IXTERXAL (XRGJ-V.S. 1167 



the female than in the male. At any rate, it does not rise above the symphysis 

 pubis till more distended than in the male, but this is perhaps owing to the more 

 capacious pelvis rather than to its being of actually larger size. 



THE URETHRA. 



The Urethra is a narrow membranous canal, about an inch and a half in 

 length, extending from the neck of the bladder to the meatus urinarius. It is 

 placed beneath the symphysis pubis. imbedded in the anterior wall of the vagina ; 

 and its direction is obliquely downward and forward, its course being slightly- 

 curved. the concavity directed forward and upward. Its diameter when undilated 

 is about a quarter of an inch. The urethra perforates the triangular ligament 

 precisely as in the male. 



Structure. The urethra consists of three coats : muscular, erectile, and mucous. 



The mmeul'ir ".it is continuous with that of the bladder ; it extends the -whole 

 length of the tube, and consists of a circular stratum of muscular fibres. In 

 addition to this, between the two layers of the triangular ligament, the female 

 urethra is surrounded by the Compressor urethra, as in the male. 



A tltin layer of spongy erectile f /**>/, . containing a plexus of large veins inter- 

 mixed with bundles of unstriped muscular fibre, lies immediately beneath the 

 mucous coat. 



The mucous coat is pale, continuous externally with that of the vulva, and 

 internallv with that of the bladder near which it contains many tubular mucous 

 glands. It is thrown into longitudinal folds, one of which placed along the floor 

 of the canal, resembles the verumontanum in the male urethra. It is lined by 

 laminated epithelium, which becomes transitional near the bladder. Its external 

 orifice is surrounded bv a few mucous follicles. 



tt 



The urethra, from not being surrounded by dense resisting structures, as in the male, admits 

 of considerable dilatation, which enables the surgeon to remove with considerable facility calculi 

 or other foreign bodies from the cavity of the bladder. 



THE RECTUM. 



The Rectum is more capacious and less curved in the female than in the 

 male. 



The first portion extends from the left sacro-iliac articulation to the middle 

 of the sacrum. Its connections are similar to those in the male. 



The second portion extends to the tip of the coccyx. It is covered in front by 

 the peritoneum for a short distance, at its upper part : it is in relation with the 

 posterior wall of the vagina. 



The third portion curves backward from the vagina to the anus, leaving 

 a space which corresponds on the surface of the body to the perinseum. Its 

 extremity is surrounded by the Sphincter muscles, and its sides are supported by 

 the Leva tores ani. 



INTERNAL ORGANS. 



The Internal Organs of Generation are the vagina, the uterus and its append- 

 ages. the Fallopian tubes, the ovaries and their ligaments, and the round ligaments. 



The Vagina extends from the vulva to the uterus. It is situated in the cavity 

 of the pelvis, behind the bladder and in front of the rectum. Its direction is 

 curved upward and backward, at first in the line of the outlet, and afterward in 

 that of the axis of the cavity of the pelvis. Its walls are ordinarily in contact. 

 and its usual shape on transverse section is that of an H, the transverse limb 

 being slightly curved forward or backward, whilst the lateral limbs are somewhat 

 convex toward the median line. Its length is about two and a half inches along 

 its anterior wall, and three and a half inches along its posterior wall. It is con- 

 stricted at its commencement, and becomes dilated medially, and narrowed near its 

 uterine extremity : it surrounds the vaginal portion of the cervix uteri, a short 



