252 THp PHYSIOLOGY OF REPRODUCTION 



According to Nagel,^ Cowper's glands are of the normal dimensions 

 in castrated men, and consequently should not be regarded as purely 

 sexual organs. According to Barrington,^ removal of the glands in 

 rats and guinea-pigs has no effect on their breeding powers.^ On the 

 other hand, Schneidemiihl,* whom Nagel quotes, says that in animals 

 they atrophy after castration. Griffiths^ describes these glands in 

 the hedgehog and the mole as undergoing periodic changes similar to 

 those of the prostate glands. In the hedgehog the secretion is 

 abundant during the summer (i.e. in the breeding season), and 

 possesses a disagreeable and penetrating odour. According to Gley,* 

 the secretion in this animal contains a ferment which causes the 

 fluid of the vesiculse seminales to clot, so that Cowper's glands in the 

 hedgehog may be the physiological equivalent of the prostate gland in 

 the Eodentia.' Furthermore, Stilling ^ states that the epithelium of 

 Cowper's glands undergoes definite histological changes which depend 

 upon the occurrence of coitus.^ 



Corresponding to Cowper's glands in the male there are in the 

 female a pair of small glands situated one on each side of the vagina. 



' Nagel, " Physiologie der Mannlichjan Geschlechtsorgane,'' Nagel's Handhuch 

 der Physiologie des Menschen, vol. ii., Braunschweig, 1906. 



^ Barrington, " The Variations in the Mucin Content of the Bulbo-Urethral 

 Glands," Int. Monatsschr. fur Aiiat. und Phys., vol. xxx., 1913. 



^ Double ovariotomy in adults reduces the size of the glands and inhibits 

 the secretion of mucin (Barrington). 



* Schneidemiihl, " Vergleichende Anatomische Untersuchungen liber den 

 feineren Bau der Cowperschen Druse," Deutsche Zeitsch. f. Tiermedizin, vol. vi., 

 1883. 



' Griffiths, "Observations on the Function of the Prostate Gland, etc.," 

 Jour, of Anat. and Phys., vol. xxiv., 1890. 



^ Gley, " R61e des Glandes g&itales accessoires dans la Reproduction,'' J^el 

 primo Centenario dalla Morte di Lazzaro Spallanzani Acad. Sci. e Stranieri, 1899. 



'' It should be mentioned that very considerable doubt has been thrown 

 on the homology of what are often called Cowper's glands (those presumably 

 referred to by Gley and Griffiths) in the hedgehog with the glands known 

 by that name in other Mammals. According to Leydig (" Zur Anatomie der 

 Miinnlichen Geschlechtsorgane und Analdriisen der Saugethiere," Zeitsch. f. 

 loiss. Zool., vol. ii., 1850), Cowper's glands in the hedgehog are in reality repre- 

 sented by a pair of glands embedded in the urethral muscle (cf Oudemans, 

 loc. cit.). The so-called Cowper's glands, which, as mentioned above, undergo 

 marked cyclical changes, are situated ^outside the pelvis close to the ischial 

 tuberosity and the base of the penis (Linton, " A Contribution to the Histology 

 of the so-called Cowpei^'s Glands of the Hedgehog," Anat. Anz., vol. xxxi., 

 1907). In the absence of embryological evidence, Linton appears to regard 

 these glands as sjii generis. They are shown by this author to be composed 

 of two distinct kinds of secreting acini, one lined by a single layer of columnar 

 epithelial cells, and the other by many layers of polyhedral cells. Both kinds 

 secrete a considerable quantity of fluid, containing circular bodies which are 

 believed to be the nuclei of disintegrated cells, though no cells in process of 

 disintegration could be found in the single-layered type of acinus. 



' Stilling, "tJber die Cowperschen Driisen," Virchow's Arch., vol. c, 1885. 



" For an exhaustive account of the minute anatomy of the accessory glands 

 and ducts of the male reproductive system in the different groups of Vertebrata, 

 with full references to the literature, see Disselhorst in OppeVs Lehrhuch, 

 loc. cit. 



