BLADDER URETHRA. 



813 



bodies is a smaller venous plexus, continuous with the bulbi vestibuli behind 

 and the glans clitoridis in front; it is called by Kobelt the ^ars intermedia, and is 

 considered by him as analogous to that part of the body of the corpus spon^io- 

 sum which immediately succeeds the bulb. 



Fig. 442. Section of Female Pelvis, showing Position of Viscera. 



THE BLADDER. 



The Bladder is situated at the anterior part of the pelvis. It is in relation, 

 in front, with the os pubis ; behind, with the uterus, some convolutions of the 

 small intestine being interposed ; its base lies in contact with the neck of the 

 uterus, and with the anterior wall of the vagina. The bladder is said to be 

 larger in the female than in the male, and is very broad in its transverse dia- 

 meter. 



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 w.all of the va- 

 gina ; and its direction is obliquely downwards and forwards, its course being 

 slightly curved, the concavity directed forwards and upwards. Its diameter, 

 when undilated, is about a quarter of an inch. The urethra perforates the tri- 

 angular ligament, precisely as in the male, and is surrounded by the muscular 

 fibres of the Compressor Urethras. 



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

 mucous. 



The muscular coal is continuous with that of the bladder ; it extends the whole 

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



