OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 63 . 



of the uterus is not a complete mucous membrane, and that it has no 

 epithelium. It ^is true, that except during pregnancy, we cannot 

 always demonstrate the existence of an uterine mucous membrane, 

 but in several women who died while pregnant, or shortly after deli- 

 very, I have succeeded in raising very distinct portions of it. But 

 even could we not succeed in separating it mechanically, analogy 

 would suffice to convince us of its presence: the mucous membranes 

 are exclusively provided with villi; they alone furnish mucus in the 

 healthy state, and muco-purulent matters in a state of disease ; it is 

 on their surface that we meet with polypi and sanguine exhalations. 

 Hence, the glairy discharge that occurs during labor, the leucor- 

 rhoeal discharges, the menstrual function, &c., all prove that the 

 inner surface of the womb performs the same functions, and is sub- 

 ject to the same diseases as the mucous membranes. I conclude, 

 therefore, that, if we can in reality refuse to admit the existence of a 

 membrane, we shall at least be forced to admit that the uterus pos- 

 sesses a mucous surface. During several weeks, no organ of the 

 foetus is, properly speaking, invested with a mucous membrane ; not 

 one of them can be divided into lamellze of different natures ; they 

 are all formed of a homogeneous tissue ; the intestines, like the other 

 hollow organs, are possessed not of internal and external membranes, 

 but of surfaces ; it is only at a later period, little by little, and in the 

 same situations where they are observed after birth, that the distinc- 

 tion of tissues, established by the zoologists, are effected. Thus, the 

 interior of all the cavities, of all the canals that communicate nearly 

 or remotely with the atmosphere, exhibit the aspects of villous sur- 

 faces ; but to this fundamental character are added others which 

 differ according to the organ, and reduce every portion into har- 

 mony with the uses of the parts it helps to constitute. Sometimes 

 it is a moveable lamina, thick and wrinkled, as in the alimentary 

 canal ; in other instances, it is a thin smooth layer, difficult to sepa- 

 rate from the subjacent tissues, as in the ureters, the vasa deferen- 

 tia, &-C. Although follicular and villous, this element may adhere 

 so intimately to the substance of the organs, that it is impossible to 

 separate it ; and this is the case with the womb. Nature, true to 

 her great principle, seems here to take pleasure in varying forms 

 without multiplying means ; on some points she is content with a 

 mere rudiment, while at other points she at once attains perfection ; 

 but on the other hand, that which, so to speak, she leaves incomplete 

 in the normal state, is rendered complete by disease, or by some 

 eventual condition ; in this way it happens that a pregnancy, a poly- 

 pus, or some other lesion, have, in more than one instance, rendered 

 the mucous membrane of the uterus altogether evident. 



