When the discharge becomes more clear and thin, and the inflammatory symptoms have disappeared, the disease is termed Gleet. The passage remains contracted in some degree, from relaxation of the mucous surface; there is a desire to make water more frequently than usual, and the urine is passed in a tortuous or scattered stream; in many cases the discharge continues profuse. There is now no pain nor scalding during the passage of urine, but these are readily reinduced by slight excess; perhaps there is a trifling chordee. After connexion, the discharge returns as if fresh infection had been caught, though such be not the case; both in simple gleet, and in that attending stricture, the seemingly virulent symptoms come on speedily, often appearing within a few hours after the coitus. In gleet the matter is no longer green or yellow, but whitish and flaky; the globules are contained in a mucous instead of a serous fluid. The disease is usually attendant on stricture, but occurs frequently without any organised contraction, the discharge being furnished by the vessels of the surface, which have become weak and relaxed in consequence of previous excited action. In feeble constitutions, inflammation of the urethra is almost always followed by long-continued and intractable discharge.

A practitioner is not unfrequently asked when the infection of gonorrhœa is not communicable, and if an individual in whom the discharge is very slight, or has just disappeared, is likely to contaminate a healthy female. The question is a difficult one to answer. In general it is prudent to err, if at all, on the safe side—by expressing doubts, and dissuading from intercourse until all discharge shall have entirely ceased for a considerable time. Discharge is often brought back, as already observed, by the excitement of sexual connexion.

In simple inflammation of the urethra, with discharge, little or no treatment is required; if the patient keep quiet, and avoid the causes which give rise to the affection, the symptoms will disappear in a short time. But virulent gonorrhœa is often very unmanageable, particularly if it has been allowed to follow its own course, and consequently to make head before it is attacked. It is no easy matter to arrest it after the parts have got into the habit of furnishing discharge, and particularly if it has been aggravated by thoughtlessness and imprudence of the patient. All violent exercise should be avoided, as also indulgence in venery and liquors. A great variety of remedies, both external and internal, have been employed. General bleeding has been recommended, but never can be required in simple clap. If the bladder, or other important organ, become affected, depletion will be indispensable. Abstraction of blood by leeches from the perineum may be required, when from any cause the inflammation extends beyond its usual seat; and great relief is afforded by afterwards employing hot fomentations, or the bidet, and by diaphoretics given internally. Mercury was used in clap by those who conscientiously believed that the disease was the same as what they called syphilis. But it had been better far for mankind had such a term, or the notions associated with it, never been broached; or at least had mercury never been considered as necessary for the cure of affections of the genital organs. In gonorrhœa mercury may do much harm; it never can do good, either in the way of cure or prevention. The disease has often been contracted, whilst the system was saturated with the mineral. Frequent and violent purgings with neutral salts—a common plan of treatment amongst the unprofessional and inexperienced—are hurtful; the extremity of the rectum is irritated, and may inflame, and the urethra, from intimate sympathy, will suffer accordingly. Turpentine, copaiba, cubebs, buchu, &c., have been long employed in all forms of the disease; of these, copaiba, administered from the first, and not after the inflammatory symptoms have subsided, is perhaps the one chiefly to be relied on. It maybe taken pure, with a little water or bitter tincture, or mixed with an equal part of honey; the copaiba may be given in gelatinous capsules, or made into pills with magnesia; it should be given at bedtime, and in a large dose, from a drachm to two drachms. The medicine may with prudence be continued after the disappearance of the discharge, though its beneficial effects are scarcely observable, excepting during the inflammatory stage. An unpleasant eruption, resembling urticaria, sometimes follows its employment; it appears on the inside of the lips, and on the glans penis, and if the drug is continued, the eruption spreads over the whole surface. Cubebs, though somewhat similar to copaiba in its virtues, often disappoints the practitioner. The two medicines may be given very advantageously together, made into a confection, and a bolus of it taken occasionally in wafer paper. This class of remedies, instead of stimulating, diminish greatly the irritability of the urethra or the other parts of the urinary organs. In severe cases it is of importance to increase the quantity of urine, and thereby diminish its acrimony, by the free employment of diluents, mucilaginous drinks, and alkalis; on this principle, infusion of linseed, containing more or less of nitrous æther, is very efficacious. The patient suffers much when the urine is scanty, and contains a large proportion of saline particles. Rest and moderate diet are of paramount importance as means of cure. Support of the penis, by a suspensory bandage, or otherwise, should always be attended to when the patient takes exercise, for many bad consequences will thereby be avoided; indeed it is a measure requisite in all affections of the organ, and particularly in gonorrhœa—when the prepuce, or even the whole penis, is liable to swell enormously. By low diet, and the frequent use of warm bathing of the part, or of the whole surface, the disease often disappears rapidly; but when the cure is supposed complete, a hearty meal and a few glasses of wine will suffice to bring it back with all the violent symptoms.

Cooling washes applied externally to the penis are of little use, and will seldom be long submitted to by the patient. Fluids injected into the urethra, so as to be applied to the affected part of the mucous membrane, are much more efficacious. When slightly stimulating, the relaxed membrane is constringed by them, the action in the part is changed, and a healthy secretion ensues; such are applicable after the inflammatory symptoms have subsided. But in many instances astringent injections are of much service from the very commencement; the morbid action seeming to be arrested, and the parts quickly brought into a healthy condition. Yet the use of such is not unaccompanied with risk, and the mildest are sometimes hurtful; the incited action is apt to extend along the passage; the discharge may be suddenly suppressed, and inflammation of the bladder or testicle will generally supervene; in short, the prominent symptom, discharge, may be arrested, but at the same time such violent inflammatory action may be induced as will be followed by change of structure in the canal, callosities, contractions, abscess, &c. The injections may contain nitrate of silver, sulphate of copper, sulphate of iron, sulphate of zinc, acetate of zinc, super-sulphate of alumina, or bichloride of mercury, in various proportions, or vegetable astringents may be used, as kino, galls, &c.: their strength may be gradually increased according to their effects. These solutions and infusions are injected by means of either a small syringe, or an elastic bottle fitted with an ivory tube, the point being smooth and rounded. This is carefully introduced into the orifice of the urethra, and the patient is recommended to press on the canal with his finger to prevent the fluid from passing farther than an inch or two. It may be thrown in two, three, or four times during the day, according to circumstances, and retained for a few minutes; at each time the patient should make water immediately before. The quantity injected at one time should not exceed a teaspoonful; more is unnecessary, and may do harm. By passing bougies or other instruments along the canal during active inflammation much mischief is done. When excitement has gone off, and discharge remains, advantage may be obtained by the internal administration of lytta or other stimulants. When contraction of the passage is suspected, or when, in spite of all means, no progress is made towards a cure, slight discharge continuing long without pain, and probably furnished by a relaxed portion of the membrane, recourse must be had to the occasional introduction of a full-sized bougie. Cold bathing, local or general, is sometimes useful.

If during the violent symptoms the discharge be from any cause suddenly suppressed, inflammation of the bladder, swelled testicle, or both, are to be dreaded; and endeavours should be made without delay to procure its return, as by leeching the perineum, fomentations, and the general warm bath.

The Consequences of Gonorrhœa occur in parts closely connected with the urethra by sympathy and function; or they are such as affect the constitution.

