OF THE BLADDER AND PROSTATE. 
21 
transparent. In this way I have obtained illustrative views of all parts of the parietes, 
and particularly of the apex and fundus. By rendering the bladder transparent, the 
various sets of fibres can be accurately traced, their direction contrasted, and their 
relative position in the vesical parietes determined both from without and from within. 
The varying degrees of thickness in the muscular wall can likewise readily be made 
out. The prostate has been examined by slicing it in all directions, and by mace- 
rating it and tracing out the fibres by the aid of needles. My dissections, some 
sixty in number, have in all instances supplied me with my description, and 
have for the most part been carefully photographed in illustration. They are pre- 
served and catalogued in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of Eng- 
land ; and I take this opportunity of acknowledging my obligations to the Council 
of the College for the facilities afforded me in their preparation. By adopting the 
methods explained, I have obtained remarkably uniform results, and am fully persuaded 
that the fibres of the bladder and prostate, contrary to the received opinion, are 
curvilinear, and in fact spiral, or, more properly, lemniscate. The fibres, with few 
exceptions, form figure-of-eight loops, and the loops are variously shaped, according as 
they are superficial or deep. The most external and the most internal loops are attenu- 
ated or drawn out, and in this respect resemble longitudinal or vertical fibres, the 
deeper or more central ones being flattened from above downwards, and resembling 
circular fibres. The loops from this circumstance are divisible into two orders , viz. an 
external and an internal, and these orders may be subdivided, the former into three sets 
of external loops, the latter into three sets of internal ones. An intermediate or central 
set of loops occurs between. The seven sets of loops (external, internal, and central) 
represent so many layers or strata more or less perfect, and are indicated as well by 
their direction as by their position in the vesical parietes, the first and seventh sets 
(the most external and the most internal) being feebly developed, and having a more or 
less longitudinal or vertical direction, the second and sixth sets consisting of stronger 
fibres, which cross at acute angles after the manner of an attenuated figure of eight, the 
third and fifth sets, which occur in strong flattened fasciculi, crossing at obtuse angles, 
.or more obliquely as in a figure of eight flattened from above or expanded laterally. The 
fourth, or central layer, consists of figure-of-eight loops, so crushed down or flattened that 
they appear to form complete circles. The crossing, however, is readily made out when 
sought for, and occasions that reticulated structure so conspicuous in the central layer. 
The terminal expansions of the loops forming the other layers contribute to the forma- 
tion of the fourth or central layer, particularly towards the apex and base, and this 
accounts for its greater thickness. The various sets of external and internal loops are 
directed towards the apex and base, and are distributed on the anterior, posterior, and 
lateral aspects respectively. The anterior and posterior fibres are most strongly pro- 
nounced, the lateral ones being rudimentary and less fully developed. As a result of 
this distribution, and because of the puckering occasioned by the constrictions which 
originally separate the bladder from the intestinal tube, the walls of the viscus are of 
