298 NORMAL HISTOLOGY AND ORGANOGRAPHY. 



tration, and remains undeveloped if the testicles 

 are removed in infancy, which supports the view 

 that it is an accessory organ of generation. Its 

 size varies considerably, but its average transverse 

 or longest diameter is one and one-half inches, 

 its antero-posterior diameter about three - fourths 

 inch, and its vertical diameter one and one-fourth 

 inches. Since the urethra, and also the ejaculatory 

 ducts, pass through the organ, the gland on this 

 account may be divided into three lobes. The 

 wedge-shaped portion that lies between these ducts 

 and the cervix of the bladder is called the middle 



Artery. Vein. 



Gland epithelium. 



Prostatic bodies. 



*tj~77>"-j -- ' Connective tissue. 



^ .;:><* ^ 

 Fig. 217. Section from the prostate gland 



lobe, and the rest of the gland is spoken of as the 

 lateral lobes. It is the latter that often hypertrophy 

 in old age and are removed in prostatectomy. The 

 gland lies in close apposition to the rectum, and with 

 the finger in the latter it can readily be palpated. 



The prostate is a compound tubulo-alveolar gland 

 whose ducts open into the prostate portion of the 

 urethra. Smooth muscle fibers not onlv surround the 