Of Hernia Humoralis, or swelled testicle. Pain and swelling occur in the epididymis, and soon affect the body of the testicle. The pain is most excruciating, the unyielding nature of the tunica albuginea preventing the vessels from relieving themselves fully, and inducing compression of the enlarging organ. Effusion takes place into the cavity of the tunica vaginalis, and thereby the tumescence is still more increased, this tunic from its great dilatibility readily accommodating itself to the accumulation of fluid within. Sometimes the effusion is bloody, more generally serous, and not unfrequently composed of serum more or less tinged with blood. The epididymis remains enlarged longer than any other part, often during the remainder of life. Sickness, vomiting, and violent fever, attend the progress of the swelling. Pain in the lower part of the abdomen is not infrequent, and may be mistaken and treated for enteritis. The spermatic chord becomes enlarged and tender. The pain is much increased when the patient assumes the erect posture, from the enlarged and pendulous gland stretching the inflamed chord. Uneasy feelings are complained of in the back, and pain there is sometimes so acute as to be compared by the patient to the sawing of his loins asunder. When the inflammation is violent, and effusion into the substance of the gland extensive, suppuration may occur; and in infirm constitutions this is not an infrequent, though remote, consequence of hernia humoralis. The testicle is said to be rendered useless by the supervention of this disease. Certainly it is in danger of having its functions destroyed when the incited action is intense and the effusion great, and particularly if suppuration follow. The disease may be induced by violent exercise during inflammation of the urethra, bruising of the organ, suppression of gonorrhœal discharge, the imprudent introduction of bougies, the use of strong urethral injections, or debauchery of any kind, during inflammatory gonorrhœa.

In the treatment, complete rest occupies a prominent station. The inflamed organ must be supported; and all means which may have been employed with the view of checking gonorrhœal discharge must be abandoned. General bleeding may be necessary when the system is much excited; and in all severe cases blood should be abstracted copiously from the part, by the application of leeches or the opening of the scrotal veins, and the organ is afterwards to be fomented for some time, and then enveloped in a warm poultice. The bowels must be kept open, the diet must be very low, and the value of antimonial medicines as a powerful remedy in all inflammatory affections must not be overlooked. Cold applications are of little or no service at any period of the disease, and frictions with mercury and camphor had better be dispensed with. When the violent symptoms have subsided, bathing the part with a tepid solution of the murias ammoniæ is often useful; or it may be rubbed gently with an ointment containing a small portion of iodine, or with a liniment of soap and camphor, with tincture of iodine. Much relief is experienced from interposing between the scrotum and suspensory bandage a soap plaster, or one composed of equal parts of the gum and mercurial plasters; thereby the organ is defended from irritating friction and motion, and slight stimulation is produced and kept up on the surface. Blisters promote discussion if the swelling become indolent, but are very annoying to the patient. They require repetition, but generally are in the end effectual; perhaps the rest necessary during their use is of as much benefit as the application.54

Inflammation of the Bladder and posterior part of the Urethra may arise from other causes than suppressed or badly treated gonorrhœa; but, however induced, its symptoms and consequences are the same. The presence of calculi or other foreign bodies, over distention, &c., will be treated of hereafter, as causing irritation and inflammation of the viscus. Much vesical irritation is often produced and kept up by disease of the kidney.

When inflammation of the bladder is slight, it is attended by uneasy feelings referred to the perineum, pelvis, and glans penis; frequent desire to empty the organ; pain felt acutely before evacuation of the urine, and relieved immediately afterwards; scanty secretion of acrid and highly coloured urine; a discharge of slimy, tenacious mucus, either pure or voided along with the urine. In severe cases, most excruciating pain is experienced during the discharge of the contents of the bladder. The urine is often bloody; in general it is of a milky appearance, containing lymph or puriform matter, and vitiated secretion from the lining membrane. Micturition is almost constant, small quantities being voided at a time. Sometimes the inflammation extends to the ureters and pelves of the kidneys, causing violent pains in the loins, nausea, occasional vomiting, and colicky affections.

In very violent cases lymph is effused on the inner surface of the bladder, and may become organised; but such effusion is rare. I met with one remarkable instance of it in my own practice, and have seen several others. An old pensioner fell from a scaffolding, and sustained a severe contusion of the back. Retention of urine came on; it was drawn off regularly for some weeks, but then severe pelvic symptoms supervened, and at last nothing but a small quantity of purulent matter flowed through the catheter. The symptoms became urgent, the bladder was very much distended, and rose to the umbilicus; all endeavours to evacuate the urine per urethram failed, the instrument being always closed by the thick pus, and I was obliged to open the bladder pretty freely above the pubes. Much purulent matter mixed with fetid urine escaped from the wound, as also a false membrane which invested the mucous coat of the viscus. The membrane presented a flocculent appearance, in some places distinctly fibrous, in others was thin and transparent; its internal surface was irregular, as if from the deposition of minute granules of recent lymph. The patient died exhausted, after having survived about three weeks, voiding his urine partly by the wound, and partly per urethram. It should perhaps be mentioned, that those who saw him immediately after the accident supposed that blood was extensively effused into the bladder, and attempted to extract the suspected extravasation by means of an exhausting syringe through a catheter, probably not passed into the bladder.

Occasionally, though rarely, the inflammation extends to the peritoneal covering of the bladder, and thence to the external surface of the intestines.

The bladder becomes thickened, and lymph is effused between its coats, from repeated attacks of inflammation, or from long continued irritation in consequence of resistance to the expulsion of its contents. The mucous membrane is thickened, relaxed, and of a flocculent appearance; the fibres of the muscular coat are enlarged, and, bulging out, form projections along their course; the mucous membrane is extended often to a considerable extent between the projections of the enlarged muscular fasciculi, forming pouches. The cavity of the organ is generally diminished in proportion to the thickening of its parietes, and there is a loss of balance betwixt the retaining and expelling powers.

Irritable bladder is generally a symptom of some other affection. There is profuse mucous discharge; frequent micturition; pain, increased by distention of the organ, and relieved by evacuation. The coats are more vascular than in the natural state; sometimes the muscular is strengthened, and ulceration of the mucous membrane is not infrequent. Occasionally this latter tunic is the seat of tumour.

In the treatment of inflammation of the bladder, after removal of its causes, antiphlogistic means occupy a prominent situation, and are to be regulated according to circumstances. Leeches to the perineum and hypogastrium—soothing injections into the rectum—opium or hyoscyamus, either by the mouth or in the form of suppository—fomentation and the warm bath—are all valuable remedies in this affection. When injections into the rectum are used, they should not exceed three or four ounces, and they should contain from thirty to sixty drops of laudanum, or a corresponding quantity of the liquor opii sedativus. But an anodyne suppository is perhaps more simple and more efficacious. The effect of these remedies is almost instantaneous; all pain goes off; the patient becomes quiet, loses all recollection of his former sufferings, and often remains in a state of great comfort for twelve or sixteen hours. The suppository may be repeated as need be; the preferable time for its exhibition is the hour of sleep. Camphor, given by the mouth in full doses, is a powerful remedy for allaying irritation of the bladder, from whatever causes induced; as is copaiba, less nauseous and more trustworthy than cubebs or buchu. The copaiba will often remove speedily the most intense irritation, when all other means have failed. The bowels are to be kept gently open, and all stimuli disused; diet should be low, drink copious and bland. Washing out the bladder with anodyne or other fluids, and the application of blisters to the perineum and neighbouring parts have been recommended, but are often more injurious than useful.

