On the whole, the pelvic bones are well covered in with muscles. The anterior superior spine, however, is easily felt in front and the whole crest can be felt back to the posterior superior spine. The tuberosity of the ischium also can be felt, especially when the thigh is flexed, for it is largely uncovered of muscles. The spine of the os pubis can always be felt, on a level with the great trochanter, and the relation of its position to that of a hernia shows whether the rupture is above or below Poupart’s ligament, that is, whether it is inguinal or femoral. Occasionally there is lack of development of the pubic bones for two or three inches and the bladder is exposed. _Fracture_ of the pelvis may occur, perhaps with injury to the viscera. The acetabulum may be fractured or the sacrum broken, with injury to the sacral plexus of nerves, causing paralysis of the lower extremities and of the sphincters, with resultant involuntary passage of urine and feces, and in childbirth the coccyx is often broken. In _rickets_ there may be great deformity of the pelvis, causing trouble in childbirth later in life. _Osteomalacia_ is a disease of adults, in which the bones are soft and the weight pushes the promontory of the sacrum forward and approximates the sides of the pelvis. =The Male Generative Organs.=--The male generative organs consist of the prostate gland, testes, and penis. The _prostate gland_ is shaped like a small horse-chestnut and is composed of numerous glands from which come a dozen or more excretory ducts. It surrounds the neck of the bladder and the beginning of the urethra and is next to the rectum, through which an examination may be made to determine its size. For it often enlarges in elderly men, the frequent passage of urine in small amounts being a symptom of enlarged prostate. The _procreating glands_, which secrete the spermatozoa or semen, are two in number, the _testes_ or _testicles_, and are homologous to the ovaries in the female. They are ovoid in form and are suspended by the _spermatic cords_ in a sac, the _scrotum_, back of the penis. During early fetal life they are in the back of the abdomen near the kidneys, but before birth they descend along the inguinal canals into the scrotum. The excretory duct of the testis is called the _vas deferens_. It passes up by the spermatic cord through the inguinal canal into the pelvis to the base of the bladder and at the base of the prostate joins the duct of the vesicula seminalis to form the _ejaculatory duct_. The two _vesiculæ seminales_ are small receptacles for the semen lying in contact with the base of the bladder and secrete a fluid with which they dilute the semen. The ejaculatory duct terminates near the prostate in the urethra by a slit-like orifice on each side, the spermatozoa being finally excreted through the urethra.