Genito-urinary surgery and venereal diseases / by J. William White and Edward Martin.

  • White, J. William (James William), 1850-1916.
Date:
[1910], ©1910
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Genito-urinary surgery and venereal diseases / by J. William White and Edward Martin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    The mucous membrane is continuous with the bladder internally and with the integument of the glans penis externally. It is pro- longed into the ducts of all the glands which open into the urethra. The submucous tissue is made up of fibrous and elastic tissue, together with unstriped muscular fibres. These latter are arranged in two layers, one passing longitudinally, the other circularly. This muscular layer is most markod in the prostatic and membranous por- tions of the urethra ; passing forward, it becomes thinner, till in the anterior part of the spongy urethra it is replaced in a great measure by fibrous tissue. On the mucous membrane of the urethra may be seon the open- ings of many glands and follicles. These are situated in the sub- mucous tissue. The glands, called the glands of Littre, vary greatly in size, and are most abundant in the spongy portion of the canal and about the meatus. Their orifices are directed forward. The largest of the follicles, called the lacuna magna, is situated in the upper wall of the fossa navicularis, and is one and one-half inches from the meatus. The spongy portion of the urethra, so named because it is sur- rounded by the erectile tissue of the corpus spongiosum, extends from the meatus to the anterior layer of the triangular ligament. It is fur- ther subdivided into a pendulous and a bulbous portion. The pendu- lous portion extends from the meatus to the dilatation enclosed by the bulb (about four and one-half inches in length). The bulbous portion or dilatation (about an inch to an inch and a half long) is abundantly supplied with mucous glands and follicles ; into it also pass the ducts of Cowper's glands. In direction the spongy urethra first passes upward, then curves downward. The membranous portion of the urethra, beginning at the prostate gland and ending at the bulb, is separated from the pubic symphysis by muscular fibre and by the dorsal vessels and nerves of the penis; below it he Cowper's glands. Its upper surface is concave, and is about one-quarter of an inch longer than the lower surface. The perineum separates the lower surface of the membranous urethra from the rectum. In this portion of the urethra the erectile tissue is but slightly developed. In place of this there is a compKcated invest- ment of muscular fibres. First there is a layer of unstriped fibres passing circularly and longitudinally. External to this there is an investment of voluntary muscular fibres completely surrounding the urethra. This muscular sheath is named the compressor urethrae. The prostatic urethra is spindle-shaped,—that is, it is widest at its middle. On the floor of the canal the mucous membrane is projected