Of Stricture of the Urethra.—By stricture is understood a narrowing or contraction of a mucous canal, from deranged action, or from morbid alteration of its structure. It may arise from relaxation and turgescence of the parietes, or from effusion of lymph either under the lining membrane, or on its surface. Spasmodic stricture has been spoken of by some writers, but is most probably an imaginary disease. An irritable urethra, in which organic disease does not exist to any great extent, may contract at some point, diminish the stream of urine, and prevent the introduction of instruments, or retain them by closing firmly round, and in such circumstances the obstruction does probably depend on spasm of the muscular fibres surrounding the urethra; yet to such a state of the canal the term stricture cannot be applied with any degree of propriety.

True, organic, or permanent strictures of the urethra vary in their degree of constriction, becoming tighter when irritated by improper treatment, hard living, or exposure to damp or cold; indeed all mucous canals are sensibly affected by cold and damp. From these causes a combination may be produced of permanent stricture and spasmodic action; but, as already hinted, it would perhaps be well that this latter term, applied to urethral stricture, were forgotten, instead of remaining a convenient excuse for want of knowledge or dexterity. Spasms of canals and cavities, unusual membranes, adhesions, sacs, and cysts, are too often met with in the practice of surgery, and are said to prevent the practitioner from accomplishing the objects of his operations, so as to put the patient to a great deal of unnecessary suffering, and even endanger his life. The old writers supposed that obstruction of the urethra arose from growths, warts, caruncles, or carnosities in the passage; and even in the present day such causes would sometimes appear to be more accredited than they ought; small excrescences do sometimes form on the membrane, though very rarely.

The true stricture is the result of inflammatory action in the part: at first possibly serous effusion takes place beneath the membrane, and elevates it into an œdematous swelling, which, according to its extent, obstructs the canal; the lymph is deposited both beneath the membrane and external to it, becomes organised, and forms a permanent and more unyielding obstruction. Strictures are of various kinds. The bridle stricture is rarely met with; a membranous band of organised lymph is said to traverse the canal, and, according to the thickness of this membrane, the flow of urine is more or less impeded; in the majority of cases the morbid formation is thin and delicate, but still sufficient to scatter and diminish the stream. When a soft bougie is introduced, it is resisted by the stricture, and on examining the instrument when withdrawn, the transverse and central impression on its point marks the existence of the bridle. The urethra is sometimes narrowed by a circular membranous ring projecting into its canal, composed of swollen mucous membrane with subjacent effusion, and presenting the appearance of a thread having been tied round the passage. Other strictures occupy a considerable portion of the urethra, from a quarter of an inch to two inches or more; differing from the preceding only in the effusion and membranous swelling being more extensive. Others are irregular, the contraction being not uniform at the narrowed point, and sometimes only one side of the canal is affected. Some are very firm and gristly, the effused lymph having become much condensed after organisation; others are less dense in their structure, and exceedingly elastic. From repeated attacks of inflammation at the constricted part, and around, additional lymph is effused and organised, and thus the extent and tightness of the stricture is increased.

The urethra is generally constricted at those parts which are naturally the tightest; at the orifice—betwixt three and four inches from it—and betwixt six and seven inches from that point; the most frequent site is perhaps anterior to the sinus. Contraction of the orifice is frequently the consequence of cicatrisation, and generally proves obstinate; in some cases the smallest probe is passed with difficulty. Considerable portions of the anterior part of the canal suffer contraction from the effect of ulceration; and congenital malformations of the orifice give rise to many affections both of the urethra and bladder. Contractions in different parts of the canal depend much upon one another.

When a tight stricture exists, the passage anteriorly is never fully distended, and becomes permanently contracted in consequence; whilst more or less dilatation is produced behind the tight part, wherever that may be. The enlargement often is very great, the urine lodges in the cavity formed by dilatation, and can be pressed out in a stream, or dribbles away after the patient supposes that he has done making water. Mucous and sabulous deposits often lodge in it; and calculi are occasionally retained there, may attain a large size, and may give rise to very unpleasant and even dangerous symptoms. Not unfrequently ulceration takes place behind the stricture, and the urine becomes insinuated into the cellular texture; but this tissue immediately around is in general condensed previously to the giving way of the canal, and so prepared by lympathic effusion as to oppose effectually extensive infiltration. Such is not the case, as will afterwards be explained, when solution of continuity in the urethra, or of the cyst of an abscess, takes place in consequence of distention of the bladder.

In the gradual escape of urine by ulceration behind the constricted point—the urethra being neither altogether obstructed, nor nearly so—abscess forms in the cellular tissue, exterior to the ulcerating part. The suppuration is often slow in its progress, and imparts to that part of the perineum a stony hardness. Repeated collections of matter may form, and, if the cause be not removed, numerous openings will form in the scrotum and perineum, and through them fetid matter and urine will constantly and involuntarily distil. The patient is reduced to a miserable state; the neighbouring parts are excoriated, and exhale a noisome odour, his body and bed-clothes are soaked and rotted by the discharge, and the atmosphere to a considerable distance around offends the nostrils. Fistula in perineo is established.

Ulceration and perforation of the urethra from stricture seldom takes place anteriorly to the scrotum; but ulceration often is induced there by retaining instruments long in the passage, and may be followed by sloughing of the integuments, abscess in the cellular tissue, or both. Occasionally the urethra communicates with the rectum in consequence of ulceration, escape of urine into the cellular tissue, and formation of matter. The symptoms of stricture are often much relieved after the formation of fistulous openings; and the cure can then be much more easily accomplished than formerly, the passage being less irritable. When the fistula is free and open, allowing the urine to escape readily, the natural passage contracts, and will become almost entirely obliterated, unless means are taken to dilate it, and to diminish the unnatural opening. Neglected aggravated cases are met with, in which the urine has passed entirely through the false passages for years, the urethra and penis, anterior to the stricture, being both rendered completely useless; but even such cases can, by proper management, be relieved, or permanently cured. Ulceration of the urethra, originating in consequence of stricture, may proceed even after the stricture is removed, and give rise to abscess and fistula.

Many patients labour under stricture, and even tolerably bad ones, without being aware of it. But the surgeon is led to suspect the existence of stricture, by complaints which the patients wish to be relieved of, and which they often suppose to arise from totally different causes—pains in the loins or hips, indolent swelling of the testicle, or of the inguinal glands, irritability about the fundament, gleet. On inquiring about the stream of urine, the patient may declare that it is as good as possible; and many say so without intending to deceive, for the stream diminishes so gradually, that the patient is not aware till after he is relieved that he has been voiding his urine in a very shabby and imperfect manner. On questioning further, it is discovered that the stream is forked or twisted, or divided into several small ones; that there is frequent desire to empty the bladder, during the night particularly; and that at first the urine comes away only in drops. A long time is occupied in passing even a small quantity of urine, and the patient has to strain much; in bad cases he is almost always obliged to go to the water-closet when inclined to make water, lest the contents of the rectum be evacuated by the great exertion of the levator ani and abdominal muscles, necessary to overcome the obstruction in the urethra. By the straining hernia is also frequently induced.

