282 GENERATION. 



expulsion of the ovum. 1 These points will be more fully 

 considered under the head of ovulation. 



The middle layer is the one most efficient in the parturient 

 contractions of the uterus. It is composed of a thick and 

 complicated net-work of fasciculi interlacing with each other 

 in every direction. 



The inner layer is arranged in the form of broad rings, 

 which surround the Fallopian tubes, become larger as they 

 extend over the body of the uterus, and meet at the centre 

 of the organ near the neck. 



The mucous membrane of the uterus is of a pale, reddish 

 color ; and that portion lining the body is smooth, and so 

 closely attached to the subjacent structures, that it cannot be 

 separated to any great extent by dissection. There is, how- 

 ever, no proper submucous areolar tissue, the membrane 

 being applied directly to the uterine walls. It is covered by 

 a single layer of cylindrical epithelial cells with delicate cilia, 

 the movements of which are from without inward, toward 

 the openings of the Fallopian tubes. 3 Examination of the 

 surface of the membrane with a low magnifying power 

 shows the openings of numerous tubular glands. These 

 glands are usually simple, sometimes branched, dividing, 

 about midway between the opening and the lower extremity, 

 into two and, very rarely, into three secondary tubules. Their 

 course is generally tortuous, so that their length frequently 

 exceeds the thickness of the mucous membrane. The open- 

 ings of these tubes are about -^-$ of an inch in diameter. 



The uterine tubes are of considerable physiological inter- 

 est, and have been the subject of much discussion. Their 

 secretion, which forms a thin layer of mucus on the surface 



1 ROUGET, Recherches sur les organes erectiles de la femme. Journal de la 

 physiologic, Paris, 1858, tome i., pp. 320, 479, 735, et seq. 



2 KOLLIKER, Clements d'histologie humaine, Paris, 1868, p. 723. 

 According to Luschka, as a rule, it is only the mucous membrane of the 



upper half of the body and the fundus of the uterus which is provided with 

 ciliated epithelium, the movement being toward the openings of the Fallopian 

 tubes. (LUSCHKA, Anatomic des Menschen, Tubingen, 1864, Bd. ii., S. 370.) 



