casions
variety in opinion, fruitless though never ending. By that
interpretation of the parts which I here venture to offer, and to which
I am guided by considerations of a higher law of formation, I encompass
and bind together, as with a belt, all the dismembered parts of variety,
and of these I construct a uniform whole. Forms become, when not viewed
under comparison, as meaningless hieroglyphics, as the algebraic symbols
a + c - d = 11 are when the mind is devoid of the power of calculation.

[Footnote: The part C is that alone described by Santorini, who named it
"elevator urethrae," as passing beneath the urethra. The part B is that
first observed and described by Mr. Guthrie as passing above the
urethra. The part F represents the well-known "transversalis perinaei,"
between which and the part C there occasionally appears the part E,
supposed to be the "transversalis alter" of Albinus, and also the part
D, which is the "ischio bulbosus" of Cruveilhier. It is possible that I
may not have given one or other of these parts its proper name, but this
will not affect their anatomy.]

[Illustration: Abdomen, showing blood vessels and other internal organs.]
Plate 55--Figure 2

Fig. 3, Plate 55.--The membranous urethra A is also in some instances
embraced by two symmetrical fasciculi of muscular fibres B B, which
arising from the posterior and lower part of the symphysis pubis,
descend on either side of the canal and join beneath it. The muscles B
C, Fig. 2, Plate 55, are between the two layers of the deep perinaeal
fascia, while the muscle B B, Fig. 3, Plate 55, lies like the forepart
of the levator ani, C C, behind this structure and between it and the
anterior ligaments of the bladder. [Footnote] As to the interpretation
of the muscle, I, myself, am inclined to believe that it is simply a
part of the levator ani, and for these reasons--1st, it arises from the
pubic symphysis, and is inserted into the perinaeal median line with the
levator ani; 2nd, the fibres of both muscles overlie the forepart of the
prostate, and present the same arrangement in parallel order; 3rd, the
one is not naturally separable from the other.

[Footnote: This is the muscle, B B, which is described by Santorini as
the "levator prostatae;" by Winslow as "le prostatique superieur;" by
Wilson as the "pubo-urethrales;" by Muller as not existing; by Mr.
Guthrie as forming (when existing), with the parts B C, Fig. 2, Plate
55, his "compressor