FALLOPIAN TUBE OR OVIDUCT (NORMAL ANATOMY). 



reason to think that it performs, as the an- 

 cient anatomists supposed, the office of a 

 muscle in drawing these parts together. 



The length of the tubo-ovarian ligament 

 determines the distance to which the mouth 

 of the tube can be separated from its corre- 

 sponding ovary. This, in most instances, is 

 sufficient to permit the tubal orifice to be 

 easily applied over any portion of the gland 

 of the same side ; so that from whatever 

 part of the surface of the ovary an ovum is 

 discharged, the reception of the latter by the 

 tube is rendered possible by the range of 

 motion which the mouth of the tube enjoys 

 in relation to the ovary. The average length 

 of this ligament, measured from its com- 

 mencement at the margin of the ovary to the 

 centre of the tubal orifice is 1". 



Structure of the coats or tunics. The Fal- 

 lopian tube is composed of three coats : 

 viz., 1. an external investment of peritoneum ; 

 2. a proper coat composed of fibrous tissue ; 

 and 3. a mucous lining covered by epithe- 

 lium. 



The tube has been already described as 

 running horizontally within two folds of 

 peritoneum, formed by the upper border of 

 the lesser wing, or ala of the broad ligament, 

 which serves also to form its mesentery, and 

 to connect it with adjacent parts. This fold 

 encircles the tube somewhat loosely, and con- 

 stitutes the peritoneal coat. 



Between this covering and the middle or pro- 

 per fibrous coat of the tube is found a small 

 quantity of fine and rather tough connective 

 tissue, which serves to bind these coats to- 

 gether. This intermediate tissue being more 

 abundant in quantity towards the uterine 

 end, permits a greater freedom of movement 

 of the serous investment of the tube in this 

 region than at the opposite or free extremity, 

 where, in most subjects, the serous and pro- 

 per coats cannot be separated without much 

 difficulty. 



The middle or fibrous coat has been very 

 generally regarded as containing muscular 

 fibres, and as having a contractile power. 

 Santorini described external, longitudinal, 

 and internal circular fibres, and his state- 

 ment has been reasserted by Meckel, Boivin, 

 Velpeau, and many others. By Kblliker, also, 

 the middle layer of this tube is regarded as 

 a smooth muscular coat, composed of a 

 double layer of fibres. These statements 

 have been'called in question by Robin and 

 Richard, who assert that there are in the 

 proper walls of the oviduct only fibres of 

 cellular tissue and fibro-plastic elements, but 

 no muscular fibres of organic life. M, Ri- 

 chard declares that it is impossible to recog- 

 nise two distinct layers, at least they can be 

 only artificially produced. The number of 

 longitudinal fasciculi appears always to ex- 

 ceed that of the transverse fibres, but these 

 elements are interlaced in every direction, 

 both longitudinally and transversely. 



The question is important, for unless we 

 consider, with Haller, that the proper tissue 

 of the tube resembles the cavernous body of 



603 



the penis and clitoris, and that, as some have 

 supposed, the tube, when filled with blood, 

 is capable of erection, for which conjecture 

 there appears to be no good foundation, it 

 is impossible, in the absence of a contractile 

 fibrous coat, to explain those movements of 

 the oviduct, which must necessarily occur 

 whenever the abdominal orifice is applied to 

 the surface of the ovary or that peris- 

 taltic action of the tube, witnessed by Bi- 

 schofF in the Guinea-pig, by means of which 

 the ova are carried backwards and forwards 

 within the canal. See p. 611. 



With a view of resolving the doubts raised 

 by these conflicting statements, I have micro- 

 scopically examined the fibrous coat of the 

 oviduct in the human subject at different pe- 

 riods of life, as well as in several genera of 

 mammalia, and especially in Simia, Bos, Cer- 

 vus, and Delphinus. With regard to these 

 latter examples, I find the evidence of the 

 presence of a smooth muscular layer, consti- 

 tuting the middle coat of the oviduct, more 

 or less decisive in different genera, but the 

 existence of such a coat was most satisfac- 

 torily determined in Delphinus phocaena (preg- 

 nant). Here not only were the smooth 

 muscular fibres, collected into long bundles, 

 easily distinguished, but they were still more 

 distinctly shown at the broken extremities of 

 the latter, which exhibited the characteristic 

 fusiform terminations of the individual fibre 

 in such a manner as to leave no doubt as fo 

 the muscular nature of the tissue forming the 

 principal portion of this coat, which contained 

 besides an abundance of nuclear elements and 

 common fibres of connective tissue. 



With regard to the human subject, it ap- 

 pears to me that the assertion that the middle 

 coat of the oviduct contains only fibrous tis- 

 sue, may have been based upon the examina- 

 tion of specimens taken from females advanced 

 in life ; for, applied to such specimens, the 

 statement is generally true, but in younger 

 subjects, and when the proper reagents have 

 been used, I have experienced no difficulty in 

 finding more or less satisfactory evidence of 

 the presence of smooth muscular fibres, 

 provided only that a sufficiently high power, 

 and the mode of illumination suitable to the 

 discrimination of such tissues, were em- 

 ployed. 



It must be observed, however, that the 

 condition of this tissue is very variable. In 

 some subjects, the greater portion appears to 

 consist of nuclear elements which here and 

 there are seen intermixed with fusiform fibres 

 of greater or less length. In other instances, 

 the tissue is more distinctly fibrillar, the 

 fibres being collected in bundles consisting of 

 flattened filaments with distinct fusiform ter- 

 minations intermixed with bundles of white 

 fibrous tissue ; while in some, and, I believe, 

 generally in older subjects, the latter form of 

 fibre, as just stated, abounds, and appears to 

 constitute the principal portion of the middle 

 coat of the tube. 



The arrangement of the fibres constituting 

 this coat is chiefly in the direction of the 



