of the human prostate Gland. igj 
“ the two sides of the canal together, and at the same time 
“ stretches it from the anterior edge or side to the posterior, 
« so that the canal instead of being round, is flattened into a 
“ narrow groove. Sometimes the gland swells more on one 
« side than the other, which makes an obliquity in the canal 
“ passing through it. 
“ Besides this effect of the lateral parts swelling, a small 
“ portion of it, which lies behind the very beginning of the 
“ urethra swells forward like a point, as it were, into the 
“ bladder; acting like a valve to the mouth of the urethra, 
“ which can be seen, even when the swelling is not consi- 
“ derable, by looking on the mouth of the urethra, from the 
“ cavity of the bladder, in the dead body. It sometimes in- 
“ creases so much, as to form a tumour projecting into the 
“ cavity of the bladder some inches."* 
From the first paragraph it is evident that Mr. Hunter 
was unacquainted with this lobe ; and in the second we see 
that his knowledge of the disease led him to conclude, that in 
the natural state of the gland there was a portion of it in this 
situation : but neither at that time, nor at any future period 
of his life, did he prosecute the inquiry. 
Although a great part of my time has been for many years 
occupied in attending patients labouring under complaints of 
the bladder and urethra, and my opportunities of examining 
these parts after death have been very frequent, my attention 
has been always so much employed on the modes of emptying 
the bladder, (an operation, which in many cases is attended 
with considerable difficulty, ) that it never occurred to me to 
institute an inquiry for the purpose of attaining an accurate 
* Hunter on the Venereal Disease, page 169. 
