FEMALE ORGANS OF GENERATION. 867 



and form a sort of mould of the body of the uterus. Rouget calls this the erectile tissue 

 of the internal generative organs. By placing the pelvis in a bath of warm water and 

 injecting what he calls the spongy bodies of the ovaries and uterus by the ovarian veins, 

 he produced a distention of the vessels and a true erection, the uterus executing a move- 

 ment analogous to that of the penis during venereal excitement. 



FIG. 277. Blood -vessels of the uterus and ovaries ; posterior view. ^Rouget.) 



T, T, Fallopian tubes ; O, O, ovaries ; U, uterus ; V, vagina ; P, pubis ; L, anterior round ligament ; 1, 2, muscular 

 fibres of the vagina ; 3, 4, ligament of the ovary ; 5, superior round ligament ; 6, ovarian artery; 7, ovarian vein ; 

 8, uterine artery ; 9, uterine vein ; 10, 11, uterine plexus ; 12, vaginal plexus. 



In addition to the erectile action above described, Wernich has lately noted a true 

 erection of the lower portion of the uterus, particularly the neck, which he believes to 

 be very efficient in aiding the penetration of spermatozoids. In several observations, he 

 noticed, during a vaginal examination by the touch, that the neck of the uterus, which 

 at first was soft and flaccid, became elongated, hardened, and apparently in a condition 

 of erection, giving an impression to the finger comparable to the hardened glans penis. 

 As an anatomical explanation of the phenomena observed, Wernich quotes from Henle 

 an account of the arrangement of the blood-vessels of the cervix and his physiological 

 deductions from the presence, in this portion of the uterus, of a true erectile tissue. 

 This question will be considered more fully under the head of the mechanism of fecun- 

 dation. 



In the muscular structure of the uterus, are numerous large veins, the walls of which 

 are closely adherent to the uterine tissue. During gestation, these vessels become en- 

 larged, forming the so-called uterine sinuses. 



Lymphatics are not very numerous in the unimpregnated uterus, but they become 

 largely developed during gestation. They exist in a superficial and a deep layer, the 

 deeper vessels coming from the muscular substance and probably also from the mucous 

 membrane. 



The uterine nerves are derived from the inferior hypogastric and the spermatic plex- 

 uses, and the third and fourth sacral. In the substance of the uterus, they present in 

 their course small collections of ganglionic cells and it is said that the nerves pass finally 

 to the nucleoli of the muscular fibres. 



