APPENDAGES OF THE UTERUS. 549 



inises with the different morbid affections of the uterus. If these nerves 

 of the uterus could not be demonstrated, its physiology and pathology 

 would be completely inexplicable."* 



APPENDAGES OF THE UTERUS. 



The Appendages oft/ie uterus are enclosed by the lateral duplicatures of 

 peritoneum, called the broad ligaments. They are the Fallopian tubes and 

 ovaries. 



The FALLOPIAN! TUBES or oviducts, the uterine trumpets of the French 

 writers, are situated in the upper border of the broad ligaments, and are 

 connected with the superior angles of the uterus. They are somewhat 

 trumpet-shaped, being 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 -uterinum 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 surround 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. A short liga- 

 mentous cord proceeds from the fimbriated extremity to be 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, con- 

 sisting 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 rugae, which indicate the adaptation of the tube for dilatation. 



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 at each side by 

 means of a rounded cord, consisting chiefly of muscular fibres derived, 

 from the uterus, the ligament of the ovary. By the opposite extremity 

 they are connected by another and a shorter ligament to the fimbriated 

 aperture of the Fallopian tube. 



In structure the ovary is composed of a cellulo-fibrous parenchyma or 

 stroma, traversed by blood-vessels, and enclosed in a capsule consisting 

 of three layers : a vascular layer, which is situated most internally, and 

 sends processes inwards to the interior of the organ ; a middle or fibrous 

 layer of considerable density, and an external investment of peritoneum. 



* Philosophical Transactions for 1842. 



J- Gabriel Fallopius, a nobleman of Mode na, was one of the founders of modern ana- 

 tomy. He was Professor at Ferrara. then at Pisa, and afterwards succeeded Vesalius 

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

 niicae," which he published in 15G1. 



