1 86 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY FOR NURSES 



blood. This is derived from the renal artery, which, as 

 we have seen in the description of this structure in a 

 previous chapter, comes directly from the abdominal 

 aorta. 



THE URETERS 



The ureters are the excretory ducts of the kidneys. 

 They arise in the middle of the concave side, or hilus, 

 of each kidney, and proceed obliquely downward and in- 

 ward through the lumbar region of the abdomen into the 

 pelvis, to open obliquely by two constricted orifices into 

 the base of the bladder. Each ureter is from 16 to 18 

 inches long, of the diameter of a goose- quill, and is made 

 up of muscular tissue lined by mucous membrane. The 

 muscular coat is arranged in two layers an outer cir- 

 cular and an inner longitudinal layer. Outside the 

 muscular coat is a layer of fibrous connective tissue, carry- 

 ing the blood-vessels and nerves with which the tube is 

 supplied. 



THE BLADDER 



The bladder is a musculomembranous sac that serves 

 as the reservoir for the urine. It is situated in the pelvic 

 cavity, behind the pubes, and is held in position by liga- 

 ments. During infancy it is conic in shape, and pro- 

 jects above the upper border of the pubes into the hypo- 

 gastric region. In the adult, when quite empty, it is 

 deeply placed in the pelvis. When slightly distended it 

 has a rounded form, but when greatly distended it is 

 ovoid in shape, and rises to a considerable height in the 

 abdominal cavity. When moderately distended, it meas- 

 ures about 5 inches in length and 3 inches across. The 

 amount of urine which the bladder ordinarily contains is 

 about i pint. 



In structure, the bladder consists of involuntary mus- 

 cular tissue lined by a strong mucous membrane, and 



