,i 

 FALLOPIAN TUBES OVARIES. 547 



The Nerves are derived from the hypogastric and spermatic 

 plexuses, and from the sacral plexus. 



The Appendages of the uterus are enclosed by the lateral dupli- 

 catures of peritoneum, called the broad ligaments. They are the 

 Fallopian tubes and ovaries. 



FALLOPIAN TUBES. 



The Fallopian* tubes or oviducts, the uterine trumpets of the 

 French writers, are situated in the upper border of the broad liga- 

 ments, and are connected with the superior angles of the uterus. 

 They are somewhat trumpet-shaped, being much smaller at the 

 uterine than at the free extremity, and narrower in the middle than 

 at either end. Each tube is about four or five inches in length, and 

 more or less flexuous in its course. The canal of the Fallopian 

 tube is exceedingly minute, its inner extremity opens by means of 

 the ostium utermum into the upper angle of the cavity of the uterus, 

 and the opposite end into the cavity of the peritoneum. The free 

 or expanded extremity of the Fallopian tube presents a double and 

 sometimes a triple series of small processes or fringes which sur- 

 round the margin of the trumpet or funnel-shaped opening, the 

 ostium abdominale. This fringe-like appendage to the end of the 

 tube has gained for it the appellation of the fimbriated extremity ; 

 and the remarkable manner in which this circular fringe applies 

 itself to the surface of the ovary during sexual excitement, the 

 additional title of morsus diaboli. One of these processes longer 

 than the rest, or, according to Cruveilhier a distinct ligamentous 

 cord, is attached to the distal end of the ovary, and serves to guide 

 the tube in its seizure of that organ. 



The Fallopian tube is composed of three tunics, an external and 

 loose investment derived from the peritoneum ; a middle or muscular 

 coat consisting of circular [internal] and longitudinal [external] 

 fibres, continuous with those of the uterus ; and an internal or lining 

 mucous membrane which is continuous on the one hand with the 

 mucous membrane of the uterus, and at the opposite extremity 

 with the peritoneum. In the minute canal of the tube the mucous 

 membrane is thrown into longitudinal folds or rugas, which indicate 

 the adaptation of the tube to dilatation. 



OVARIES. 



The Ovaries are two oblong flattened and oval bodies of a whitish 

 colour, situated in the posterior layer of peritoneum of the broad 

 ligaments. They are connected to 'the upper angles of the uterus 



* Gabriel Fallopius, a nobleman of Modena, was one of the founders of modern 

 anatomy. He was Professor at Ferrara, then at Pisa, and afterwards succeeded Vesa- 

 lius at Padua. His principal observations are collected in a work, " Observationes 

 Anatomicae," which he published in 1561. 





