tinues
into and lines throughout the bladder, kidneys, and all the urinary
organs, together with the vesiculae seminales, the ejaculatory ducts,
the vasa deferentia, and the testes. In consequence of this continuity
of tissue, any irritation affecting one part is liable to extend to
another, or to all the rest. We mention this anatomical fact here as
a help to the understanding of the different morbid conditions which
will be noticed.

_Urethral Irritation_.--The chronic congestion of the urethra after
a time becomes chronic irritability. The tissue is unusually sensitive,
this condition being often indicated by a slight smarting in urination.
It often extends throughout the whole length of the urethra, and becomes
so intense that the passage of a sound, which would occasion little
if any sensation in a healthy organ, produces the most acute pain, as
we have observed in numerous instances, even when the greatest care
was used in the introduction of the instrument.

Shooting pains are often felt in the organ, due to this irritation.
Pain is in some cases most felt at the root, in others, at the head.
It often darts from one point to another. Just before and just after
urination the pain is most severe.

_Stricture_.--Long-continued irritation of the mucous membrane of the
urethra produces, ultimately, inflammation and swelling of the same
in some portion of its extent. This condition may become permanent,
and then constitutes real stricture, a most serious disease. More often
the swelling is but transient, being due to some unusual excess, and
will subside. Sometimes, also, a temporary stricture is produced by
spasmodic contraction of the muscular fibers surrounding the urethra,
which is excited by the local irritation. This kind of stricture is
often met in the treatment of spermatorrhoea.

Enlarged Prostate.--This painful affection is a frequent result of the
chronic irritation in the urethra, which the gland surrounds, the
morbid action being communicated to it by its proximity. A diseased
action is set up which results in enlargement and hardening. It is felt
as a hard body just anterior to the anus, and becomes by pressure the
source of much additional mischief. Sometimes the disease progresses
to dangerous ulceration. It is attended by heat, pressure, and pain
between the anus and the root of the penis.

Urinary Diseases.--The same congestion and irritability extend to the
bladder and thence to the kidneys, p