UTERUS, AND ITS APPENDAGES. 117 



and has been still farther confirmed in a case, where the scirrhus 

 was five or six inches in diameter; also in a virgin uterus, very 

 much enlarged from scirrhus, presented by Dr. Charles D. 

 Meigs. A similar fact has been noticed by Lobstein, of Sfras- 

 burg, where the tumour was also steatomatous. 



The fibres of the uterus, examined near the term of pregnan- 

 cy, consists in two planes separated by the large blood vessels; 

 one within and the other without. These layers are readily 

 divisible into subordinate Iamina3, intermixed with one another 

 but yet to a considerable extent separable. The external layer 

 is thicker than the internal, and both have an increased thick- 

 ness at the fundus: while they are much diminished, and in- 

 deed indistinct, at the cervix. 



The fibres generally are either circular or longitudinal, but 

 many of them are oblique. The exterior surface of the exter- 

 nal plane, is composed principally of longitudinal fibres, within 

 which are the circular. The inner plane, on the contrary, has 

 the circular fibres external, and the longitudinal internal. In 

 both planes the circular fibres are more abundant at the fundus, 

 and the longitudinal upon the body of the uterus; but, generally 

 speaking, there are collectively more longitudinal than circular 

 fibres. 



Of the Fallopian Tubes. 



The Fallopian tubes (Tubce Fallopiancs) are two membranous 

 canals, one on either side, fixed in the superior margin of the 

 broad ligaments of the uterus. They serve to conduct the ru- 

 diments of the embryo from the ovarium into the uterus. They 

 are about four inches long, and extend from the upper angle of 

 the uterine cavity to the side of the pelvis: their outer extre- 

 mity is loose, and hangs upon the posterior face of the broad 

 ligament over the ovarium, consequently inclines downwards, 

 thereby forming an angle with the other portion. 



At their uterine extremities the Fallopian tubes are about the 

 size of the vas deferens, resemble it strongly, and scarcely ad- 

 mit a hog's bristle; but having proceeded about one-half of 

 their length, they begin to enlarge, and continue to do so rapidly 



