502 ABDOMEN 



displaced during pregnancy, and it is doubtful if they ever 

 regain their original positions. In the nulliparous female 

 each ovary occupies a peritoneal fossa on the back part of 

 the side wall of the pelvis, below the external iliac vessels and 

 in front of the hypogastric vessels and the ureter. The recess 

 is termed the fossa ovarica. The long axis of the ovary is 

 vertical. From its upper pole the suspensory ligament of the 

 ovary passes to the side wall of the pelvis, and to the same 

 extremity the mouth of the uterine tube is attached by the 

 ovarian fimbria of the infundibulum of the uterine tube ; on 

 account of the latter connection the upper pole is frequently 

 called the tubal extremity of the ovary. The lower or uterine 

 extremity is connected with the lateral border of the uterus, 

 immediately below and posterior to the entrance of the 

 uterine tube, by the round cord-like ligament of the ovary, 

 which lies in the medial part of the mesovarium, and is a 

 remnant of the gubernaculum of the ovary. The anterior 

 border is commonly called the attached border or hilum, because 

 it is connected to the back of the broad ligament by the 

 mesovarium, and because, through it, the vessels and nerves 

 pass into and out of the ovary. The posterior border of the 

 ovary is free, and looks backwards towards the ureter. The 

 medial surface of the right ovary is in relation with a coil of 

 the small intestine, and the medial surface of the left ovary 

 is in relation with the pelvic colon. The lateral surface of 

 each ovary, in the nulliparous female, lies against the side 

 wall of the pelvis minor. 



In the natural position of the organs the uterine tube 

 encircles the greater part of the circumference of the ovary. 



On each surface of the ovary, close to the anterior border, a 

 white line marks the transition of the flat endothelial cells of the 

 peritoneum into the cubical epithelium of the surface of the 

 ovary. Before puberty the surface of the ovary is smooth ; 

 after that period it becomes scarred and puckered by the 

 cicatrices which mark the positions of the ruptured Graafian 

 or vesicular ovarian follicles from which ova have escaped. 



Epoophoron (O.T. Parovarium). The epoophoron is a 

 structure of interest because it represents the lobules of the 

 epididymis and part of the duct of the epididymis of the male. 

 The dissector will find it by stretching the broad ligament, 

 holding it to the light, and examining the lateral part, between 

 the ovary and the uterine tube. It lies between the layers of 



