INTERIOR OF THE PELVIS. 207 



the former might easily be perforated, in operations upon 

 the vagina near the os uteri. 



The bladder is held in its place by five false ligaments ; 

 the two postei'ior being that portion of the peritoneum 

 forming the recto-vesical fold of each side : the two lateral, 

 corresponding with the obliterated hypogastric arteries 

 and the vasa deferentia in their passage to the base of the 

 bladder; and the superior being a fold of peritoneum pro- 

 jected between the umbilicus and the summit of the bladder 

 by the urachus, the remains of an obliterated foetal canal, 

 lesides these the bladder has four true ligaments ; two 

 iterior, formed by the pelvic fascia reflected from the 

 ibes to its neck and the front of its anterior surface, and 

 ro lateral* formed by the recto-vesical fascia, or that por- 

 ion of the pelvic fascia covering the levator ani and re- 

 nted from it to the sides of the bladder. 

 In the female subject, the peritoneum is reflected from 

 uterus to the sides of the pelvis in such a manner as to 

 >rm a septum between it and the bladder, which is called 



broad ligament. 

 In the space between the division of the aorta into the 

 liac arteries, and spreading over the concave surface ot 

 sacrum, is the hypogastric plexus of the sympathetic 

 nerve, destined to the pelvic viscera ; it is formed from 

 the aortic plexus, and from branches of the lumbar nerves; 

 it has but few ganglia, and those small ones. From this 

 plexus originate the hemorrhoidal, vesical, prostatic, vagi- 

 nal ', uterine, and ovarian plexuses, supplying the parts 

 indicated by their names, but they are only demonstrable 

 b} r special dissections. 



Hnving verified, these different relations and attachments of the 

 pelvic viscera, the next step is to trace the arteries. The bladder 

 should be inflated, and kept so by a string tied round the penis ; it 

 is then to be drawn by hooks to the side from which the os inno- 

 minatum has been removed. The divided extremity of the ureter is 

 to be sought for, and also the vas deferens ; having found and isolated 

 these, the peritoneum is to be dissected off from the side of the pelvis, 

 and the arteries cleared from the surrounding cellular tissue, tracing 

 them as they are one by one given off from the internal iliac and its 

 divisions. 



The INTERNAL ILIAC ARTERY is a short trunk of large 

 size, arising from the common iliac; it dips into the pelvis, 

 keeping close to its walls, and divides into an anterior and 

 a posterior trunk. The artery lies upon the internal iliac 



