THE EXTERNAL ORGANS OF REPRODUCTION 419 



Between the clitoris and the vagina, bounded on 

 each side by the nymphse, is the vestibule, a triangular 

 space, in which, just above the vagina, is the opening 

 of the urethra, one inch below the clitoris. 



The hymen is a mucous fold which more or less 

 completely occludes the opening of the vagina. It 

 is generally semilunar in form, concave above, or 

 it may be a complete membrane, perforate or imper- 

 forate, or it may be absent. It is usually present in 

 a virgin, though its absence does not prove that coitus 

 has been performed. 



The glands of Bartholin, the analogues of Cowper's 

 glands in the male, are two yellowish bodies on each 

 side of the vaginal opening, each of which dis- 

 charges by a single duct between the hymen and the 

 nymphse. 



The Urethra. The female urethra is a mucous 

 canal, 1-g- inches long, running downward and forward 

 in the anterior vaginal wall from the neck of the 

 bladder to the meatus urinarius and drains the urine 

 from the bladder during micturition, and can be seen 

 as a minute opening just below the clitoris. As in 

 the male, it pierces the triangular ligament, and is 

 surrounded by the compressor urethrse muscle. 



The Vagina. The vagina extends from the vulva 

 to the uterus (os uteri), lying behind the bladder and 

 in front of the rectum, and is about 4 inches long on 

 its anterior wall, 5 to 0-3- on its posterior, and is directed 

 from the uterus downward and forward. 



Above, it embraces the cervix uteri, and its walls 

 are flattened from before backward. In front it is 

 in relation with the urethra and base of the bladder; 

 behind, it is connected with the anterior wall of the 

 rectum by its lower three-fourths, the cul-de-sac of peri- 

 toneum (Douglas') separating them in the upper fourth; 

 laterally, the broad ligaments are attached above, and 

 the levatores ani below, as well as the rectovesical fascia. 



