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APPENDAGES OP THE UTERUS. 



The Appendages of the uterus are enclosed by the lateral duplica- 

 tures of peritoneum, called the broad ligaments. They are the 

 Fallopian tubes and ovaries. 



The FALLOPIAN* TUBES or oviducts, the uterine trumpets of the 

 French writers, are situated in the upper border of the broad liga- 

 ments, and are connected with the superior angles of the uterus. 

 They are somewhat trumpet-shaped, being much smaller at the uterine 

 than at the free extremity, and narrower in the middle than at either 

 end. Each tube is about four or five inches in length, and more or 

 less flexuous in its course. The canal of the Fallopian tube is ex- 

 ceedingly minute, its inner extremity opens by means of the ostium 

 uterinum into the upper angle of the cavity of the uterus, and the 

 opposite end into the cavity of the peritoneum. The free or expanded 

 extremity of the Fallopian tube presents a double and sometimes a 

 triple series of small processes or fringes, which surround the margin of 

 the trumpet or funnel-shaped opening, the ostium abdominale. This 

 fringe-like appendage to the end of the tube has gained for it the 

 appellation of the fimbriated extremity ; and the remarkable manner 

 in which this circular fringe applies itself to the surface of the ovary 

 during sexual excitement, the additional title of morsus diaboli. One 

 of these processes, longer than the rest, or, according to Cruveilhier, a 

 distinct ligamentous cord, is attached to the distal end of the ovary, 

 and serves to guide the tube in its seizure of that organ. 



The Fallopian tube is composed of three tunics, an external and 

 loose investment derived from the peritoneum ; a middle or muscular 

 coat, consisting of circular [internal] and longitudinal [external] fibres, 

 continuous with those of the uterus ; and an internal or lining mucous 

 membrane, which is continuous on the one hand with the mucous 

 membrane of the uterus, and at the opposite extremity with the peri- 

 toneum. In the minute canal of the tube the mucous membrane is 

 thrown into longitudinal folds or rugae, which indicate the adaptation 

 of the tube for dilatation. 



The OVARIES are two oblong flattened and oval bodies of a whitish 

 colour, situated in the posterior layer of peritoneum of the broad liga- 

 ments. They are connected to the upper angles of the uterus at each 

 side by means of a rounded cord, consisting chiefly of muscular fibres 

 derived from the uterus, the ligament of the ovary. 



In structure the ovary is composed of a cellulo-fibrous parenchyma 

 or stroma, traversed by blood-vessels, and enclosed in a capsule con- 

 sisting of three layers ; a vascular layer, which is situated most in- 

 ternally and sends processes inwards to the interior of the organ ; a 



* Gabriel Fallopius, a nobleman of Modena, was one of the founders of 

 modern anatomy. He was Professor at Ferrara, then at Pisa, and afterwards 

 succeeded Vesalius at Padua. His principal observations are collected in a 

 work, " Observations Anatomicee," which he published in 1561. 



