66 NON-SPECIFIC OR GENERAL DISEASES 



Tlie uterus or icomh is a membranous sack situated in the 

 sublumbar region and at the inlet to the pelvic cavity. It is 

 held in position bv numerous folds of the lining- membrane of 

 the abdominal cavity. We may divide the womb into three 

 divisions, cornua, body and cervix. 



The cornua or horns are long and cylindrical in shape. 

 This portion of the womb is greatly developed in animals, like 

 the sow and bitch, that give birth to several young. In the 

 impregnated animal the wall of the cornua that contains one or 

 several fcrtuses, and the body as well, becomes greatly tliickened 

 and the lining membrane more vascular. 



The body is short in all domestic animals and connects the 

 horns with the cervix or neck. The latter is represented by a 

 narrow portion that projects backward into the vagina. In the 

 cow the cervix is less prominent than in the mare and the 

 tissue that forms it, quite firm. In the cow the opening in the 

 cervix, the os, is very small. 



The vagina is a musculo-membranous canal that leads from 

 the womb. In the mare and cow it is about one foot in length. 

 Its function is to take part in copulation and parturition. 



The vulva is the external opening of the maternal passages. 

 It shows a vertical slit enclosed by lips, and interiorly it forms 

 a passage that is continuous with the vagina. This passage is 

 about six inches long in the larger animals. The diiferent 

 features that should l)e noted are the clitoris, a small erectile 

 organ located at the inferior portion of the opening, the meatus 

 urinaris, the external opening of the urethra, situated in a de- 

 pression in the floor of the vulva, and the hymen, an incomplete 

 membranous partition that may be found separating the vulva 

 from the vagina. 



T'he mammarij (jlands or udders secrete the milk that 

 nourishes the young. The glands vary in number. The mare 

 lias two, the cow four (Fig. 17), the ewe two and animals that 

 give birth to several young, eight or more. Each gland is sur- 



