A treatise on the venereal disease / by John Hunter ; with notes by George G. Babington.
- John Hunter
- Date:
- 1841
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A treatise on the venereal disease / by John Hunter ; with notes by George G. Babington. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
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![CHAPTER VII. OF SOME OTHER AFFECTIONS OF THE URETHRA. The substance of the urethra is muscular, and it is therefore capable of contracting its canal, similar to an intestine, so as to shut it up entirely. This makes it subject to diseases peculiar to muscle in general; which is indeed the only proof we have of its being muscular. § 1. Of the Spasmodic Affections of the Urethra. In a sound state of parts these muscles are never excited to violent actions, acting simply as sphincter muscles; but when irritated they are capable of acting violently, as is best seen in some cases upon the first use of injections, the urethra often refusing the injection entirely. This seems rather to be a salutary motion to hinder things from getting into the bladder; but there are often spasmodic contractions of these muscular fibres in different parts of the canal, shutting up the passage and obstructing the course of the urine, often not allowing a drop to pass. That this also is owing to spasm upon the muscular fibres is evident, because a large bougie will sometimes pass when it is at the worst. When the contrac- tion is near the bladder it is called a strangury, and is often pro- duced in a sound state of parts by irritating medicines, the power of which falls upon these parts, as cantharides; and when this part is in an irritable state, the spasm may be brought on by a vast number of things, such as most of the peppers, fermented liquors of all kinds, violent exercise, &c. The urethra in cases of spasmodic stricture is more irritable than in the true stricture, which irritation indeed is in a great measure the cause of the spasm. Spasmodic strictures often bear so strong a resemblance to the cramp, that one would be apt to attribute them to the same cause as that which produces cramp. In such cases the spasm also goes off by tickling the part, similar to the removal of cramp. In all cases of very irritable urethras, where spasms very readily take place, the patient should never long retain his urine when he described by the author may be required, but such cases are undoubtedly very rare. The complete removal of the stricture is in almost all instances followed by the spontaneous closure of the sinuses in the perinaeum. Until the strictured portion is dilated to the same size with the rest of the urethra, there is little im- provement. As soon as that is effected, the urine is no longer diverted into the sinus but takes the more ready course of the natural passage; and the cause which maintained the fistula being thus removed, the opening gradually contracts, and in a short time heals, without any surgical treatment whatever.]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21131508_0140.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
