A Lecture ON A SERIES OF CASES IN WHICH COLLECTIONS OF STONES FORMED IN THE PROSTATIC URETHRA: Delivered at the Medical Graduates' College and Polyclinic

GENTLEMEN,-AS it is uncommon to find collections of stones in the prostatic urethra I thought the records of the following three cases, which have been under my care, might be of interest to you.I wish to make it clear at once that I do not consider that they are cases of pro$tatic stones, that is, stones formed from the prostatic secretion within the gland; nor can we, I think, regard them as stones formed within the prostate, but of urinary origin.There is no evidence that they were formed within the prostate.The prostate seems to have disappeared from pressure, or at any rate to be so flattened out as to be unrecog- nizable, and the stones lay in the greatly dilated, and, in some cases, pouched,prostatic urethra.There can be little doubt that they are cases of urethral calculi, and an in- teresting question is, Were they formed entirely within the urethra, or did they come originally from the bladder or kidneys, and lie in the urethra, and grow there from accession of phosphatic deposit?And if they came from the kidneys, why did they lie in the prostatic urethra, rather than pass farther down the urethra, or even out of it altogether?And if they never came from the bladder or kidneys, but were formed entirely withinr the prostatic urethra, why were they so formed ?These are the questions which it seems to me we want to answer in our study of these cases; and it will be well, also, to note the symptoms and signs associated with this condi- tion, and to discuss briefly what can best be done to remove the stones, and to prevent their re-formation.To prevent their re-formation seems the great difficulty, at any rate in some cases.I will now give you an account of the three cases.CASE I.A. C., aged 35, was admitted to the Bristol General Hospital, under my care, as a case of stricture, on January 28th, 1901.The urine seemed to be constantly dribbling away, and he never had any stream.There was a history of difficulty with micturition extending over fifteen years, and that instruments had been passed fifteen years ago.There had never been actual retention at any