In consequence of the almost constant endeavours to overcome the resistance afforded by the stricture, the bladder becomes much strengthened in the coats, and diminishes in size. All the coats are affected, but particularly the muscular; the surface becomes fasciculated; the fibres grow fleshy and strong, and are collected in large bundles. Cysts form, often of a large size; some are caused by interlacement of the enlarged muscular fibres, others are produced by outward protrusion of the mucous coat. This membrane being, by excessive muscular action in the viscus, pushed between the enlarged fasciculi, dilates into a bag, and forms a cyst of greater or less size, communicating with the cavity of the bladder, generally by a narrow neck; the protruded membrane is thickened by new deposit, and ultimately the parietes of the cyst, in some degree, resemble those of the bladder. Cysts of this description are usually situated near the fundus of the organ, and often attain a large size; in some cases the cyst nearly equals the bladder in capacity; and the two seem to form one large organ contracted near the middle. The secretion from the surface of the bladder and cysts becomes vitiated, is much increased in quantity, and passes off along with the urine or after it—sometimes in solution, often separately. In severe cases the ureters and pelves of the kidneys dilate, and their mucous surfaces also contribute to furnish the discharge, in general slimy, ropy, and tenacious, sometimes puriform. Discharge also takes place from the stricture, or rather from the dilated portion behind it; it is a kind of gleet, very apt to be increased by excess in drinking and venery. After debauchery, the stream of urine—which was previously not much affected, at least to the patient’s observation—comes to be very small; and frequently the urine can be voided only in drops, and that with much labour. Besides, the balance between the retaining and expelling powers of the bladder is often lost, and either incontinence or retention of urine is the consequence. Though the urine be much obstructed, even when the stricture is not very tight, the flow of the semen is not; the degree of contraction must be very great to prevent ejaculation of the latter fluid. Indeed, during the healthy state of the parts, the whole urethra is much narrowed, as well as shortened, during seminal emission in coitu, from forcible action of the surrounding fibres, and injection of the corpus spongiosum; and the momentary contraction of the passage in such circumstances is perhaps greater than almost ever occurs in consequence of disease. Sometimes the seminal fluid passes back into the bladder, from an inverted action of the canal, and is evacuated along with the urine; nocturnal emission is a frequent concomitant of stricture. That an inverted or sort of antiperistaltic motion sometimes exists in the urethra, is shown by a soft bougie being in such cases drawn into the bladder after having been passed but a short way into the urethra.

In cases of bad stricture, the complexion is sallow, the countenance anxious, and the general expression of the features so peculiar as to be almost pathognomonic. The lower limbs become emaciated and weak. Gout often accompanies stricture, and paroxysms of it are induced by irritation of the urethra; the canal itself is said to be sometimes affected with a gouty action.

Stricture may be caused by inflammation or long-continued irritation of the urethra, however induced—by mismanaged virulent gonorrhœa—by stimulating acrid injections—by piles, and other irritations about the fundament—by calculi passing along the urethra. That gonorrhœa is a very frequent cause of stricture has been long known—“If the case be slubbered over, and long delayed, caruncles arise in the urethra, and in progress of time a carnosity.” The passage or lodgement of calculi in the canal has induced stricture even in children: and calculus in the bladder is supposed sometimes to produce disease in the urethra, and vice versâ. Strictures are often caused by falls or blows on the perineum, and such cases are of the very worst kind; in some the urethra becomes almost entirely obliterated; in most the stricture is extensive and callous; and in all the disease is overcome with difficulty.

When stricture is suspected, the urethra must be examined. A soft white-wax bougie is very well adapted for ascertaining the state of the parts, but must be used very gently. If pushed forwards rashly and with force, the instrument yields before the stricture, and when withdrawn, is found twisted like a screw, or doubled backwards on itself. The vessels of the urethra may be torn, and hemorrhage, with great pain, ensue. The bougie should be slightly curved in its farther extremity, warmed either at the fire or by friction with the fingers, and well oiled, previously to its introduction. It is then passed softly along the canal till its progress is arrested; thus the situation of the stricture is ascertained. Then a little more pressure is employed for a short time; if the instrument have not become insinuated into the constricted part, it will resiliate on removal of the pressure from its free extremity; if it is passed into or beyond the stricture, it is firmly grasped by that part of the urethra, and retained; thus we discover the degree of contraction; and from the extremity of the bougie receiving and retaining the impression made on it by the contracted part, we can form an accurate diagnosis regarding the nature and extent of the stricture. The information thus acquired is afterwards acted on.

The principles on which the cure is to be conducted are the same in almost all cases; but the particulars of the treatment must vary according to circumstances. In slight cases, the gentle introduction of a moderately-sized bougie produces a cure by removing the irritability or susceptibility of the surface; the relaxed membrane is stimulated by the distention made with a bougie, and soon regains its natural tone. It may be necessary to repeat the introduction of the bougie a few times, at considerable intervals. In tight organic stricture something more is required; the constricted part must be dilated gradually. Much dexterity and management is often required to pass an instrument through a tight stricture, particularly if inflamed; and in such circumstances the attempt should not be made but on good grounds, and to relieve urgent and dangerous symptoms; but after a bougie or catheter, however small, has been got past, the disease is completely under the control of the surgeon, and a cure must follow if the treatment be properly conducted, and if the bladder and kidneys have remained tolerably sound. The effect of an instrument passed through an organic stricture is to remove the irritability of the lining membrane, to excite the absorbents to remove the newly-formed parts, and to dilate the passage: it may be supposed to act in some measure on the same principle as a bandage applied to a swelled extremity. The instruments introduced must be gradually enlarged till one readily passes of the full size; that is, one that enters the orifice with some difficulty, and fully distends the rest of the canal. Numerous contrivances have been employed for the dilatation of strictures; but the preferable instrument is a silver catheter, or a sound made of silver, of steel, or of plated metal. A soft or gum-elastic bougie is sometimes useful in ascertaining the nature and situation of the stricture; but in the treatment it must give place to the metallic, slightly conical at the point. This, in the hands of a well-qualified person, can be more surely and readily directed than a flexible one, and in its use there is less risk of injury being inflicted on the passage; besides, it does not yield to the action of the diseased part. The practitioner must be provided with a full assortment of catheters and metallic bougies, each one differing from the other in size; for, as already observed, the size of the instrument passed must be gradually increased; and, besides, the calibre of the canal varies much in different individuals; what is a full size for one person may be but a trifle in the urethra of another. The bougies are arranged by what is termed a size-plate, or gauge, a flat piece of metal, containing fifteen or sixteen circular perforations, which commence about the size of a small crow-quill, and gradually enlarge in diameter. These apertures are numbered, and the bougie which fills one has the corresponding number imprinted on it. By reference to the numbers, the surgeon is at once made aware of the progress he has made towards a cure.

In the more common and simple cases, a regular and gradual ascent in this scale is all that is required, allowing a proper interval to elapse betwixt the introductions. But in tight and unyielding stricture, small, firm, silver catheters are required, one of these of a size proportioned to the contraction of the canal—and the calibre often must be extremely minute—is passed through the stricture or strictures by dexterous, persevering, and at the same time gentle pressure in the proper direction. If the diseased part be anterior to the bulb, it can be grasped between the fingers of the left hand, whilst with the right the instrument is insinuated into it; thus the part is steadied, and the course of the catheter made more certain and safe. If it be posterior, assistance in the introduction, and information as to the direction and progress of the instrument are obtained by the forefinger of the left hand being placed in the bowel; and this is the more necessary when the stricture is of an elastic nature. Considerable experience is requisite to enable the surgeon to be aware of the progress he is making with the instrument, and whether or not it is advancing fairly in the canal; much information as to this is imparted by the sense of feeling. If the point of the instrument be within the contracted part, it will be felt embraced and obstructed, and on withdrawing the pressure, it will be stationary; if it have not entered the stricture, but is pushing it before it, resilience will be felt as soon as the pressure is either diminished or removed. The sensation imparted when the instrument has left the canal, and is entering into a false passage, is of a peculiar grating nature, and when once felt, will scarcely be forgotten or mistaken. By means of a good knowledge of the natural course of the urethra, and an acquaintance with the feelings just alluded to, but which cannot be graphically described, the surgeon of experience is enabled to avoid blunders, and to pass an instrument with safety through the tightest strictures. It is, however, an operation of very great difficulty in aggravated cases, perhaps the most difficult in surgery; facility in passing the catheter is acquired only by practice and experience. The greatest caution is required, along with considerable fortitude and perseverance.

