466 



THE UTERUS. 



fibres in different stages of development, together with a consider- 

 able quantity of intervening granular substance, and some plain mus- 

 cular fibres derived from the inner muscular layer of the uterine wall. 



Uterine glands. — In the dog, as first shown by Sharpey (Midler's 

 Physiol., by Baly, 1842, p. 1574), and in various othei" animals, there are 

 two forms of the uterine glands ; but in the human species it appears 

 that there is only one form, viz., that of more or less convoluted and 

 generally simple tubes. They are also, however, sometimes a little 

 branched. Their form is generally that of equal cylinders throughout 

 the length of the tube, with a slight dilatation in many towards the 

 deep or closed extremities (E. H. Weber, Zustitze zur Lehre vom Bane, 

 &c., der Geschlechtsorgane, 1846). Being set perpendicularly to the 

 surface, and slightly convoluted, they are necessarily somewhat longer 

 than the thickness of the membrane. Towards the fundus, the outer 

 parts of the glands lie somewhat more obliquely. 



Each gland is composed of a delicate basement membrane, with em- 

 bedded nuclei, and this is lined with prismatic nucleated epithelial 

 cells, placed with their broader bases and nuclei towards the outer wall, 

 and their narrow ends towards the lumen of the tube. (G. Lott, in 

 Kollett's Untersuch, II., Leipzig, 1871, and Chrobak, in Strieker's 

 Handbuch, &c.; John Williams, M.D., The Struct, of the Mucous 

 Memb. of the Uterus, 1875. See also Henle's Handb. der system. 

 Anatomic, vol. ii.) 



Fig. 331. 



331, A. — Section of the Glandular Structure of the Human Uterus at the 

 COMMENCEMENT OF PREGNANCY (from E. H. Weber), f 

 a, part of the cavity of tbe uterus showing the orifices of the glands ; d, a number of 

 the tubular glands, some of which are simple, others slightly convoluted and divided at 

 the extremities. 



Fig. 331, B. — Small Portion of the Uterine Mucous Membrane after Recent 

 Impregnation, seen from the inner surface (from Sharpey). \" 

 The si)ecimen is represented as viewed upon a dark ground, and shows the orifices of 

 the uterine glandij, in most of which, as at 1, the epithelium remains, and in some, as at 

 2, it has been lost. 



In a number of animals the glandular epithelium is ciliated, a fact 

 which was observed by Allen Thomson in the uterine glands of the sow 

 in 184G, but was first published by Leydig in 1852, after an observa- 

 tion by JSTylander. (Miiller's Archiv., 1852, p. 375.) Many observers 

 failed to detect this ciliated structure in the human uterine glands : 

 but its existence was asserted by C. F. Friedliinder in 187(\ and more 

 recently it has been fully ascertained by J. Williams, who also observed 



