Observations on the function of the prostate gland in man and the lower animals. Part II / by Joseph Griffiths.

  • Griffiths, Joseph, 1863-1945.
Date:
[1889]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the function of the prostate gland in man and the lower animals. Part II / 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.

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    in the Mole, with a mass of coagulated mucus, which contains a number of small, rounded bodies, staining deeply with carmine (see Plate III. fig. 11). Note.—Cowper's glands undergo precisely the same changes as the prostate, both in the Mole and Hedgehog. In the latter animal the secretion from this gland during the summer is abundant, and possesses a peculiarly disagreeable and penetrat- ing scent-like odour. The Effects of Castration upon the Prostate Gland. The general effects of castration, corporal as well as mental, do not concern my purpose in this paper, and I shall therefore only refer to the effects of castration upon the Prostate and Cowperian glands. The behaviour of these accessory sexual glands after the removal of the testes will, I think, enable us to decide whether, on the one hand, they are developed in relation to the generative function, and entirely owe their existence to the generative stimulus, or, on the other hand, whether they arise independently of the testes and are essentially developed in functional relation to the urethral channel, and serve to pro- duce a secretion which has for its purpose the moistening of that channel. The operation of castration in various animals has been practised for many centuries, yet, so far as I have been able to ascertain, the first description of the associated changes in the generative apparatus was given by John Hunter. The follow- ing is an extract from Hunter's Works (vol. iv. p. 30):— The prostate and Cowper's glands, and those of the urethra in the perfect male [Bull], are soft and bulky, and the secretion is salt to the taste. In the castrated animal [Bullock] these are small, flabby, tough, and ligamentous, and have little secretion. Especially marked is the change when the animal is castrated when young. I have been able to confirm Hunter's observations on the generative apparatus of the Bullock, and have extended this inquiry to other domesticated animals, especially the Dog and Cat, and have also studied the histological changes which gradually supervene in the prostate after castration.