440 
PROFESSOR, J. STEPHENSON AND PROFESSOR HARU RAM ON THE 
The duct (fig. 1a) is oblique in direction, parallel to and either just underneath or 
lying alongside of the internal border of the gland in segment xviii. It leaves the 
gland near its inner border at the constriction occasioned by septum 18/19, and ends 
in the body- wall at the level of the antero-internal angle of the gland. It is almost 
straight, moderately stout, and very slightly fusiform ; it has the shining appearance 
which denotes a thick and compact layer of circular muscular fibres. 
The vas deferens, coming down from the sperm-sacs some segments in front, lies 
in segment xviii parallel to and on the outer side of the prostatic duct. It joins the 
prostatic duct where the latter emerges from the gland. Its further relations will 
be seen in the microscopical study. 
In addition to the septa, strands of connective tissue pass between the gland and 
the body-wall, and also a number of fine long muscular bands ; these latter, longi- 
tudinal in direction, pass backwards from the parietes to be attached to the outer 
surface of the gland near its hinder end. 
(2) Microscopical Structure of the Gland (fig. 2). 
The gland on the whole stains deeply, so that it can be immediately picked out 
in sections by the naked eye. Under the microscope the lobular constitution is at 
once seen ; the lobules are rounded, and fit fairly close together. It is to be noted, 
however, that what are henceforward called lobules — small masses with an average 
diameter of T2 mm. — are not the lobules seen in the dissection, which are larger, 
■3 to '4 mm. in diameter, and consist of several of the smaller masses. 
The lobules are for the most part not composed of cells with distinct. outlines ; 
where the word “ cell” is used, for convenience, in what follows, it may be taken as 
denoting a nucleus with the immediately surrounding granular and fibrillar substance. 
The glandular mass may be described as generally granular in constitution, with 
fine fibrillar differentiations running through it ; in some specimens this fibrillation 
is more distinct than in others ; nuclei are irregularly scattered throughout. There 
are numerous more or less empty spaces, giving the gland in some places a vacuolar 
appearance ; in other regions the spaces are partly filled with fluffy or granular 
matter, and the texture of the mass may be called simply loose, rather than dis- 
tinctly vacuolated. 
The nuclei are of various and rather irregular shape. A few show a definite 
membrane, and the chromatin mostly aggregated into a central mass; others have 
a distinct membrane, and the chromatin in scattered granules ; the majority are 
homogeneous or almost so, so that neither membrane nor individual chromatin 
grains can be distinguished. The largest, with a definite central aggregate of 
chromatin, average 6 p, in diameter, many being 7 p long by 5 p. broad ; the smallest, 
of homogeneous constitution, are about 3'5 to 4 p in diameter; the intermediate 
type seems to be of intermediate size. These various conditions perhaps represent 
various stages of functional activity, or correspond to various stages of disintegration 
