TEE GENITAL ORGANS OF •THE FEMALE. 995 



papillae, and is lined by stratified squamous epithelium. It contains some closed 

 follicles. (It consists of connective and elastic tissues, to which its extensibility 

 and firmness are due.) 



The muscular coat is rose-coloured, and traversed by a large number of 

 vessels ; it is surrounded, for the greater part of its extent, by an abundance 

 of connective tissue, which unites it to the organs contained in the pelvic cavity ; 

 in front, however, it is enveloped by the peritoneum, which surrounds the vagina 

 before passing to the uterus. (This connective tissue is sometimes designated 

 the third or fibrous tunic of the vagina. The muscular fibres are unstriped, and 

 arranged in circular and longitudinal series ; towards the posterior portion of 

 the canal they are redder than in front.) 



Vessels and nerves. — The vagina is supplied with blood by the internal ptcdic 

 artery ; this fluid is carried from it by numerous veins, which are disposed in a 

 plexus around the canal, and enter the satellite of the artery. The nerves come 

 from the pelvic plexus. (The lynrphatics accompany the veins, and pass to the 

 pelvic glands.) 



Function. — The vagina receives the male organ during copulation, and 

 through it the foetus passes during parturition. 



5. The Vulva (Fig. 535). 



The external orifice of the vagina, the mdva is situated in the perinseal region, 

 immediately below the anus. We will consider in succession its external opening^ 

 its cavity., and its structure. 



External Opening. — This is a vertical elongated slit, presenting two lips 

 and tuw commissures. The lips (labia vulvae) are covered externally by a fine, 

 smooth, unctuous, and (almost) hairless skin, rich in colouring pigment, and 

 lined internally by mucous membrane ; on their free margin, the limits of these 

 two membranes are well marked. The superior commissure is very acute, and 

 almost meets the anus, from which it is nevertheless separated by a narrow space 

 — the perinceum. The inferior commissure is obtuse and rounded ; it lodges the 

 clitoris. 



Cavity op the Vulva. — By all Veterinary authorities, this cavity is de- 

 scribed as belonging to the vagina, to which it forms the entrance ; but consider- 

 ing the analogies that exist between the genital parts of Woman and those of 

 animals, this cavity must be distinguished from that of the vagina. It offers 

 for study the hymen, which separates the two cavities, the meatus urinarius and 

 its valve, and the clitoris. 



The Clitoris — Exactly like the corpus cavernosum of the male — which it 

 represents in miniature — and from 2 to 3 inches in length, the clitoris commences 

 by two crura fixed to the ischiatic arch, and covered by a rudimentary erector penis 

 muscle. After being attached to the symphysis by means of a suspensory liga- 

 ment analogous to that of the male, it passes backwards and protrudes into the 

 vulvular cavity, towards the inferior commissure. Its free extremity, lodged in 

 that cavity, is enveloped by a mucous cap — the prepuce of the clitoris {prceputium 

 clitoridis), which is folded in various directions, and excavated about the centre 

 of the tubercle by a small follicular cavity that represents the extremity of the 

 male penis. The organization of the clitoris resembles in every particular that 

 of the corpus cavernosum of the penis — a fibrous framework, erectile tissue, and 

 •cavernous vessels. It is the contact of the penis with this organ during copula- 

 tion, that chiefly occasions the venereal excitation. 



