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Article: The prostate is hardly a grand gland. (prostate gland diseases)
- Article from:
- FDA Consumer
- Article date:
- December 1, 1984
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1984 U.S. Government Printing Office. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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"Where ignorance is bliss, 'Tis folly to be wise," said the poet Thomas Gary. He could well be referring to what many of us call our "prostrate" gland, about which most males are in blissful ignorance until some time in middle age.
Neither prostrate with that second "r" nor a single gland, it is actually a cluster of 30 to 50 small, grapelike, glandular, secreting parts, interwoven with fibrous and muscular structures. Divided into five or more lobes, it is covered with a triangular, reddish-brown sheath with its widest section attached to the lower end of the bladder. The name "prostate" comes from the Latin for "standing before or beside," which is one of those ...