OP THE GENITAL FUNCTION OF WOMAN. 341 



vessels, which run in a curious serpentine direction * 

 and are destitute of valves. It has. also a supply of 

 lymphatics, f and a great number of nerves, % whence 

 its remarkable sympathy with other parts. 



546. The uterus is covered externally with perito- 

 naeum; its internal cavity is small, and lined, espe- 

 cially at the fundus, with a soft and very delicate 

 spongy membrane, which is composed, according to 

 some, (92) of colourless arteries and veins, (92) and, § 

 according to others, of lymphatics. || 



547. With respect to its muscularity, asserted by 

 some ** and denied by others, ft I may remark that 1 

 have never yet discovered a true muscular fibre in any 

 human uterus which I have ever dissected, whether 

 impregnated or unimpregnated, recent or prepared ; 

 but it must be allowed, that the fibres, termed by some 

 muscular, have qualities very different from any others 

 observable in the system. I am daily more convinced 

 that the uterus has no true irritability, (301) but a vita 

 propria, (42) correspondent with the peculiar motions 

 and functions of the uterus, which are not referrible to 



* Id. De Morbis PeritonaH. tab. i. ii. 



t Mascagni, tab. xiv. 



X Walter, Tab. Nerv. Thorac. et Abdom. tab. 1. J. F. Osiander, Com- 

 mentatio ■prcemio Regit) ornata, qua edisseritur uterum nervot habere. Goett. 

 1808. 4to. 



§ Ferrein, Mdmoires de VAcad. des Sc. de Paris. 1741. p. 375. 



|| Mascagni, 1. c. page 4. 



** See, for instance, Sue, Mem. jirisentis. vol. v. 



L. Calza, Atti dell' Acad, di Padova. T. i. ii. 



ff Walter, Betracht. uber die Geburstheile des weibl. Geschl. page 25 sq. 



Chr. H. Ribke, ilber die Structur der Gebilhr mutter. Berl. 1793. 8ro. but 

 chiefly J. F. Lobstein, Magasin Encyclopedique, redige" par Millin. vol. nix, 

 1803. T. i. page 357 sq. 



