FEMALE ORGANS OF GENERATION. 663 



Occasionally the human uterus, even in the adult condition re- 

 mains divided into two lateral portions by a vertical septum, which 

 runs from the middle of its fundus downward toward the os in- 

 ternum. This septum may even be accompanied by a partial 

 external division of the organ, corresponding with it in direction 

 and producing the malformation known as "uterus bicornis." or 

 " double uterus." 



The os internum and os externum are produced by partial con- 

 strictions of the original generative passage ; and the anatomical 

 distinctions between the body of the uterus, the cervix and the 

 vagina, are produced by the different development of the mucous 

 membrane and muscular tunic in its corresponding portions. 

 During foetal life, however, the neck of the uterus grows much 

 faster than its body; so that, at the period of birth, the entire 

 organ is very far from presenting the form which it exhibits in the 

 adult condition. In the human fcetus at term, the cervix uteri 

 constitutes nearly two-thirds of the entire length of the organ; 

 while the body forms but little over one-third. The cervix, at 

 this time, is also much larger in diameter than the body; so that 

 the whole organ presents a tapering form from below upward. 

 The arbor vitaa uterina of the cervix is at birth very fully de- 

 veloped, and the mucous membrane of the body is also thrown 

 into three or four folds which radiate upward from the os internum. 

 The cavity of the cervix is filled with a transparent semi-solid 

 mucus. 



The position of the uterus at birth is also different from that 

 which it assumes in adult life ; nearly the entire length of the organ 

 being above the level of the symphysis pubis, and its inferior 

 extremity passing below that point only by about a quarter of an 

 inch. It is also slightly anteflexed at the junction of the body and 

 cervix. After birth, the uterus, together with its appendages, con- 

 tinues to descend ; until, at the period of puberty, its fundus is 

 situated just below the level of the symphysis pubis. 



The ovaries at birth are narrow and elongated in form. They 

 contain at this time an abundance of eggs; each inclosed in a 

 Graafian follicle, and averaging 5 .J ? of an inch in diameter. The 

 vitellus, however, is imperfectly formed in most of them, and in 

 some is hardly to be distinguished. The Graafian follicle at this 

 period envelopes each egg closely, there being nothing between its 

 internal surface and the exterior of the egg, excepting the thin 

 layer of cells forming the "membrana granulosa." Inside this 



