504 ABDOMEN 



(one inch and a half) in front of the tip of the coccyx and 

 terminates at the anal orifice. An angular area is thus left 

 between the anterior wall of the canal and the back of the 

 urogenital cleft ; it is occupied by a pyramidal mass of 

 firm fibro-muscular tissue called the perineal body. 



THE BLOOD-VESSELS OF THE PELVIS MINOR. 



The manner in which the blood-vessels of the pelvis minor 

 should be dissected has been described on p. 452. In the 

 female, the dissector will find three arteries which were either 

 not studied at all, or not under the same name, in the dis- 

 section of the male pelvis minor, viz. 



hypogastric. 

 3. The ovarian, from the abdominal aorta. 



Arteria Uterina. The uterine artery springs either from 

 the anterior division of the hypogastric or from the umbilical 

 artery. It runs downwards, in front of the vertical part of the 

 pelvic portion of the ureter, and then medially along the lower 

 border of the broad ligament and above the lower part of the 

 ureter (Figs. 224, 228). Having crossed the ureter, it passes 

 above the lateral fornix of the vagina and turns upwards along 

 the side of the uterus. It ends by anastomosing with branches 

 of the ovarian artery beneath the isthmus of the uterine tube. 

 It gives branches to the uterus, the vagina, and the isthmus of 

 the uterine tube, and frequently it supplies twigs to the ovary. 



Arteria Vaginalis. The vaginal artery springs from the 

 anterior division of the hypogastric artery. It probably 

 represents the inferior vesical artery of the male, and whilst 

 it is distributed mainly to the vagina it gives twigs also to the 

 base of the bladder and to the rectum. 



Arteria Ovarica. The ovarian artery corresponds to the 

 internal spermatic artery of the male, and the abdominal part 

 of its course is similar to that of the latter artery (p. 392). 

 When it arrives at the pelvis it crosses the upper part of the 

 external iliac vessels, and insinuates itself between the two 

 layers of the broad ligament where they form the suspen- 

 sory ligament of the ovary. It is highly tortuous, and is 

 enclosed, in the terminal part of its extent, in the coils 

 of the pampiniform plexus formed by the veins which issue 



