The Variations in the Mucin Content of the Bulbo-Urethral Glands. 13 



further tliat ganglia are situated peripherally in the course of these 

 two secretory nerves. The effect of stimulating the pelvic nerve was 

 not quite as constantly obtained as that of the hypogastric, but that 

 it is a true effect of the pelvic itself, and not due to an accidental stimu- 

 lation of the peripheral part of the hypogastric, was shown by the fact 

 that it could be obtained when the divided nerve was held quite out 

 of the wound and stimulated against the ligature. No direct observa- 

 tions of this nature were made on Cowper's glands, attemps in the cat 

 and guinea-pig were always frustrated by haemorrhage obscuring any 

 secretion that might have occurred. 



For the purpose of exhausting the glands, the nerve of one side 

 was usually stimulated for seven minutes and rested three in every 

 ten, and the gland of the other side used as the control. The duration 

 of stimulation necessary to produce marked histological changes varied 

 both in different species and in different experiments on the same 

 species. In cats five and a half hours stimulation was usually aimed at, 

 making the duration of the experiment eight hours, though marked 

 effects were seen in some cases after three hours stimulation, or even 

 less. In the case of the cat's Bartholin's gland, prolonged stimulation 

 of the pudic nerve produced no changes in the cells of the gland that 

 could be seen but the amount of secretion in the acini and ducts on the 

 stimulated side was less than on the control. After prolonged stimu- 

 lation of the pelvic visceral nerve also, the acini of the gland on the 

 same side were usually more contracted and contained less secretion 

 than those of the opposite side. In only one instance out of seven in 

 which the pelvic nerve was stimulated for three hours or longer was 

 there any appreciable diminution in the amount of mucin in the gland 

 cells themselves: in this case the diminution was slight and nothing 

 approaching that seen after stimulating the hypogastric for the same 

 length of time, though it was probably too great for an accidental 

 pre-existing difference: it might have been due to faulty insulation 

 and a leak of current to the peripheral part of the hypogastric. Prolonged 

 stimulation of the hypogastric produced a disappearance of mucin 

 from the cells, which was more or less complete according to the length of 

 time the nerve was stimulated: the acini in such cases were either empty 



