THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 659 



rium, are: 1, a ■whitish mucus in the uterus and vagina, which, in the 

 former situation, is derived chiefly from the uterine gUmds, and probably 

 differs in some respects from the other ; 2, a transparent viscous mucus 

 in the cervix uteri {vide supra) ; 3, the clear viscid secretion of the Bar- 

 tholinian glands, which is poured out in large quantity in copulation ; 

 and upon excitation, as was noticed by Huguier and Scanzoni, it even 

 frequently escapes in jets, which may be ascribed to the muscles of the 

 excretory ducts ; 4, the secretions of the minute subaceous and mucous 

 follicles of the external organs. 



Investigation of the female organs. — The Graafian follicles should be 

 examined as fresh as possible, when the membrana granulosa and ova 

 will be seen in their natural relations. In ovisacs that have been longer 

 kept, the former floats about in flocculi in the liquor folliculi, and the 

 "germinal eminence" is also for the most part destroyed. In order to 

 make sure of obtaining the ovulum, the position of which is readily per- 

 ceived even in the still closed follicle, in certain animals, as in the Bitch, 

 for example, a large carefully extracted follicle is opened under water, 

 and the larger flocculi which escape are examined with a low magnifying 

 power ; it is also readily found when the contents of a follicle are care- 

 fully transferred to an .object-bearer. In rough sections, or when the 

 structure of the ovaries is teased out, ova are also always readily found, 

 although this is not exactly the mode of seeking for them to be recom- 

 mended. The muscular elements of the oviducts, uterus, vagina, &c., 

 are investigated by means of careful dissection, as also in fine sections 

 of parts that have been hardened. Kasper especially recommends that 

 the uterus should be boiled for 10 minutes in water, and then placed for 

 24 hours in the most concentrated solution of carbonate of potassa, or 

 that it should be treated with pyroligneous acid, and the sections moist- 

 ened with dilute acetic acid; whilst Schwartz, according to Reichert, 

 dries the uterus hardened in alcohol, and renders the muscular fibres dis- 

 tinct by acting upon them for a short time with nitric acid of 20^. The 

 method, also, employed by Wittich (p. 486), should be used, according 

 to Gerlach. The contractile fibre-cells are nowhere more beautifully 

 displayed than in the gravid uterus. The uterine glands are best shown 

 at the menstrual period and in the first months after conception. The 

 ciliated epithelium is only to be seen in perfectly fresh subjects, and 

 best in the Fallopian tubes ; the non-ciliated cells, on the other hand, 

 are readily seen. The preparation of the external parts presents no 

 difficulty, and the directions already given are applicable to the glands, 

 nerves, ijapillce, and epithelium. 



Literature. — C. E. v. Baer, " De ovi mammalium et hominis genesi, 

 epist.," Lips. 1827, and " Commentarius," in German, in Heusinger's 

 " Zeitsch.," II. ; Coste, " Recherches sur la gdndration des mammi- 



