272 HUMAN ANATOMY. 



minute racemose glands, the glands of Littre. These latter open 

 forward into the urethra by good-sized orifices, especially one in 

 the upper part of the fossa navicularis, called the lacuna magna. 

 Into the bulbous portion of the urethra the ducts of Cowper's 

 glands open. 



THE PROSTATE GLAND is a glandular body which resembles 

 in size and form a chestnut, and surrounds the first portion of 

 the urethra between the neck of the bladder and the triangular 

 ligament. It measures one and one-half inches in length and 

 breadth and three-quarters in depth. Its weight, about six 

 drachms. Its flat, under surface rests on the rectum. 



It has two lateral lobes, and one middle lobe which corre- 

 sponds in position to the vesicle uvula, and is held in position 

 by the anterior ligaments of the bladder, by a portion of the deep 

 perineal fascia, and of the levator ani muscle. 



It is perforated by the urethra and the common seminal 

 ducts. 



Its structure consists of a mass of fibro-muscular (unstri- 

 ated) tissue with imbedded follicular pouches, the whole inclosed 

 in a firm fibrous capsule, continuous in front with the triangular 

 ligament, behind with the posterior layer of the deep perineal 

 fascia. 



The muscular fibres are longitudinal and circular, the latter 

 surrounding the urethra, continuous behind with the bladder, in 

 front with the fibres about the membranous portion. 



The glands open into the floor of the prostatic sinuses by 

 twelve to twenty ducts. 



The arteries are from the vesical, haemorrhoidal, and internal 

 pudic. 



The veins enter into the formation of the prostatic plexus, 

 receive the dorsal vein of the penis, and empty into the internal 

 iliac vein. 



The nerves are from the hypogastric plexus. 



COWPER'S GLANDS, or suburethral glands, are two small lobu- 

 lar bodies, about one-quarter of an inch in diameter, inclosed 

 between the two layers of the deep fascia, situated behind the 

 bulb of the corpus spongiosum, below the membranous portion 

 of the urethra. They are racemose glands and empty their 

 secretion by a long duct into the bulbous portion of the urethra. 



Female Organs. 



The female organs of generation are divided into the ex- 

 ternal, termed the vulva, or pudendum, consisting of the mons 

 veneris, labia majora and minora, clitoris, meatus urinarius, and 



