of which is 

 towards the pubis. The spongy or external portion of the 

 canal forms a curve in the opposite direction, so that the whole 

 canal in its undistended state, resembles somewhat in shape 

 the italic f. When the penis is drawn upwards and forwards, 

 both curves, as Amusat has shown, are nearly effaced, 

 and a straight instrument may, with facility, be passed into the 

 bladder. 



Much difference of opinion exists among writers in reference 

 to the length of the urethral canal. According to Sabatier it is 

 from 10 to 12 inches long Cloquet and Lisfrane 9 to 12 

 Amusat 7 to 8 Civiale and Malgaigne about 6. Much of this 

 discrepency may be accounted for by the different modes of 

 admeasurement adopted whether the urethra be measured on 

 the living subject by the means of a catheter, which gives the 

 actual length of the tube in the unexcited state of the organ ; or 

 after its removal from the body (when it becomes very disten- 

 sible,) and having been stretched out on a board. Measure- 

 ment by the former process, which gives the shorter length, is 

 the only one of value in practice. The genital organs of the 

 black in the opinions of most of American anatomists, are 

 more largely developed than those of the white. 

 The following are the measurements of the urethra from 

 the neck of the bladder to the external orifice of the penis, 

 which I recently took from four patients in the Philadelphia 

 Hospital ; viz. four blacks and two mulattoes. 



VOL. II. 15 



