2Ol6 



HI MAN ANATOMY. 



i final 

 porti<> 

 cervix uteri 



THE VAGINA. 



The vagina is a flattened muscular tube, lined with mucous membrane and about 



7 S cm ( i m , long, that extends from the genital cleft enclosed by the labia mmora 



below to the uerus above, to the lower segment of which it is attached a short dis- 



Snce above the external 08. From this relation and the direction, downward and 



the portio vauinulis, the vagina is seemingly pierced obliquely by the 



utl , external OS looks towards the posterior vaginal wall. In the erect 



irc thc ; .gina is approximately straight, directed from below 



upward and backward, and corresponds in general with the lower part of the pelvic 



With th.- horizontal plane it forms an angle of about 70 and with the axis 



that is usually somewhat more than a right angle. 



The arched upper blind end of the vagina, known as the -vault (formx vaginae), 

 r K ely occupied by the obliquely placed portio vaginalis and thereby reduced to 

 roove that surrounds the neck of the uterus. This groove is deepest 

 behind, where it constitutes the posterior formx, a 

 narrow pouch from 1.5-2 cm. in length lying between 

 the cervix and the adjacent vaginal wall. The recess 

 in front of the cervix, the anterior fornix, is shallow 

 and only slightly marked. In consequence, the length 

 of the posterior wall of the vagina, measured from the 

 summit of the posterior fornix to the vaginal orifice, is 

 from 8.5-9 cm. (3f6-3fi in.), that of the anterior 

 wall being about 7 cm. (2^ in.), or from 1.5-2 cm. 

 shorter. 



The opening at the lower end of the vagina (ori- 

 fidinn vaginae) is contracted, and in the virgin is still 

 further narrowed by a duplicature of mucous mem- 

 brane, the hymen, of variable form but usually cre- 

 scentic in outline, that stretches from the posterior 

 wall forward and occludes more or less the vaginal 

 entrance. After rupture the hymen is for a time 

 represented by a series of irregular or fimbriated pro- 

 jections that become the caruncula hymenalcs. These 

 sum HUH! the opening of the vagina and undergo re- 

 duction and partial effacement after childbirth. The 

 anterior and posterior walls of the main and widest 

 part of the canal (corpus vaginae) are modelled by 

 median elevations (coluiimne nujarum), from which 

 numerous oblique folds diverge laterally. These 

 markings, most pronounced in the lower half of the 

 \agina. are particularly conspicuous on the front wall. 

 Hi iv the anterior column is beset with close V-like 

 n<l^< > and ends below in a crest-like elevation the 

 .'/<i im-thralis that lies behind the urethral orifice. 



ions. With the exception of the triangular area, from 1.5-2 cm. long, 



.t" thr post, -rim- wall, where the bottom of the recto-uterine 



the vagina is devoid of peritoneum, U-in^ attached to the 



areolar tissue. In front its upper fourth is in relation with a 



OUjU ndUl and tlu- tri : .M.n. of the hladd.-r, beino attached to the vesical 



Embedded within the latter and surrounded by veins, 



''-"^ ' h the anterior vaginal wall at about the 



' thr cervix. IVlou the bladder, the anterior wall of the 



Btiinatdy connected by the intervening dense fibrous 



' urcthrovaKinalis with wh.ch the vaginal wall blends without sharp 



' '"' i"'-wanl curve ol the urethra this partition 



'" 7 1 ' : uth th " 0tum, which is separated from the upper- 



m * 1 P^ " f ' ' Ml (from 1.5-2 cm.), by the pouch of 





Vugud 



eoadhioe : ini< 



