We present 56 patients with urethral calculi. In males the commonest location was the posterior urethra; 46 patients complained of dysuria but urinary retention was present in only 7. In 9 patients with penile urethral calculi, 6 had associated urethral disease (urethral stricture in 5 and urethral diverticula in 1). Transurethral litholapaxy or lithotripsy after retrograde manipulation was performed in 33 patients. Endoscopic manipulation was found to be the safest procedure.

Sonography was performed in 7 patients with fracture of the penis and in 6 cases it demonstrated the exact site of a tear in the tunica albuginea. It was useful in the diagnosis and management of these patients.

The natural history of chyluria is not well known. We have followed 72 patients with chyluria who have not had treatment and the condition has disappeared in 36 cases (50 per cent). In these cases the duration of chyluria varied from 3 days to 20 years, with an average of 44.3 months, but it was less than 6 months in about half of the cases.

An inhibitory rectovesical reflex exists in the lumbosacral cord of rats. The afferent limb of the spinobulbospinal micturition reflex pathway may be additionally and redundantly inhibited by glycinergic and GABAergic mechanisms, while the efferent limb of this pathway may be synergistically inhibited by these mechanisms.