FEMALE ORGANS OF GENERATION. 489 



persists in a rudimentary state, and is known by the name of 

 Gartner's canal. 1 



The vagina alone has not its homologue in man ; it seems to 

 be a sort of intermediate territory between the internal and 

 external organs of generation. 2 



The external organs of generation originate, as in the case 

 of man, from a perineal cleft which is in connection with the 

 mucous surface of the deep-seated organs ; only, whilst this 

 cleft or fissure is closed in man, and so forms a canal (mem- 

 branous and spongy portion of the urethra) which opens 

 only at its anterior and superior extremity (meatus urina- 

 rius) ; in woman this fissure remains open, its boundary being 

 formed by two cutaneous folds (labia majora), which do not 

 join together, but circumscribe what is called the vulvar 

 opening. Thus it may be seen that generally all the genital 

 parts in women have their homologue in man. The ure- 

 thra! canal of the woman corresponds to that part of the 

 urethra of the man, which extends from the neck of the 

 bladder to the verumontanum or caput gallinaginis (crista 

 urethra3), upon the summit of which, and in front, opens the 

 prostatic utricle or male uterus. 8 



A. Ovary and ovidation.* 



To sum up, the ovary is an organ formed, in a physiological 

 sense, of culs de sac, which become isolated and closed vesi- 

 cles, and are lined with globular or spheroid epithelium. We 

 shall find that there are three distinct kinds of epithelium in 

 three grand divisions of the female organs of generation ; 

 viz., the globular form in the ovary, the vibratile columnar 

 in the uterus, and, lastly, the tessellated pavement in the 

 vagina. 



The physiology of these organs shows that the epitheliums 

 are the most important of their elements ; with scarcely any 

 activity in infancy and youth, at the period of puberty the 



1 See Follin, " Recherches sur les Corps de Wolff." These 

 Inaugurate. Paris, 1850. 



2 See A. Courty, " Maladies de 1' Uterus, des Ovaires, et des 

 Trompes. Notions Preliminaires." Second edition, 1870, p. 74. 



8 Kblliker, " Entwickelungsgeschichte des Menschen und der 

 hoheren Thiere." Leipzig, 1801. 



4 The importance of the ovarian function and its anomalies may 

 be found by reference to Albert Puech, " Des Ovaires, de leurs 

 Anomalies," in " Montpellicr Medical." 1872 and 1873. 



