43- Diseases of the Genital Organs 



fections, ordinarily identical, arise simultaneously from a 

 common center, can not be stated. Judging from clinical 

 observation in a few herds, it appears that the source of the 

 infection in these notable outbreaks was the herd bull, and 

 that the infection was transmitted in coitus, attacking pri- 

 marily the cervix and, before that was brought under con- 

 trol, invading secondarily the oviducts. It seems clear that 

 not all cases of salpingitis are explainable upon such a hy- 

 pothesis. Frequently heifers are absolutely sterile from 

 salpingitis, though served by bulls which appear genitally 

 sound and to which other females have been bred without 

 exhibiting clinical evidences that they are dangerous car- 

 riers of infection. 



The oviducts are narrow, tortuous ducts about 21 to 28 

 mm. long, leading from the ovaries to the corresponding 

 uterine horns. They serve as a path for the passage of 

 spermatozoa to the pavilion and as excretory ducts in the 

 conveyance of the ova from the ovaries to the uterus. Each 

 tube is rather loosely invested by a fold of the peritoneum 

 derived from the broad ligament, which is called the meso- 

 salpinx. It is divided into a broad, funnel-shaped, fimbri- 

 ated end, or pavilion, a constricted neck, an ampulla of con- 

 siderable diameter, and a narrow isthmus at the uterine end. 

 At the bottom of the pavilion, is a very small opening, the 

 ostium abdominale, through which the lumen of the tube 

 opens into the peritoneal cavity. Here exist two unusual 

 anatomical conditions — a break in the continuity between a 

 gland and its excretory duct, and an opening between a 

 serous cavity and the exterior. From this constriction, the 

 tube becomes distended to about 3 to 5 mm. in diameter, to 

 form the ampulla, and from here to the uterine end gradu- 

 ally diminishes to 0.8 to 1 mm. at the isthmus. 



The epithelium is pseudo-stratified. The mucosa is thrown 

 into longitudinal wrinkles or folds, lined by a pseudo-strati- 

 fied epithelium, which increase in height and number from 

 the uterine to the abdominal ends and are without glands. 

 At the uterine end there are usually four or five folds, com- 

 paratively low and broad, which do not branch. Toward 



