262 



SPECIAL HISTOLOGY. 



regeneration has not yet been traced, though it is more than 

 probable that it is completed as early as within the first two 

 or three months after parturition. It is evident 

 Fl S- 27 °- that, besides this, the serous coat, the vessels and 

 nerves of the uterus, return to their former con- 

 dition, but the precise nature of this chauge in 

 them has not yet been investigated. 



[It has been generally assumed, since Tiedemann, 

 that the nerves of the gravid uterus are thicker 

 than in the virgin state; but quite recently this 

 has been altogether disputed by Dr. Snow-Beck, 

 and is only partially admitted by Jobert de 

 Lamballe (' Compt. rend./ 1841, Mai), inasmuch 

 as that he states that it is the investing con- 

 nective tissue, but not the nerves themselves, 

 that is thickened. It is evident that very accurate 

 microscopic investigations are alone competent to 

 decide this question; but such investigations are 

 wanting. No conclusion, in the first place, can 

 be drawn from Remafs statement (1. a), that the 

 nerves, at the time of pregnancy, enlarge and 

 acquire a grey colour, a change depending upon 

 an increase of nucleated fibres, because no grounds 

 exist upon which it can be decided whether these 

 nucleated fibres are embryonic nerve-fibres, or a 

 form of connective tissue. On the other hand, 

 we are indebted to Kilian for careful researches 

 in animals, which prove with certainty that the 

 uterine nerves, at the time of pregnancy, may be traced further 

 into the substance of the uterus, in the form of dark-bordered 

 fibres ; whilst at an earlier period, in part even before they 

 enter the uterus, in part when they have scarcely reached it, 

 they possess the nature of embryonic non-medullated fibres. 

 For this reason, Kilian succeeded also in tracing the nerves in 

 the gravid uterus much further into the parenchyma than at 

 other times. He perceived no evidence of a formation of new 



Fig. 270. Muscular fibre-cell of the uterus, three weeks after parturition, four of 

 them treated with acetic acid, and pale : a, nuclei ; g, fat -granules ; x 350 diaro 



