548 MANUAL OF HISTOLOGY. 



But the lower portions of the cervix are lined by the same flattened 

 epithelium met with in the vagina (p. 141). 



The surface of the mucous membrane varies also according to locality. 

 In the fundus and body it is smooth and destitute of papillae, while 

 numerous transverse folds of plica*, palmatce occur in the cervix, and many 

 mucous papillse in its lower portion, with vascular loops in their interior. 

 These are particularly abundant about the os, and are met with through- 

 out the vagina. 



The same diversity is manifest in the occurrence of the glands. In the 

 fundus and body of the organ they are crowded together, subject to 

 variations, in this respect, in different individuals. These glandulce utri- 

 culares are found in the form of either branching or undivided tubes, 

 about 1-13 mm. in length, and '045 1-0 -0751 mm. in breadth. They may, 

 however, exceed in both directions. They are lined internally by columnar 

 cells, and resemble in many respects the mucous glands of the sto- 

 mach ( 252), or crypts of Lieberkuhn of the intestine, though frequently 

 convoluted at their inferior extremities. They are either entirely desti- 

 tute of a membrana propria, or the latter is only present towards the 

 mouth of the gland. In the pig the uterine glands are clothed 

 within by ciliated epithelium, as was pointed out many years ago by 

 Leydig. More recently the same species of epithelium has been found 

 by Lott in these glands, in various other mammals. In the cervix they 

 are no longer to be found (Herde), but are replaced by numerous depres- 

 sions in the mucous tissue, lined with columnar cells, which appear be- 

 tween its folds. These have been by some included among the glands of 

 the organ. 



Both these structures, but especially the latter, preside over the secre- 

 tion of the alkaline mucus of the uterus. Not unfrequently the little 

 pits just mentioned become occluded, and in consequence distended with 

 mucus. They then present themselves in the form of small round 

 vesicles, known as the ovula Nabothi. 



The large arterial tubes of the uterus, which is very vascular, are 

 chiefly situated in the external and middle muscular coats. The capil- 

 lary networks are to be found in the mucous membrane, the coarser 

 in the deeper portions of the latter, the more delicate near the surface : 

 they are rather irregular as to their arrangement, however. Both kinds 

 of vessels are possessed, in the mucosa of the body of the uterus, of very 

 delicate walls, while in that of the cervix the latter are extremely thick 

 (Henle). The radicles of the veins are wide, and the walls of the latter 

 are intimately connected with the tissue of the organ. They occur in the 

 form of a dense plexus, especially in the middle layer of the muscle sub- 

 stance, and are entirely without valves. The arrangement here, as in the 

 ovary, was pointed out by Rouget to be similar to that of the corpora 

 cavernosa. 



Lymphatics were long ago observed in the gravid uterus, princi- 

 pally in the outer portions of its walls, but those of the mucosa re- 

 mained for a long while unknown. Here they were found, however, 

 by Lindgren, arranged (in the cervix) in retiform and arched passages, 

 ending under the surface of the mucous membrane, either blind or in 

 loops, and passing from thence into a deeper wide-meshed network of 

 larger canals. The portio vaginalis possesses just the same kind of 

 vessels. The mucous membrane of the body of the organ requires further 

 observation. 



