File:Clinical lectures on stricture of the urethra and other disorders of the urinary organs (1878) (14758750476).jpg

Identifier: clinicallectures00harr (find matches)
Title: Clinical lectures on stricture of the urethra and other disorders of the urinary organs
Year: 1878 (1870s)
Authors: Harrison, Reginald, 1837-1908
Subjects: Urologic Diseases Urethral Stricture Urethra Urinary organs
Publisher: London : J. & A. Churchill Liverpool : Adam Holden
Contributing Library: Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine
Digitizing Sponsor: Open Knowledge Commons and Harvard Medical School

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s its influence, first upon the nerves of sensation, and thence upontin musoles of tiie urethra, through the excito-motor function of the spinalmarrow. Large doses of opium relax this muscular spasm, and the patient isable to micturate.—Hilton, On the Therapeutic Influ ,:. p. 260. » Page 6. SECOND LECTURE. 17 portion and the bulb, while the centre of the prostaticportion and the sinusof the bulb are thelargest. The respec-tive dimensions of theurethra are best un-derstood by referenceto casts, such asare pictured in SirEverard Homes workon Stricture (Fig. 2). After all, as SirHenry Thompson goeson to state, it is notthe actual size of thevarious parts of thepassage which is ofthe greatest conse-quence to the practicalsurgeon, and the fore-going measurementsmay be most advan-tageously viewed aspossessing relativerather than absolutevalue. Dr. F. N. Otis, ofNew York, in a recentwork on the treatmentof stricture, advances Fis- 2- the proposition that every urethra is an individuality,
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18 SECOND LECTURE. and that no average standard is of use in examining a givenurethra. This he arrives at by the use of a very inge-nious instrument, called a urethrametre, consisting of astraight tube, the end of which can be made intoa kind of fenestrated sphere, the latter correspondingto a dial-plate at the handle, which marks the size ofthe sphere. By this means, the normal calibre of theurethra can be accurately measured, as also thecircumference of the stricture.* To give an example, when the circumference ofthe penis was three inches, the calibre of the canalwas found to be 30 m. of the French scale ; whenit was 3£ inches, it would be 32 m., and so on inproportion. Upon these views as to the measurement of theurethra, Dr. Otis bases a method of treatment whichwill be referred to again when I come to treat of thevarious plans of practising urethrotomy. If we refer to a side view of the pelvic organs, wecan advantageously study the relations of the urethrato the surrounding par

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