Professor Theile also gives an account of another case of hypospadias, " dissected by the elder Scemmerring, in which the urethra and scroturn were fissured, the testicles re maining in the abdomen. Between the glands and the anus two openings wero found, separated by a partition of about one line in breadth. That next the penis was the orifice of the urethra ; the latter led into a canal, into which a quill could be passed. It was an inch and a half long, and when inflated it was nearly as large as the little finger, and was situated between the bladder and rectum, but nearer to the former. Scemrnerring laid open the canal towards the rectum, and it appeared like an alveus communis,' into which the vesiculm seminales opened. When quicksil ver was injected into the vasa deferentia, it ran partly into the vesiculze seminales, but partly into this pouch." " The existence in the male of a central sac or canal, occupying precisely the same relation to the orificium urethrm, the bladder, and the rectum, as the vagina in the female, is particularly elucidative ; and, among other facts, for which we are indebted to em bryological research, further corroborates the conclusion of the most scientific anatomists of the present day, that every variety of so-called hermaphroditical malformation is referrible to an abnormal condition, either of the male or of the female organs, existing singly, and but rarely conjoined in the same individual." With these facts before us, there is no ne cessity to resort to the mechanical idea of the gradual distension of the prostate gland and vesiculm seminales to account for the existence of a rudimentary uterus in those cases of hermaphrodism where the subject is unquestionably male, with an increase in the development of the utriculus beyond its na tural condition. I would also venture to suggest, that what Mr. Hunter has delineated as the uterus, in the representation he has given of the dissection " Wright's free martin, which are more the parts of a bull than those of a cow," is really a preter naturally large utriculus prostaticus. I have given a side view of the interior of the utricu lus, in a case which I examined myself ; in this instance it extended obliquely down wards and backwards, beneath the third lobe of' the prostate, for the distance of about half an inch, and was slightly enlarged at its fundus. (Seefig. 104..) The development if the prostate and vesicula prostatica.—There is no department of em bryological research of higher interest than that relating to the development of the genito-urinary system. A minute inquiry into this subject, and a careful observation of the phenomena attending it, can afford the only means of obtaining a satisfactory clue to the comprehension of that remarkable structure just described. By no other means is it pos sible to ascertain the natural relation of the utriculus prostaticus.
I shall limit the inquiry here to the manner in which the utriculus and prostate gland are supposed to be formed.
At an early period of foetal existence the allantoid sac, which was continuous with the urinary bladder, becomes shut off entirely from that viscus, and the only remains of its orig,inal communication is the obliterated ura chus. As the bladder at its inferior fundus communicates with the intestine, thus forming with it one common cavity, it may fairly be said that the human subject really is at this period possessed of a cloaca. In the mammiferous class generally the urinary bladder very soon separates from the intestine, and has a sepa rate opening externally in front of the anal aperture. There are different opinions as to how this is actually accomplished ; but there is no necessity to discuss the question here.
In this separation of the bladder from the rectum, the evidence of the existence of a cloaca disappears, and a cavity, or space, or canal is left common to the bladder and geni tal organs ; this is termed the sinus uro-geni talis, or the combs uro-genitalis. This after wards, in the male, is represented by the neck of the bladder and beginning of the urethra, and communicates with the external organs. In the monotremata the uro-genital canal is persistent. The sinus uro-genitalis receives the terminations of the excretory ducts of the Woolfian bodies, the ureters, the vase dere rentia in the male, and the fallopian tubes in the female. In the female the vagina and uterus are both developed by extension and division of this canal,—the vagina having in front of it the urethra ; and as development advances, the last portion of the sinus uro-geni talis is represented by the vestibulum, and is common to the urethra and the vagina. Ac cording to Valentin, in the male the vase defe rentia at first open together in the rnesial por tion of the uro-genital canal ; in the female the same is observed in respect to the fallopian tubes. Rathke states that at a later period a small conical crimpling of the uro-genital sinus occurs near the openings of the vasa deferentia, and that from this the vesiculre seminales are developed, which communicate with the vasa deferentia, and, indirectly, with the sinus, or with the urethra itself. A se paration takes place between the two vasa deferentia, when each vas deferens, uniting with a corresponding vesicule, opens sepa rately into the urethra. In the interval be tween the terminations of the vasa deferentia we find the remains of the uro-genital sinus, which eventually becomes the utriculus, or ve sicula prostatica, or sinus pocularis.
Bischoff thinks that the prostate gland com mences by a simple thickening of the vasa deferentia near their termination. It is most probably further developed in the same man ner as the glandular system generally. He agrees with Rathke in the opinion that there exists a septum between the two sides at this portion of the urethra, the vestiges of which are represented by the veru rnontanum.
To complete the analogy between the utri culus and the female uterus, the vase ejacu latoria ought to terminate beneath, or rather within the utriculus, as the fallopian tubes do in the uterus ; and this is said really to hap pen occasionally. Morgagni mentions two instances of this. I have found it myself, but it is rare ; yet the fact of even its occurrence now and then adds all we require to complete the evidence in favour of the analogy between these two apparently dissimilar structures. Presuming all that has been stated to be true, we need not tax our ingenuity further, in en deavouring to assign a use to this heretofore obscure structure the sinus pocularis.
The prostate, up to the period of the full development of the organs of generation, is of small size. In the early periods of fcetal existence it is composed of two lateral lobes, which coalescing at the fourth or fifth month, give rise to the isthmus and third lobe.* It is rounder in the child, is situated vertically, and is said to be occasionally just reached by the peritonreum. As we advance in life it becomes firmer in texture and yel lowish in colour. Mercier says that in the child the anterior part of the gland exceeds the posterior in thickness ; in other words, that the prostatic ring encircling the urethra is thicker above than below.