Observations on the anatomy of the prostate / by Joseph Griffiths.
- Griffiths, Joseph, 1863-1945.
- Date:
- [1889]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Observations on the anatomy of the prostate / by Joseph Griffiths. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
15/22 page 383
![muscular fibres in relation to them are arranged around the tubules in such a manner that their contraction exercises com- pression on the extremities of the tubules, and so forces out into the urethra the secretion contained in their interior. These observations regarding the muscle element of the pro- state are not in accord with the view put forth originally by Mr Ellis in the Med. Chir. Trans., vol. xxxix., and since adopted by Mr Harrison of Liverpool {Surgical Diseases and Injuries of the Urinary Organs). The following are extracts from Mr Ellis's paper:— The prostate is essentially a muscular body, consisting of circular or orbiciilar involuntary fibres, with one large hole for the passage of the urethra. Its [prostate] circular fibres are directly continuous behind, without any separation, with the circular fibres of the bladder; and in front a thin stratum, about -g^th of an inch thick, is prolonged forwards from it around the membranous part of the urethra, so as to separate this from the surrounding voluntary constrictor. Within, and quite distinct from the circular fibres, lies the tube of the urethra encased by its submucous layer of longitudinal fibres. I would propose the name ' orbicularis vel sphincter wethrce' for both the prostate and the prolongation around the urethra. 1st. I do not find that the prostate is essentially a muscular organ, but essentially a glandular organ, and^that the muscle- element is secondary in importance. 2nd. I do not find any of the muscular fibres of the prostate are directly continuous with the circular coats of the bladder, but that they are the resultant of an outgrowth of the external, circular, muscular fibres of the urethra upon the prostatic glan- dular tubules, and are, therefore, only indirectly continuous with the circular fibres of the bladder. This applies to the enveloping fibres of the prostate as well as to the fibres in the interior of the gland. 3rd. On this view, the term orbicularis vel sphincter urethras is hardly applicable. In the present paper I merely describe the structure and the intrinsic muscle of the prostate, and I have not entered into the consideration of the extrinsic muscles, such as the external sphincter of Henle and levator ani, which in their contraction compress the prostate forcibly, and so serve](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22280121_0015.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
