888 THE APPARATUS OF GENERATION. 



COMPARISON OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS OF WOMAN WITH THOSE OF ANIMALS. 



Ovaries. These organs are oval, about 1J inches long and 8-10ths of an inch broad, 

 and are lodged in the posterior layer of the broad ligaments. They are attached to the 

 uterus by the ligament of the ovary, and united to the Fallopian tubes by the Fallopio- 

 ovarian ligament. Their structure is the same as in animals. A Graafian vesicle 

 usually ripens every month ; its rupture corresponds with the menstrual period, 

 Annexed to the human ovary is found the organ of Rosenmuller, composed of from fifteen 

 to twenty tortuous tubes opening into a transverse branch ; these tubes are lined by 

 ciliated epithelium, and filled with a yellow fluid ; they form a closed system included 

 in the broad ligament, between the ovary and oviduct. 



Oviduct. Placed at the upper border of the broad ligament, it is nearly straight, and 

 terminates by a pavilion notched into about fifteen unequal fringes. 



Uterus. The human uterus is situated between the bladder and rectum, being inclined 



Fig. 416. 



UTERUS WITH ITS APPENDAGES, VIEWED FROM THE FRONT. 



1, Body of the uterus ; 2, Fundus ; 3, Cervix ; 4, Os uteri ; 5, Vagina, with its 

 columna and transverse rugas ; 6, 6, Broad ligament of the uterus ; 7, Convexity 

 of the broad ligament formed by the ovary ; 8, 8, Bound ligaments of the uterus ; 

 9, 9, .Fallopian tubes: 10, 10, Their fimbriated extremities; 11, Ovary; 12, 

 Utero-ovarian ligament; 13, Fallopio-ovarian ligament; 14, Peritoneum of 

 anterior surface of uterus ; it is removed at the left side, but on the right is 

 continuous with the anterior layer of the broad ligament. 



slightly downwards, from before to behind. Its form is very different from the uterus of 

 the animals we have described, being that of a flattened gourd ; its volume varies with 

 age and the number of gestations ; it weighs about two ounces. It is described as having 

 a body and cervix. The body is triangular, and at the extremities of its upper border 

 the oviducts open into it. The cervix is fusiform ; the projection it makes at the bottom 

 of the vagina is the tench's nose a transversal slit bordered by two unequal lips. The 

 inner face of the cervix shows the plicte palmate, arborisations formed by the mucous 

 membrane. 



There is nothing special to be noticed in its structure. 



The broad ligaments comprise a quantity of muscular fibres between their layers, 

 and which accumulate at certain points to form accessory folds ; among these the most 

 important are the round ligaments. These leave the anterior face of the uterus, pass 

 forward and outward, enter the inguinal canal, and terminate in the connective tissue of 

 the mons Veneris. 



Vagina. This canal is about 2f inches wide ; it is in contact with the rectum, and 

 responds in front, by connective tissue, to the bladder and urethra. Its internal face 

 has longitudinal folds, the columnx of the vagina, which are intersected by transverse 

 folds. Below the orifice of the urethra is the entrance to the vagina, a circular opening 

 partially closed by the hymen in virgins. Rarely complete, this membrane may aifect 

 different shapes, and consequently receive various names, as horse-shoe, bilabial, 

 semilunar, annular, and fringed hymen. When ruptured, it retracts very much, but 

 there always remain some vestiges of it, and which are designated carunculae myrtiformes. 



Vulva. This presents a cavity and an orifice, as in the domesticated animals ; but 

 the cavity is not so deep, and is named the vestibule ; it extends to the hymen or its 

 de'bris. The entrance to the vulva occurs in the middle of a cuneiform prominence 

 which is confounded, above, with a kind of eminence, the mons Veneris, which appears to 

 protect the pubic symphysis. It is margined by two folds : one cutaneous, the labia 



