642 



UTERUS AND ITS APPENDAGES. 



branch which proceeds from the renal plexus 

 in company with the spermatic artery, and is 

 distributed also to the ovary. 



Another set, distinct from these nerves, 

 comes also from the same continuation of the 

 hypogastric plexus, but forms a plexiform ar- 

 rangement around the vessels ; and among these 

 are found here and there minute ganglia. 

 These nerves are very minute.* 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE UTERUS, AND 

 THE METAMORPHOSES WHICH IT UNDERGOES 

 AT DIFFERENT PERIODS OF LIFE. 



a. The origin of the uterus, and its condition 

 during foetal life. In the human embryo, ac- 

 cording to the observations of Miiller, during 

 the transformation of the Wolffian bodies, the 

 efferent tube of the generative apparatus un- 

 dergoes the following modifications. In the 

 male, all that portion of the efferent tube 

 which passes along the outer border of the 

 corpus Wolffianum is thrown into strongly 

 marked convolutions, and this part contributes 

 to the formation of the epididymis, while be- 

 low this point the convolutions cease ; and 

 here a band or ligament, the gubernaculum 

 testis of Hunter, which had been developed at 

 a still earlier period, passes off to the inguinal 

 canal. In the female, the following trans- 

 formation occurs. The tube here remains 

 free from convolutions, but a ligament, re- 

 sembling that of the male, which is afterwards 

 converted into the ligamentum uteri teres, 

 passes off from the same point, to be extended 

 to the inguinal ring. The part of the tube 

 which lies below this point becomes the cornu 

 uteri, and it is by the coalescence of the two 

 cornua at their lower extremities that the 



body of the uterus is formed in man ; while in 

 those animals in which no middle portion 

 or body exists, the cornua remain ununited. 

 As the development of the uterus proceeds, 

 the two cornua become gradually shorter, 

 until at length they are lost, or, as it were, 

 absorbed into the body or fundus of the uterus, 

 which is thus at the same time developed. 

 The accompanying figure, representing the 



Fig. 440. 



The entire internal generative organs, from a fcetus of 



three months. (After J. Miiller x 8.) 

 a, uterus ; b, round ligaments ; c, Fallopian tubes ; 

 d, ovaries ; e, remains of Wolffian bodies. 



condition of the foetal uterus at about the end 

 of the third month of gestation, serves to 

 illustrate these particulars. The ovaries pos- 

 sess the elongated form characteristic of the 

 early condition of these organs. Parallel with 

 them run the Fallopian tubes, and between 

 these are the remains of the Wolffian bodies. 

 At the point where the round ligaments are 

 given off, the cornua uteri begin, and by their 

 junction, which is here not yet complete, so 

 that a slight indentation is left, the uterus is 

 formed. 



From this period of embryonic life, the 

 uterus keeps pace in its growth with the other 

 441. 



Uterus and appendages of human fo?.tus at term. (After Richard.) 



a, pavilion of the left side; a, the same of the right side (below it, in this specimen, is the remark- 

 able variety of two separate accessory pavilions b and c) ; d, Fallopian tube, exhibiting numerous 

 sinuosities in its outer half; f, round ligament; e, ovary. 



viscera ; and at the time of birth it forms an the pelvis, and occupying a conspicuous place 

 organ of considerable size, lying high up in midway between the bladder and rectum. The 



form, however, of the generative apparatus, at 

 this stage of life, is very different from that 

 w y hich characterises it at a later period. The 

 vagina, cervix, and body of the uterus consti- 

 tute one nearly straight stem or canal, from 

 which diverge, at right angles, the Fallopian 



* Upon the subject of the origin and distribution 

 of the uterine nerves, consult also Fr. Tiedemann ; 

 Tabulae nervorum uteri, Heidelberg, 1822 ; and the 

 works of Dr. Robert Lee, quoted at page 651., where 

 the condition of these nerves in the gravid uterus, 

 and the question of their enlargement during preg- 

 nancy, is considered. And for the minute anatomy 

 of the sympathetic filaments and ganglia, see the 

 Art. " Sympathetic Nerve." 



tubes and ovaries with their ligaments, much 

 in the form of the letter T. Of the two divi- 

 sions of the uterus, viz. the body and cervix, 



