_Chronic cystitis_, called also catarrh of the bladder, is very common in advanced age. The morbid process is excited by some obstacle to the emission of the urine, either paralysis of the viscus, or a stricture, or by presence of a stone in the bladder, or by enlargement of the prostate gland. It may also result from successive attacks of the acute form, or from extension of urethral inflammation. Various degrees of vascular injection are presented, with dark-reddish, slate-colored or bluish-black discoloration, more or less thickened induration of the parietes, which assume an homogeneous, lardaceous appearance. An acute attack may supervene upon a state of chronic inflammation, leading to ulceration, suppuration, perforation and extravasation of urine, as in the case of primary acute cystitis. Chronic or sub-acute inflammation is often attendant upon paraplegia, and proves the immediate cause of death. Morbid Growths. =Cancer= as a _primary_ disease, is but rarely met with. Encephaloid, forming nodulated prominences or cauliflower-like excrescences, is the form which vesical cancer usually assumes. They are developed in the submucous tissue, but as they grow, the mucous membrane is also destroyed, and either an ulcer is produced or a soft luxuriant fungous mass. =Tubercle= in the form of separate granulations are sometimes met with about the fundus and neck of the bladder in the male, and usually are accompanied with similar deposits in the testes, prostate, kidneys, etc. They are surrounded by more or less hyperæmia, and by softening give rise to circular ulcers of the mucous membrane covering them.[34] =Tumors.= _Polypoid growths_, both of a _fibrous_ and _adenoid_ character, may be found in the neck of the bladder, both in children and adults. They vary in size from that of a pea to a cherry. _Cystic_ tumors of small size are sometimes found within the mucous membrane. Parasites. _The Sarcina ventriculus_, a vegetable parasite, is sometimes found in the bladder, in cases of chronic cystitis. Of animal parasites, the Eustrongylus, Echinococus, and Ascarides, have found their way into this organ from other parts. Of the Urethra. =Malformations.= As congenital malformation, we need mention only _Epispadias_, fissure on the upper, and _Hypospadias_, on the lower surface, from arrest of development, and complete closure of the opening, _Atresia urethræ_.