SECT. 205.] FALLOPIAN TUBES AND UTERUS. 457 



\\ e can assert that there goes 011 a continual formation of thern. 

 In the human female, the period of conception and menstruation 

 is probably the time for the production of these follicles. Their 

 histological development has been studied in animals, and appears 

 to agree exactly with the mode of origin, presently to be described, 

 of the primitive follicles of the embryo. 



^ 205. Fallopian Tubes and Uterus. — Of the three coats of the 

 Fallopian tubes, the outermost, belonging to the peritoneum, pre- 

 sents nothing worthy of remark. The middle or smooth muscular 

 coat is moderately thick, especially at the internal half of the tube, 

 and consists of external longitudinal, and internal circular fibres. 

 The innermost coat is the mucous membrane, a thin, soft, reddish- 

 white layer, which is connected with the muscular coat by a small 

 quantity of submucous tissue; it presents no glands or villi, but 

 some longitudinal folds, and consists of immature connective 

 tissue, with numerous fusiform formative cells. From the uterus 

 to the free border of the fimbriae, there is situated upon its inner 

 surface a simple layer of ciliated cells, conical or filiform, o , oo6'" 

 to 001" in diameter; these cilia, which are very distinct, produce 

 a current with a direction from the ostium abdominale to the ostium 

 11J. riii mn, and are probably concerned in the onward movement of 

 the ovula, but not of the semen. 



The uterus has the same composition as the Fallopian tube, only 

 the muscular and mucous coats are much thicker, and in some 

 respects differently arranged. The muscular coat, of a pale red- 

 dish colour, may be best described as consisting of three layers ; 

 but these are not sharply defined from each other, as in the mus- 

 cular strata of the intestines and other parts. The outer layer 

 consists of longitudinal and transverse fibres, the former of which 

 extends as a continuous thin layer intimately connected with the 

 peritoneal coat, over the fundus and the anterior and posterior 

 surfaces, as far as the cervix, whilst the thicker transverse fibres 

 pass round the organ, and are partly continued beyond the uterus 

 into the round and broad ligaments, the ligament of the ovary, 

 and upon the Fallopian tubes. The middle layer is the thickest, 

 and is formed of flat fasciculi, running transversely, longi- 

 tudinally, and obliquely, and variously interwoven through each 

 other. This layer contains large vessels, especially veins ; and 

 hence, in the pregnant uterus more especially, it exhibits a spongy 

 appearance. The innermost layer, lastly, is again thinner, and is 

 formed by a network of fibres, some thin and longitudinal, others 

 thick, and passing in directions transverse and oblique; and 



