634- 



UTERUS AND ITS APPENDAGES. 



This is best shown in fine sections, pre- intermediate tissue to swell, the normal dis- 

 viously prepared by acetic acid ; but it should tances between the cells may, to a certain 

 be observed, that as this agent causes the extent, be thus artificially increased. The 



Fig. 436. 



Portion of uterine tissue from the internal muscular layers. (Ad Nat. x 150.) 



relation of the fibre-cells to the uniting ma- 

 terial is most clearly exhibited in those parts 

 of the preparation where the knife has divided 

 the fibres transversely to their long axes. 

 Here the relation of these two structures to 

 each other may be exemplified by that of the 

 harder and softer ingredients in certain por- 

 tions of those geological formations termed 

 conglomerate. 



At the points where the knife has cut the 

 fibres obliquely, a corresponding change is 

 observable in the outlines of the divided fibre- 

 cells, which present in these bundles the 

 figure of caudate cells, while in other places, 

 where the course of the fibres has run paral- 

 lel with the surface of the section, the fusi- 

 form outline of the entire length of the fibre 

 is distinguishable. 



All these varieties of direction are notice- 

 able injg. 436., in a portion of uterine tissue 

 not more than -$" in diameter. The fibres 

 which are here seen forming bundles and 

 layers, run in some instances parallel with the 

 surfaces of the laminae, and in other places 

 spread out fan-shaped, or incline towards 

 each other, like the component fibrillae of the 

 penniform muscles. The bundles and layers 

 of fibres are close-set and compact, and a 

 comparatively small amount of developed or 

 fibrillated connective tissue is found between 

 or among these elements of the innermost 

 strata of the muscular coat. The fibre-cells 

 also are here apparently softer and more 

 fleshy, and appear to be of newer formation 

 than those forming the layers which lie nearer 

 to the peritoneum. 



External to and surrounding these may be 

 distinguished a second order of strata, among 

 which the primary and secondary ramifica- 

 tions of the principal uterine arteries and veins 

 are freely distributed ; so that sections taken 

 from this region do not present the same 

 compact appearance as those from the inner 

 layers, but are seen to be everywhere per- 

 meated by vascular channels, which are par- 

 ticularly conspicuous in the multiparous 

 uterus. These numerous vessels, ramifying 

 among the muscular fibres, make the course 

 of the latter very irregular. When the section 

 has been made* parallel with the broad liga- 

 ment, the tortuous arteries, entering the 

 uterine texture between the folds of the lat- 

 ter, may be often traced to a considerable 

 depth among the laminae ; while sections 

 made in an opposite direction more frequently 

 exhibit the gaping orifices of these vessels, 

 and of the divided veins surrounded by lami- 

 nae of muscular fibres, and of a more lax and 

 fibrillated form of connective tissue, than is 

 found among the inner strata. This inter- 

 mixture of the larger uterine vessels with the 

 muscular strata constitutes here a very cha- 

 racteristic feature, and hence these middle 

 strata may be distinguished as the vascular 

 laminae of the muscular coat. 



External to these again lie a series of thin 

 sheet-like laminae (fg. 437.), forming a tegu- 

 mental stratum which does not entirely sur- 

 round the organ, nor cover it in all its parts. 

 It consists of 6 12 thin close-lying layers 

 of fibres, whose course is parallel with the 

 uterine surface ; the most external laminae 