When the instrument has been fairly lodged in the bladder, it is to be retained. A tape is attached to each of the rings at the neck of the catheter, is brought under the thigh, and fastened to a bandage passed round the waist; this simple retentive apparatus is quite effectual, and suits the erect as well as the recumbent posture. A peg, of metal or wood, is placed in the mouth of the catheter, that the patient may be kept dry, and at the same time have it in his power to relieve the bladder as often as necessary. The instrument should be retained for twenty-four hours at least, and, if the patient can bear it, for forty-eight, or even more. At first it occasions considerable uneasiness, pain, and excitement, but these gradually subside; when severe, they may be allayed by opiates. The parts make efforts to get rid of the foreign body, and these efforts are salutary. Discharge takes place from the membrane, and oozes by the side of the catheter; relaxation occurs, often to a very great extent; and, on moving the handle of the instrument, it is found to be not only less firmly grasped, but to possess considerable freedom of motion in the contracted part. Thus a most successful inroad is made upon the disease, and the after treatment thereby happily abridged. The instrument is withdrawn, and time afforded for the parts to become quiet. After the lapse of two, three, or four days, according as the uneasy feelings disappear, a larger instrument is introduced, and retained perhaps for half an hour; and the successive introduction of instruments—sounds being now adopted—at proper intervals, and in proper graduation, is continued as in ordinary cases. Sometimes, though rarely, the good effects of the first introduction and retention of the instrument quickly disappear, the stricture becoming tight and unyielding as before; when this takes place, the practice is to be repeated, but not till after several days, and then the instrument will be retained with advantage for a longer time than before, provided no untoward symptoms are caused by its lodgement. There are very few strictures, indeed, which will not yield to this treatment, when judiciously planned and perseveringly followed.

Fistulous openings generally close in a short time, when once the urethra has been widened. Their contraction may sometimes, however, prove slow and imperfect, even after the stricture has been entirely removed, and the application of the cautery may be requisite; to accomplish this, when the opening terminates in the rectum, a speculum ani is required, by which to view the aperture, and ascertain its site, and along which to pass the heated wire with safety to the bowel. The cautery is not to be applied so as to produce an extensive slough, and much loss of substance, but lightly to the edges. On the separation of the superficial eschar, the margins are raw, excited, and swollen, with a disposition to granulate; and during cicatrisation of the sore, considerable contraction takes place, independent of the formation of new matter. After the contraction thus effected has occurred to its full extent, and not before, the cautery is reapplied; and by a few repetitions of the instrument at long intervals, the opening is brought to close.

At one time attempts to destroy the contraction of the urethra, by the application of caustic to the stricture, were in great vogue; but the total inefficiency of such practice is now generally acknowledged. The armed bougie was in many cases applied hundreds of times, at considerable intervals; and the mode of treatment, though trying, tedious, and hurtful to the patient, must have proved useful to the surgeon—but to him alone. Years were spent in such trifling, and not unfrequently serious consequences followed this treatment, or rather neglect, of the disease. Cutting catheters are dangerous, as well as inefficient for the cure of stricture; thrusting at the end of a long stricture can avail but little, and in the hands of most practitioners the instrument is as likely to perforate the coats of the urethra as to enter the stricture.

Incision of stricture may be required in retention of urine, scarcely otherwise. The practice is noticed under the treatment of retention. In stricture anterior to the scrotum, it is well to avoid incision, if possible, as it generally is so, for a wound there is healed with difficulty, if at all.

Retention of Urine is not to be confounded with suppression of the secretion from the kidneys, arising from disorder of the structure or function of these organs. The kidneys perform very important functions in the animal economy, and complete suppression of their secretion under any circumstances is a very suspicious and dangerous occurrence.

In the healthy state of the urinary organs, when the powers of each correspond, the urine passes without almost any exertion on the part of the patient; the action of the levator ani and abdominal muscles is scarcely required. But when either structure or function is disordered, the balance between the parts is upset; additional assistance is necessary for expulsion of the contents of the bladder. The symptoms of retention differ according to the state of the parts and the cause which has induced it. The bladder varies in size, and in distensibility. In some cases the organ yields readily to the accumulation of fluid within it, rising high in the belly, reaching even the umbilicus, and forming a large, oval, tense, fluctuating swelling, apparent to the most careless and casual observer. The swelling and fluctuation are in such circumstances so distinct, that the disease has actually been mistaken for ascites. Again, all the symptoms of retention may exist, and all its bad consequences result, without any apparent swelling of the abdomen. But then the distended bladder can always be felt by the finger introduced into the vagina or rectum; indeed its posterior fundus bulges in towards the cavity of the gut, in every case, before it ascends upwards in the abdomen. Sickening and agonizing pain, with great anxiety and ineffectual straining, generally attend distention of the bladder to any great degree. When the distention is allowed to continue, urinous fever supervenes, the circulation is accelerated, the patient perspires profusely, and exhales a urinous odour; delirium comes on, followed by sinking, and, if the cause is not removed, coma terminates the distressing train of symptoms. In other instances the painful feelings subside after some time, and the urine is discharged involuntarily from the urethra. The ureters lose the valvular structure of their vesical terminations, and become dilated; the pelvis and infundibula of the kidneys also enlarge, and all are distended by the accumulating urine. On relieving the bladder artificially, the pressure is taken off the secreting part of the kidneys, their secretion is generally renewed with great vigour, and the bladder is again filled rapidly. If the bladder is not relieved the secretion of urine is suppressed.

In many cases the urethra—the bladder more rarely—sloughs or ulcerates, unless preventive measures are adopted, and extravasation of urine takes place into the cellular tissue of the pelvis, of the perineum, of the groins, of the lower part of the abdominal parietes—into the cellular substance of the scrotum, and of the penis—the parts infiltrated depending of course on the point at which the urinary canal has given way. Under such circumstances the patient is sometimes rapidly destroyed, the extravasated urine appearing to induce speedy sinking, similar to the effects of inoculation with a most virulent poison. If the urine escapes into the cavity of the abdomen, the patient inevitably perishes, and that very speedily; and when the cellular tissue of the pelvis is the seat of the extravasation, little hope can be entertained of recovery, though the fatal termination may not be so rapid as in the former case. When the urine is effused into more external parts, as into the perineum or scrotum, the danger is also imminent, if the fluid is allowed to accumulate and become extensively infiltrated; but when it freely escapes externally, either spontaneously or by incision, there need in general be no great apprehension of immediate danger. In such cases the aperture in the urethra is found to be at first irregular and ragged; afterwards its inner surface becomes rounded off, and a papilla presents externally. The infiltrated cellular tissue is dark, fetid, broken down, and soft, sometimes seemingly in part dissolved by the putrescent urine; and, when the patient has survived a considerable time, it frequently resembles closely in appearance a portion of suppurated lung. When active practice is not adopted after extravasation of urine has taken place, the cellular tissue around sloughs along with the integuments; rapid depression of the powers of life ensues, with great disturbance of the sensorial functions. Death very soon relieves the patient from his sufferings; some few struggle through, and recover, after losing the coverings of the penis, of the testicles, and of the perineum.

