OF THE C.ENITAL FUNCTION OF WOMAN. 341 



vessels, which run in a curious serpentine direction * 

 and are destitute of valves. It has also a supply of 

 lymphatics, f and a great number of nerves, J whence 

 its remarkable sympathy with other parts. 



546. The uterus is covered externally w r ith perito- 

 naeum; its internal cavity is small, and lined, espe- 

 cially at the fundus, with a soft and very delicate 

 spongy membrane, which is composed, according to 

 some, (92) of colourless arteries and veins, (92) and, 

 according to others, of lymphatics. || 



547. With respect to its muscularity, asserted by 

 some ** and denied by others, ft I may remark that 1 

 have never yet discovered a true muscular fibre in any 

 human uterus which I have ever dissected, whether 

 impregnated or unimpregnated, recent or prepared ; 

 but it must be allowed, that the fibres, termed by some 

 muscular, have qualities very different from any others 

 observable in the system. I am daily more convinced 

 that the uterus has no true irritability, (301) but a vita 

 propria, (42) correspondent with the peculiar motions 

 and functions of the uterus, which are not referrible to 



* Id. De Morbis Peritona-i. tab. i. ii. 



f Mascagni, tab. xiv. 



t Walter, Tab. Nero. Thorac. ct Abdom, tab. 1. ,1. F. Osiander, o 

 mentatio prccmio Regio ornata, qua edisseritur utcrum nervos habere, Goett. 

 1808. 4to. 



Ferrein, Memoires de VAcad. des Sc. de Paris. 1741. p. 375. 



II Mascagni, 1. c. page 4. 



** See, for instance, Sue, Mem. presents, vol. v. 



L. Calza, Atti dell' Acad. di Padova. T. i. ii. 



ft Walter, Betracht. fiber die Geburstheile des weibl. Grxc/tl. page 25 sq. 



Chr. H. Ribke, fiber die Structar der Gebiihrmuttcr. >eil. 1793. 8vo. but 

 chiefly J. F. Lobstein, Magasin Encyclopedique, redigc fiar MiLi.iN. vol. XLIX. 

 1803. T. i. page 357 sq. 



