464 MUCOUS MEMBRANES. 



find a cavity several inches in diameter, whose internal surface 

 is coated with the most offensive products of putrefaction, 

 bounded above by the still undestroj^ed remnant of the fundus 

 uteri, in front by the posterior wall of the bladder, behind by 

 the anterior wall of the rectum ; while the vagina, whose upper 

 half is also involved in the destructive process, maintains the 

 cavity in communication with the exterior. At a later period, 

 perforations occur in the floor of the ulcer ; that which lays 

 open the bladder gives rise to a vesico-vaginal fistula, that into 

 the rectum, to a recto-vaginal fistula, while the perforation of 

 the peritoneal sac excites peritonitis. It is this latter accident 

 indeed, which often brings the lamentable sufferings of such 

 patients to a close. 



§ 403. The glandular cancers of the womb are situated in 

 the body of the organ. They cause its enlargement, which is 

 often considerable and tolerably uniform ; the true pelvis is filled 

 up, the rectum and bladder compressed and displaced. On 

 opening the organ, its cavity is found to be distorted by the 

 cushion-like convexity of its protruding walls ; the walls them- 

 selves, throughout their entire thickness (up to 3 inches), are of 

 a uniform marrowy-white colour ; the line of demarcation be- 

 tween the mucous and muscular coats is obliterated, the pro- 

 liferating gland-tubuli having made their way through the entire 

 thickness of the latter layer. 



§ 404. In the urinary bladder, the villous cancers which 

 grow from the trigone are especially worthy of note {see § 392). 

 Besides these, a squamous epithelium is occasionally, though 

 rarely, met with in the calyces and pelves of the kidneys. It 

 usually extends at a comparatively early period to the tips of 

 the adjoining papillae, and spreads, forming a milk-white zone of 

 infiltration from two to three lines in thickness, into the renal 

 parenchyma— a true "phthisis renum cancrosa." 



END OF VOL. I. 