The causes of retention are many; but the surgeon must know them all, as the treatment must vary according to the cause. They may be divided into such as weaken the power of expulsion, and into such as impede the progress of the urine in the urethra.

Retention of urine is caused by paralysis of the bladder, from over-distention, from injury or disease of the spinal chord, from pressure on the spinal chord or nerves. In such cases the bladder often attains a very large size. At first the accumulation produces all the uneasy symptoms formerly mentioned, but after some time these subside, and the urine drains away according as it is secreted, without, however, the original accumulation and tumour being diminished. This state of the urinary system is very common in old people, who neglect natural calls to empty the viscus during the night, or while sitting socially after dinner. The uneasiness gradually goes off, and when they at length think of making water, none can be got to flow. Sometimes they remain in this state—the bladder full, and becoming more and more distended—for days, drinking gin and water, juniper tea, or other popular remedies. Incontinence then takes place, and the dribbling of the urine affords considerable relief; this state of matters is often allowed to continue for weeks. Thus the power of expulsion may be lost for ever, though sometimes it is regained even under very unfavourable circumstances. I recollect attending a man upwards of eighty, labouring under retention of urine with incontinence, and whose bladder required relief by the catheter for ten or twelve days; at the end of that period the bladder regained its expulsive power and retained it; and cases are on record in which the power of expulsion has returned after the lapse of several months. Retention thus induced is often complicated with disease of the prostate gland or of the urethra. The patient, perhaps, has been for a long time incapable of emptying his bladder completely; a portion of the urine always remains in the most dependent part of the viscus, and the quantity retained becomes greater and greater, until from some slight cause the power of expulsion is lost entirely. In these cases the bladder, though much increased in capacity, is also much thickened.

Retention from inflamed urethra, attended with swelling and spasm about the neck of the bladder, is preceded by hardness and tenderness in the course of the urethra, and a smarting felt when a drop of urine passes along. Retention not unfrequently takes place during gonorrhœa, from the dread which the patient has of making water; and from the swelling of the lining membrane.

Retention from abscess in the perineum was formerly noticed.

Retention from injuries in the perineum. The urethra is either severely bruised, perhaps lacerated, or torn completely across; and if the patient attempts to make water before proper means are adopted, blood and urine are extravasated into the cellular tissue exterior to the canal. In cases of slighter injury, retention may occur on account of the inflammatory swelling of the parts supervening secondarily.

Retention from stricture of the urethra is of very frequent occurrence, and most difficult to manage. The state of the urethra and bladder in this disease has been already adverted to, but it is necessary to bear in mind the thickening of the latter, and the dilatation which uniformly takes place behind the stricture. All the urgent symptoms of retention may, in this case, arise from the accumulation of but a few ounces of urine. The bladder contracts frequently and very forcibly, causing great suffering. Temporary relief is experienced when the urethra gives way by ulceration, and the urine becomes extravasated into the cellular texture; the patient gets up, and, if in the dark, thinks that the stricture has yielded, and that he is passing urine naturally. But soon he feels a glowing heat in the perineum; the parts swell and become livid; violent constitutional symptoms come on, the discoloration advances, the integuments slough, ill formed matter is discharged, and disorganised cellular tissue mixed with putrid sanies is exposed. The parts exhale a urinous odour, which, when once smelt by the practitioner, can never afterwards be mistaken. Occasionally œdematous swelling of the penis takes place, particularly of the prepuce, when it has been pulled at and bruised during the patient’s efforts to make water, and this must not be confounded with infiltration of urine; I have seen it occur some time after the bladder had been relieved by the catheter. Infiltration of putrid serosity into the cellular tissue of the prepuce, the subcutaneous tissues of the penis, scrotum, and lower part of the abdomen, occasionally also takes place to a great extent, after the bladder has been relieved by the catheter, the coverings are destroyed, and the patient may, even despite of active treatment, perish in consequence. In such cases, a small quantity of urine may possibly have escaped into the cellular tissue before the bladder has been relieved, so as to commence the mischief.

Retention from the lodgement of calculi. Temporary obstruction to the flow of urine is sometimes experienced from calculus in the bladder. Complete and fatal retention has arisen from calculi having become impacted in the urethra, and been allowed to remain there, blocking up the passage entirely.

Retention from affections of the prostate gland and neck of the bladder, inflammatory or indolent. In acute inflammation of the prostate gland and cervix vesicæ, the other parts around swell, the mucous membrane becomes turgid, and the mucous secretion is increased. Suppuration may take place, and an abscess, chronic or acute, form in the substance of the gland, or in the cellular tissue exterior; the parietes of the abscess may give way, and the matter discharged into the bladder, into the rectum, or into the cellular tissue of the perineum. Bloody and mucous discharge from the urethra, frequent desire to make water, sudden stoppage of the urine whilst making water, pain in the glans penis, and other symptoms of stone in the bladder, followed a fall on the back. Afterwards, a tumour pointed into the rectum, and was opened; purulent matter was profusely discharged, and afterwards urine escaped through the aperture. The patient died in three weeks, from irritative fever, with gastro-enteritic symptoms. Along with thickening of the bladder, and disease of its mucous coat, there was found a large abscess of the cellular tissue, communicating with an abscess in the third lobe of the prostate gland, and that with the cavity of the bladder.

When the affection is less acute, the prostate slowly enlarges, from opening out of its texture, and deposition of new matter in the interstices, it becomes hypertrophied. The whole gland may enlarge uniformly, but generally one part protrudes more than the others. When the third lobe enlarges, it necessarily projects into the bladder, or into the prostatic portion of the urethra, and there, acting like a valve, causes much more formidable obstruction to the flow of urine than does enlargement of the lateral lobes; the obstruction is the more complete the greater the distention of the bladder. At first, this lobe is but slightly prominent, and of a conical form; but as it enlarges, its regularity of shape disappears, the tumour is nodulated, and in general somewhat pyriform. It occasionally projects to one side of the passage. The affection is seldom met with, unless in old people.

In consequence of prostatic enlargement, pain is felt in the perineum, with occasional throbbing, and a sense of weight; there is frequent desire to make water, the bladder is irritable, and discharges ropy mucus. There is more or less irritation of the lower bowels; there is an almost constant desire to empty the rectum, from a feeling of fulness there, and pain, often severe, is felt on going to stool; when the enlargement is great, the bowel is considerably compressed, and the feces, when solid, are passed flattened like portions of tape. Frequently there is thin mucous discharge from the urethra. In making water, the urine, as it were, hesitates, and after a while passes away, at first in drops, and afterwards in a scanty and irregular stream; pain is felt at the point of the penis, in the loins and hips, and often in the inside of one or both thighs. On attempting to pass the catheter, its extremity is obstructed in the prostatic region, and the swelling can be felt by the finger introduced into the anus. Examination of the tumour, per anum, is very often a painful proceeding; it is best accomplished after a catheter or sound has been introduced. The disease is often coexistent with calculus in the bladder. The tumour is very seldom malignant, but proves both troublesome and dangerous from its size. The bladder may become distended in consequence, though retaining the power of partially relieving itself; or the urine may come away involuntarily after some time; or retention may be complete, and, if not relieved, the bladder may slough.

