Page:Philosophical Transactions - Volume 096.djvu/215

200 that kind. It could not however be satisfactorily separated from the prostate gland, nor could any distinct duct be found leading into the bladder.

A similar examination was made of this part in five different subjects. The appearance was not exactly the same in any two of them. In one there was no apparent glandular substance, but a mass of condensed cellular membrane: this, however, on being cut into, differed from the surrounding fat. In another there was a lobe blended laterally with the sides of the prostate gland. These facts are mentioned in proof of its not being always of the same size nor having exactly the same appearance; this is found also to be the case with 's glands, they are sometimes large and distinct; in other subjects are scarcely to be detected, and in others again are in all the intermediate states. The most distinct and natural appearance of this part was in a healthy subject 25 years of age, of which the following is an account. On turning off the vasa deferentia and vesiculæ seminales, exactly in the middle of the sulcus, between the two posterior portions of the prostate gland, there was a rounded prominent body, the base of which adhered to the coats of the bladder. It was imbedded not only between the vasa deferentia and the bladder, but also in some measure between the lateral portions of the prostate gland and the bladder, since they were in part spread over it, so as to prevent its circumference from being seen, and they adhered so closely as to require dissection to remove them; nor could this be done beyond a certain extent, after which the same substance was continued from the one to the other. This proved it to be a lobe of the prostate gland, the middle of which had a rounded form, united to the gland at the base