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instead «if liciiiu' al once tlinisl oiil aCtci' llic |tai'tiifiti(m, has remained 

 for a Utile while in the mother's ueiiital ducts. 



Once the jdacenta uone, the seat of tiie phicenta in the mucous 

 uiemhrane of the uterus can he traced microscopieally or hy means 

 of a mauiiifving glass for some considerable time. It is found to 

 pi'oti'iide ahove tlie surroundinu' mucous memhrane like a i-ound or 

 o\al-shai>ed ixxly which I \\ill call the plaeenta-hed. 



This Wed, as we learn from the mici-oscopic )>reparations, is limited 

 hv the accumnhition of the remains of the .ulands lying along the 

 ypssels situated in the ]»lacenta-cord, which I will give the name 

 of '-paravasculai' epithelial tubes'" and in the centre of which the 

 remains of the vessels of the |tlacenta in a state of thrombosis, form 

 a "|)lacenta-plug". 



1)V the side of llie placenta-bed the nuu-ous mend)rane forms little 

 folds which often prolude into the lumen of the uterus in the shape 

 of \esi(dc-shaped cavities. 



Among the (dianges that now s(>t in during the process of invo- 

 lution we ha\e to distinguish between those whi(di take place inde- 

 pendently, in the material at our disposal, and those which ai'e 

 noticeable from a to|)ographical point of view. 



As regards the first, even during ])regnancy so mucdi material 

 has been accumulated for the formation of the new mucous mem- 

 brane — the (dianges in \\lii(di will oidy be described here — that 

 it has now i-eally become a ipiestion of elimination of the super- 

 jlnous. It is especially ejutluhMim whicdi is got rid of, as far as 

 dispensable, by its being shed. 



Topographically two things are happening. At what used to be 

 the seat of the placenta we tind as paravascular epithelial tni)es 

 remains of uterus-glands, iji considerable number, Avhile in the other 

 sections of the womb there is a small number only of these iiterus- 

 glands. 



In both the utei'us-horns of the non-puerperal uterus the glands 

 which in this condition of the womb are of a narrow and elongated 

 sliai)e, run close together and are equally distributed, but this condition 

 can only be arrived at by means of tw o simultaneous events : At 

 the recent seat of the placenta the material of the large and wide 

 paravascular vessels is almost entirely got rid of by its dying 

 off. A little of it survives, to form the nucleus of fresh uterus 

 glands. 



In the other parts of the womb a large number of new glands 

 are developing at the surface of the epithelium in the same way 

 as the glands are growing during the time of pregnancy, namely 