It is to be recollected, that in retention of urine, from whatever cause, and particularly in that arising from prostatic enlargement, the urethra is elongated, and the bladder rises into the abdomen like the gravid uterus. The reason of such change of relative situation is sufficiently obvious, being chiefly mechanical.

Fungous, or other tumours, furnishing blood or vitiated puriform matter, now and then grow from the internal surface of the bladder, unconnected with the prostate gland. Worms, too, occasionally lodge in the bladder. Either of these circumstances may induce retention of urine. Another cause of obstruction is hernia of the bladder.

There is no disease in which the patient is more liable to be ‘bungled out of his life,’ than in retention of urine. Great credit is to be gained by judicious and skilful management of the various stages, and by expert use of the catheter in difficult cases, when other practitioners, perhaps, after being foiled, have proposed operations alarming to the patient, and, in themselves, dangerous. In no disease are patients more grateful for relief, for in this the agony is often unbearable. Immediate abatement of all painful symptoms follows skilful and prompt measures; and the superior science of one man over others is made apparent to the most ignorant observer. In over-distended bladder from paralysis, the catheter can in general be passed without difficulty. It should be of a large size, and its introduction should be repeated as often as nature calls for relief, perhaps three or four times during the twenty-four hours, until the viscus regains its tone; and this, unless irrecoverably lost, will generally be restored in a few weeks at most. Repeated introduction of the instrument is here preferable to the retaining of it; the latter measure should always be avoided, unless absolutely indispensable, for a foreign body lodging in the urethra and neck of the bladder must always be a source of more or less irritation; and experience shows that the bladder sooner recovers its tone when the instrument is introduced only to draw off the urine, when the uncomfortable feelings of distention come on, than when it is constantly retained. The patient soon learns to pass the instrument himself, and thereby saves the surgeon from frequent attendance, whilst, at the same time, the bladder is opportunely relieved. Stimulants, as the tinctura lyttæ, given internally, with external friction, blistering, and the application of strychnine to the raw surface, may contribute towards restoration of the muscular power of the organ. Injections into the bladder have been recommended, but are both hurtful and inefficient. Enemata, containing turpentine, or other stimulating fluids, are of service.

In retention from inflamed urethra, the catheter should, if possible, be dispensed with. The introduction of it is excruciatingly painful, and will certainly aggravate the original affection. Blood should be abstracted both from the system and from the perineum; fomentations, with the warm bath or the hip bath, are afterwards to be employed. The retention is usually induced by hard exercise, or intemperance in living; these of course must be abandoned, and their opposites enjoined. Camphor alone, or combined with opium or hyoscyamus, is to be given internally in large doses. Opium may also be useful, administered in the form of an enema or suppository. If relief is not soon afforded by such soothing measures, the bladder must be relieved by the catheter; and if the surgeon be foiled in the introduction of this, as he ought not to be, the only resource is to puncture the bladder from the rectum—a harsh measure, to be sure, and one not indicative of surgical talent, but still preferable, in the eyes of both patient and practitioner, to death.

In retention from abscess in perineo, a little delay is allowable under the employment of palliatives, when the affection is acute. The abscess must be freely opened as soon as its seat is discovered; and until the evacuation of the matter, the use of the catheter should be deferred if possible. In cases of chronic abscess, the catheter must be used, and does no harm.

In retention from injury of the perineum, the catheter should be passed before the patient attempts to make water, and the instrument must be retained; thus extravasation of urine in addition to the blood into the cellular tissue will be avoided. If extravasation has occurred, the perineum, scrotum, or other parts, must be freely incised wherever the urine has been effused, in order to prevent the direful effects of lodgement of that fluid; and then the catheter should be passed and retained as in the former instance. If the surgeon be foiled in introducing an instrument, as he may be, and if the prostate be sound, the bladder must be relieved by puncture from the rectum.

Retention from stricture is, as already observed, the most difficult to manage. No time can be put off in bleeding or warm bathing, in giving internal remedies, or exhibiting enemata. The viscus is making violent exertions to relieve itself, and if these are left unassisted, or not rendered unnecessary, they may prove the patient’s destruction. The system may be drained of blood, and the body parboiled, without the patient being relieved. The case requires immediate and decided practice; for whilst the surgeon is consulting about what is to be done, the urethra may give way, and the patient be lost. The discharge of a small quantity of urine may follow the introduction of small flexible bougies, up to the contracted point, but the bladder is not relieved. The throwing of cold water on the thighs may, in slight cases, induce such contraction of the expelling muscles as may overcome the resistance in the urethra, and this method has been had recourse to after failure with the catheter; but he must be a very poor surgeon indeed who is foiled, when such practice afterwards proves successful.

Immediate recourse must be had to the firm silver catheter, proportioned in size to the tightness of the stricture, and the difficulties afforded to its introduction must be overcome by skill and perseverance; it is no easy matter to pass the instrument in many cases, and particularly when ineffectual attempts have been made previously. By gentle insinuation, and perseverance in moderate pressure, properly directed, the obstacle can always be overcome,—and that without the infliction of any injury to the parts. I may here observe, that I have never yet been foiled in passing the catheter, though very many severe and difficult cases have fallen to my lot; in other words, I have never been obliged to abandon my attempts to obtain an exit for the urine by its natural passage, and, as a last resource, to mutilate and endanger a patient by making an unnatural aperture in his bladder. Yet circumstances may soon occur to me in which the introduction of an instrument along the urethra shall be impossible; no man, it has been said, can be always wise or always fortunate; and he who pretends to invariable success must be either a knave or a fool.

Should the surgeon fail in passing the catheter, the bladder must be relieved at all hazards; and if the prostate be sound puncture by the rectum may be performed. This is neither a difficult nor a dangerous operation, else it would not be so often resorted to; it does not require so much skill and management as does the passing of a catheter. Neither is it painful to the patient; the parts to be perforated are thin, there is scarcely any effusion of blood, and all is done in the dark. But it is an operation which should never be thought of, unless as a last and desperate remedy; it is one in which I have had no personal experience, though when a student of surgery I have seen it done a few times. The procedure gives temporary relief, but then the urethra still remains to be put into a proper condition; a man cannot always void his urine and excrement through one common cloaca. If the urethra be cleared, the recto-vesical aperture may soon close. After the bladder is relieved, the urethra may become quieter, and admit of an instrument being more easily passed; but it is of very great consequence to effect the introduction of a catheter at the first.

Rather than puncture the bladder, the stricture should be cut down upon, and an opening made into the dilated part of the urethra behind the obstruction. A firm silver catheter is passed down to the stricture, and retained there by an assistant; an incision in the line of the central raphe—supposing the constricted part to be in the perineal region—is made over the extremity of the instrument, the contracted part of the urethra is divided, and the catheter passed on into the bladder. Thus, even in the worst cases, the natural canal is at once established. In every instance of difficulty and complication, the catheter, however passed, should be retained for two or more days. The above is the only admissible mode of puncturing by the perineum. It has been proposed to reach the bladder from the perineum either by extensive incisions or by the random thrust of a long trocar; the latter mode is unscientific, the former is unnecessarily painful, serious, and difficult; both are dangerous, and to be avoided.

