2008 



HUMAN ANATOMY. 



Fig. 



Gland 



opening on 

 mucous sur- 

 face. 



Gland 



^-'hTmmwW-- 



•msf^i 



a„ja-^ 





and the glands shorter and fewer, until they finally disappear, glands being' absent 

 in the tubal mucous membrane. 



The cervical mucosa differs from that lining the body in being somewhat denser, 

 owing to the greater amount of fibrous tissue within its stroma, and in» possessing a 

 taller epithelium, a single layer of columnar cells from .040-. 060 mm. in height, 

 and larger mucous glands. The latter (glandulae cervicales uteri), from 1-1.5 mm. 

 long and .5 mm. wide, are branched and often reach with their blind ends between 

 the muscle bundles. The mucus secreted by these glands is peculiar, being clear 

 and exceeding tenacious, and sometimes is seen as a plug protruding from the 

 external os. Not infrequently the orifices of the cervical glands become blocked, 



which condition results in 

 ^701. the production of retention 



cysts that appear as minute 

 vesicles between the folds of 

 the plicce palmatae. These 

 bodies were formerly de- 

 scribed as the ovules of Na- 

 both {ovula Nabothi). The 

 transition of the cylindrical 

 epithelium of the cervical 

 canal into the squamous cells 

 covering the vaginal portion 

 of the uterus takes place ab- 

 ruptly at the inner border of 

 the external os. At the inner 

 OS, where the cervical mu- 

 cosa passes into that lining 

 the body, the change is so 

 gradual and inconspicuous 

 that no s-harp demarcation 

 exists. 



The 7nuscular coat, or 

 myomctrhim, although com- 

 posed of bundles of involun- 

 tary muscle arranged with 

 little individual regularity, 

 may be resolved into a robust 

 inner layer, in which the 

 bundles possess a general 

 circular disposition, and a 

 thin, imperfect outer layer in 

 which their course is for the 

 most part longitudinal. The 

 longitudinal muscle bundles 

 of the feeble outer layer, which is present only over the fundus and body, are con- 

 tinued beyond the uterus onto the tubes and into the broad, round, ovarian and 

 utero-sacral ligaments. The thick inner layer, the chief component of the myome- 

 trium, is distinguished by the number and size of the blood-vessels that traverse the 

 intermuscular connective tissue and, hence, is known as the st7-atutn vasculare (Kreit- 

 zerj. The bundles of this layer are confined to the uterus, except below, where 

 they become continuous with the muscle of the vaginal walls. At the three, angles 

 of the body, corresponding to the two tubal orifices and the internal os, the dispo- 

 sition of the bundles surrounding these openings suggests the existence of distinct 

 sphincters. In other places the innermost bundles are less regularly disposed and 

 are oblique or even longitudinal. Within the cervix the outer longitudinal layer is 

 unrepresented, the musculature of this segment consisting chiefly of circular and 

 oblique bundles, intermingled with a considerable amount of dense fibrous and elastic 

 tissue that confer upon the cervix greater resistance and hardness. The component 

 fibre-cells of the uterine muscle vary in form, being in some places short and broad 



i_j=-' 



>?^ 





Muscle bun- 

 dles invad- 

 ing mucosa 



Muscular 



tissue 



— '^-s^^— Blood-vessel 



N-^dC. 



Ci.es 



Section of endometrium, showing uterine glands 

 cut in various planes. X 40. 



