Independently of the function of the urethra being to discharge the urine, it has also to convey the semen to the orifice of the glans; and here in this act is to be observed the wonderful adaptation of means to an end. During the excitement attendant upon venereal commerce, the seminal fluid accumulates, prior to emission, in the bulbous portion, and when the fitting moment arrives for its ejection, the membranous portion spasmodically contracts, thereby preventing the regurgitation of the semen into the bladder, while the muscles surrounding the bulbous portion contract with energetic force, and so complete the transmission of the generative fluid. Such are the functions of the urethra in health. [Illustration: A—Signifying the urethra cut open. B—The lacunæ and the cut end of bougie, to show the continuation of the urethra.] Now, this canal being extensively supplied with nerves, that have more extensive communication with others than any particular ones have in the whole body, and made up, as before stated, of surficial and muscular membranes, and exposed to the performance of several duties which are often unduly called into exercise, can not be supposed to be exempt from the consequences of such misappropriation; and therefore it is very liable to inflammation. From the sensitive nature of the tube, it is very obnoxious to spasm, which may be partial, general, temporary, or continuous: hence spasmodic stricture. This condition is of course dependent upon many causes, excess of diet, fatigue, cold, &c., irritating the general system; when from the local irritation previously set up in the urethra by the forenamed causes—a neglected gleet or clap—the urethra is not long in participating in it: the phenomena are the symptoms recently narrated. Highly restorative as the powers of nature may be to remove disease, she does not appear readily disposed to interfere with the processes set up in the machine she inhabits, for self-defence, to protect itself from the constant irritation produced by the daily flow of acrid urine, which in several cases often produces ulceration; coagulable lymph is thrown out in the cellular structure of the particular diseased part, thereby thickening the walls thereof, and constituting permanent stricture, it appearing preferable to impede a function which a narrowing of the urethric canal does, namely, that of urinating, than of allowing ulceration to ensue, whereby the urine would escape into the neighboring parts, and occasion great devastation, and probably death. Permanent stricture, as its name implies, outlives the patient; _it never yields, unassisted by art_. I have described the ordinary symptoms of stricture, especially that form induced by gonorrhœa. Stricture may arise from other causes. Inflammation, in whatever way set up, if allowed to go on or remain, will give rise to stricture, and the celerity or tardiness with which it takes place depends upon circumstance. An injury from falling