The symptoms of extravasation of urine have been already detailed. The practice must be bold, and adopted without hesitation or delay. No bulging or fluctuation in the perineum is to be waited for. It is to be kept in view, that the escape of urine into the open cellular tissue may occur in a case of bad stricture, from rapid ulceration or sloughing, without any of the dilated portion of the canal behind, induration or abscess having preceded it; in the greater number of cases the infiltration arises from the giving way of the parietes of a cavity comunicating with the canal. Urinary infiltration thus supervenes upon urinous abscess. Extravasation can never be mistaken or overlooked by a man of any experience, and who is endowed with common observation. The effect and extent of the perineal fascia must be borne in mind; it diminishes or precludes—when the point at which the urethra has given way is interior to it—external appearance of the mischief, and by confining the deleterious fluid increases the infiltration internally. A free and deep incision holds out the only chance of relief; punctures or trifling scratches are worse than useless; neither is there any need of passing bougies or catheters, or of puncturing the bladder.

The following instructive case may be briefly detailed. A man applied at a public hospital for relief, with a large swelling in the hypogastrium, occasioned by extensive infiltration of urine into the cellular tissue of the abdominal parietes. The tumour was mistaken for distention of the bladder, and a long trocar was plunged in above the pubes without a drop of urine escaping. The patient died during the night. The bladder was found contracted, and the external cellular tissue of the abdomen full of urine, from the giving way of the urethra.

When judicious and energetic practice is adopted without delay, patients often make wonderful recoveries. The following may serve as an example:—An elderly man laboured under retention, and his bladder became distended to a very great degree; attempts had been made to relieve him, but proved unsuccessful. A catheter was passed, and retained for three days. During my absence in the country retention again occurred, followed by extravasation. On my return I found him insensible, but immediately turned him round in bed, and opened the perineum freely, giving vent to fetid urine, sloughs, and matter. Next day he was delirious, and knew no one; he hiccoughed, and had cold extremities; “he fumbled with the sheets,” and “his nose was as sharp as a pen.” A physician in attendance, well acquainted with disease, declared that he could not live six hours. But the urine had a free exit, the hiccough ceased on the exhibition of spiritus ammoniæ aromaticus, and wine and brandy were poured into him liberally, the only favourable symptom being, that he still retained the power of swallowing—when that is lost, all is generally lost. He took soup along with the stimulants readily and greedily, and, to the astonishment of every one, recovered rapidly; afterwards the stricture was got rid of, and restoration to perfect health completed. Many cases of similar import might be related, all showing the great danger of extravasation of urine, and the advantage of early and decided treatment. I once also witnessed, in the Royal Infirmary, an unexpected recovery from extravasation into the corpus spongiosum urethræ. This occurrence is always attended with most imminent risk; and is generally the result of retention from stricture. The urine escapes into the bulb, or anterior to it. Alarming constitutional symptoms quickly supervene; rapid sinking is threatened. The whole penis, scrotum, and perineum are swollen, but the swelling is hard, and most marked in the glans and along the course of the urethra. The glans blackens, unhealthy abscesses form in the spongy body, and before these give way, or at least before the sloughs begin to separate, the patient usually perishes. The man to whom I allude, however, recovered, retaining a part of the penis, as well as a considerable portion of its integuments; the rest sloughed and were discharged.

In regard to retention from swelling at the neck of the bladder, it may be observed, that spasm of that part of the viscus has been, by some, considered as a cause of the affection; it is not easy to explain or understand how this should occur, and such an idea is a bad one for him to entertain who enters on the treatment of the disease. The capacity of the bladder varies much in cases of enlarged prostate; in general the organ bears a good deal of distention, and the urgent symptoms do not appear rapidly. Nevertheless, it is the duty of the surgeon, immediately on being called, to relieve the bladder. When the prostate is very large, and retention has continued long, it is impossible to reach the cavity by a common catheter. Those who employ this instrument in such cases are often much puzzled; they continue long in their fruitless endeavours, and, from rashness, generally produce a discharge of much blood, but no urine; they then become alarmed on finding the instrument always filled with coagulum, and suppose that blood has been effused into the bladder, and that the symptoms of retention have been thus introduced. A catheter is to be used, which is two or three inches longer than the common one, possessing a larger curve, of such a size as to admit of being passed easily, and not so small as to render it liable to interruption from entanglement in the lacunæ of the urethra. The posterior part of the urethra is elongated to no slight extent by the enlargement of the prostate, and, besides, the whole canal is stretched by the distended bladder rising high in the abdomen. In short, the bladder is farther away from the surgeon than it is in other cases of retention, and he requires an instrument proportionally long in order to reach it. No time is to be put off. A cautious and persevering endeavour must be made to bring away the urine by the natural passage. Force is prejudicial and unnecessary. It is true that the projecting third lobe of the prostate has not unfrequently been perforated by the catheter, and no unpleasant consequences have resulted, the urine continuing to flow, perhaps freely, through the artificial opening there; but still it is always an injury, often an unnecessary injury, and as such to be avoided. The catheter is to be passed steadily on till it approaches the prostatic region; it is then to be guided by the forefinger of the left hand introduced into the rectum, and when the point is lost in passing through the gland, the instrument is carefully carried forward by depressing the handle, and, if long enough, it will infallibly reach the urine and relieve the bladder. It must, indeed, be a very extraordinary case in which the bladder cannot be reached with the catheter.

When enlargement of the prostate, whether of the whole gland or principally of the third lobe, presents an insuperable obstacle to the passage of the catheter, and when the surgeon has taken care to assure himself that such is the case, I conceive that he ought to perforate the gland in the direction of the natural course of the urethra, not with the catheter, but with an instrument better adapted for the purpose—a long canula, or catheter with open end, very slightly curved towards the extremity, provided with two wires, one blunt and bulbous at the extremity, the other pointed as a trocar, both made so as to project a short way beyond the end of the canula. The canula is passed on to the resisting body, its orifice occupied by the bulbous wire, which is then withdrawn, and its place supplied by the trocar, the instrument being held steadily in the proper direction. The trocar, or stilet, is pushed forwards along with the canula; the former is then withdrawn, and the latter retained. This proceeding I consider quite safe in the hands of an experienced surgeon, one well acquainted with the urinary passages—but not otherwise. It is in every way preferable to puncture of the bladder above the pubes, to puncture behind the prostate, or to puncture of the prostate along with wound of the rectum.

As before noticed, I never have had occasion to puncture the bladder but once—and that was above the pubes, and for an unusual affection of the bladder, the particulars of which have been already detailed. The result of the experience of several eminent surgeons, both in this country and abroad, is similar.

Elastic gum catheters have been recommended in this affection, and it is said that after the instrument has been passed to the prostatic region, its entrance into the bladder is facilitated by gently withdrawing the stilet, the point of the catheter being thereby curved upwards, and, as it were, lifted over any central projection of the prostate that may impede its straightforward introduction. But according to my experience, this instrument is far inferior to the firm and long silver catheter.

In all cases of retention when the urine cannot be brought away per vias naturales, and when no farther assistance or advice can be procured immediately, the surgeon should puncture the bladder rather than leave the patient to his fate; and the operation should be performed early. He must not temporise till all chance of recovery has gone by. By not operating till late, in this or any other disease, when by the delay no reasonable chance of saving the patient remains, our department of the profession is brought into discredit and contempt. Delay is more dangerous than even the worst mode of making an opening into the bladder; and while life exists, the patient should have his chance. Some defer extreme measures from day to day, either from hesitation or from a false hope that matters may ultimately change for the better, but the delay of one hour is in many cases most hazardous. In retention from disease of the prostate extravasation of urine is more dangerous—more certainly fatal—than in other circumstances. Here a part of the vesical parietes gives way by sloughing, and the fluid is effused within the ilio-vesical fascia; in other cases the extravasation is usually beyond that fascia, and beneath the fascia of the perineum.