328 



HUMAN UTERUS AND FCETAL AP.PENDAGES. 



of elongated spaces, which represent sections of the glands. These spaces, gl, 

 are present only in the inferior half of the decidua. Owing to their absence 

 from the superior half, that portion has a more compact structure, and is, there- 

 fore, designated as the compact layer; the lower portion, being broken up and 

 made loose in texture by the somewhat numerous gland cavities, is called the 

 cavernous layer, the caverns, of course, corresponding to the gland spaces. The 

 gland spaces are now very much stretched out, a condition which results simply 



FIG. 189. HUMAN UTERUS ABOUT SEVEN MONTHS PREGNANT. VERTICAL SECTION OF THE DECIDUA 



VERA WITH THE FCETAL MEMBRANES IN SITU. 



Am, Amnion. Cho, Chorion. c, Chorionic epithelium, z/, Blood-vessel, gl, Glands, muse, Muscularis. 



X 40 diams. 



fromjthe general expansion of the uterus during pregnancy. In the gland spaces 

 appear patches of epithelium still intact, and in the cavities themselves 

 isolated cells in various phases of degeneration and disintegration, similar to the 

 phases which may be observed in the decidua vera of one month ; .but the degen- 

 eration is, on the whole, considerably more advanced than in the early stage. 

 Around some of the larger blood-vessels there is connective tissue but slightly 



