STEUCTURAL CHAXGES OF THE UTERUS. 4G9 



size and structure of the unimpregnated condition. Dui-ing this change the en- 

 larged muscular fibres undergo fatty degeneration and become subsequently 

 absorbed, while a new set of minute fibre-cells are developed. After the first 

 pregnancy, however, the organ never regains its original virgin character. In 

 those who have had children its weight usually remains from two to three 

 ounces ; its cavity is larger ; the os externum is wider and more roimded, and 

 its margins often puckered or fissm-ed ; the ai-teries continue much more tortuous, 

 and its muscular fibres and layers remain more defined than in the virgin. 



Fis. 332. 



Fig. 332. — Outlines op Moulds op the Uterine Cavity in diffesent st.vtes (after 

 F. Giiyon). Natural size. 



A, in a virgin of 17 years of age ; B, in a woman of 42 years who had not borne 

 children ; C, in a woman of 35 years who had borne cliilJren ; h, cavity of the body ; c, 

 that of the cervix ; i, the isthmus or os internum ; o, os externum ; t, passage of the 

 upper angle into the Fallopian tube. 



Changes from. Age. — In the infant, the neck of the uterus is larger than the 

 body : the fundus is not distinguished either by breadth or convexity of outline, 

 and the cavity is remarkably narrow, and tapers out from the middle on both 

 sides so as to present an approach to the two-horned form prevalent in animals. 

 These parts afterwards enlarge gradually, untd, at pubei^ty, the pyriform figure of 

 the womb is fully established. The arbor vita3 is very distinct, and indeed at first 

 reaches uj^ward to the highest part of the cavity. The shape of the cavity of the 

 body varies also in after life ; but it remains comparatively narrow ujd to the age 

 of puberty, and retains the same form to a great degree in all women who have 

 borne no children. It is chiefly, therefore, in those who have been pregnant that 

 its form is widely triangular. (Fel. Guyon, Cavite de I'Uterus, &c. Journ. de la 

 Physiol, vol. ii. p. 186.) 



From the gradual effects of more advanced age alone, independent of impreg- 

 nation, the uterus shrinks, and becomes paler in colour, and harder in texture ; 

 its triangular form is lost ; the body and neck become less distinguishable from 

 each other ; the orifices also become less characteristic. 



For further details with regard to the structure of the uteras and its changes, 

 the reader is referred to the article by Farre on " Uterus and its Appendages" 

 in Cyclop, of Anat. and Phys. 



