PALLOPIAN TUBE OR OVIDUCT (NORMAL ANATOMY). 



which, however, during the middle period of 

 life is usually of sufficient capacity to admit 

 easily of the introduction of a moderate- 

 sized catheter. The constriction which 

 forms this aperture is not occasioned by any 

 thickening nor other alteration of texture in 

 the walls of the tube, so that after the parts 

 have been laid open, it is often difficult to 

 determine the exact seat of the previously 

 existing orifice by any mark except that of a 

 slight diminution in breadth of the walls at 

 this spot. 



The Pavilion, or Infitndibulum consists of 

 the expanded or trumpet-mouthed portion of 

 the tube which lies between the orifice just 

 described and the fringed margin in which 

 the tube-walls actually terminate. No por- 

 tion of the Fallopian tube is so variable in 

 form and construction as this, and yet none 

 is of such importance, for upon the peculiar 

 construction of this part depends the special 

 action of the oviduct in grasping the surface 

 of the ovary, and receiving and conveying 

 away the ovum. 



The representations which in illustrated 

 works usually accompany the description of 

 this part serve to give but a feeble notion of 

 the beauty of its construction, apparently be- 

 cause the advice of De Graaf, that their 

 structure should be examined under water, 

 has been commonly neglected. But without 

 the support derived from a fluid of greater 

 density than the atmosphere, the extremely 

 delicate plicae and fringes with which the ex- 

 panded mouthpiece of the tube is beset, col- 

 lapse and exhibit nothing more than a ge- 

 neral indication or outline of their true form. 



When thus examined, the pavilion in 

 young and healthy subjects is observed to 

 be funnel-shaped, and to have arranged 

 upon its inner surface numerous folds and 



601 



leaflets, which are merely continuations of 

 the larger and smaller plicae lining the cavity 

 of the tube. These folds, which are irregu- 

 larly though often very closely set, con- 

 verge towards the centre of the orifice of the 

 tube, and in some cases appear by their pro- 

 fusion almost to block up the entrance of the 

 canal. The office of these folds is doubtless 

 to receive and entangle the delicate ovum in 

 one of the numerous channels which are 

 formed between the sets of leaflets, and so to 

 conduct it infallibly into the common orifice 

 towards which they all converge. 



So great is the variety perceptible in the 

 conformation of this structure in different sub- 

 jects, that it would be difficult to find any 

 two in which a precisely similar arrangement 

 of parts obtained. Even in the same body 

 there is often a material difference in the 

 pavilion of the two sides. And these varieties 

 are not attributable to mere individual pecu- 

 liarities of form, but they appear to bear a 

 certain relation to the age of the person in 

 whom they are found*, and consequently 

 to the period of functional activity or other- 

 wise of the structures of which they form an 

 importart part. Thus in young subjects, 

 after the age of puberty, and in those who 

 have borne few children, the pavilion exhibits 

 that richness and profusion of folds and 

 fringes which is represented \nfigs. 404. and 

 419. while in multiparae and those advanced 

 in life a greater simplicity of form in this 

 part is commonly observed ; but between 

 these extremes every variety of arrangement 

 may be observed. 



In the foetus, and in very young subjects, 

 the margin of the pavilion is nearly evenly 

 circular. This form is also seen in adults in 

 those rare cases where the prolongation of 

 one of the fimbriae alonij the tubo-ovarian 



Fig. 407. 



Portion of Fallopian tube from an adult. (After Richard.) 



a, external surface of the fimbrije ; i, line of demarcation between the mucous and serous membranes ; 

 c c, body of the tube ; dd, tubo-ovarian ligament, presenting scarcely any trace of the fringes. 



ligament does not occur, but commonly the unique in the animal economy, viz., the con- 

 margin is uneven or scolloped, as shown in junction of a serous with a mucous mem- 

 fig. 407. brane. The line of junction of these two 

 At this point, the opportunity occurs of R ich ard, These, Anatomie des Trompes de 

 examining an arrange ment of parts which is i'uterus chez la Femme. 1851. 



