220 ANATOMY OF THE ABDOMEN, ETC. 



of erectile tissue, and is surmounted by a glans surrounded 

 by a prepuce. From this prepuce, a longitudinal fold of 

 mucous membrane descends on each side, and becomes 

 blended with the labia majora ; these folds are called the 

 nymphae, or labia minor a. Between these, and just above 

 the aperture of the vagina, is the orifice of the urethra, 

 surrounded by an elevated margin. The urethra is about 

 an inch and a half in length, and lies in the upper wall 

 of the vagina, from which it cannot be separated ; it is 

 very elastic, and capable of great distension. The orifice 

 of the vagina is transversely elliptical ; in the virgin it is 

 sometimes partly closed by a circular fold of mucous mem- 

 brane, called the hymen ; this is destroyed by sexual inter- 

 course, or by child-birth, but its former presence is indicated 

 by small elevated excrescences, called carunculae myrti- 

 formes. Just anterior to the hymen may be found the 

 orifices of two ducts, one on each side, often made apparent 

 from being distended with sebaceous matter; by laying 

 these open, each may be traced to a round body, the size 

 of a large pea, called the gland of Bartholinus. 



The parts just described are supplied by branches of the 

 internal puclic artery, and by offsets from the lumbar and 

 sacral plexuses of nerves. 



The bladder may now be dissected from the uterus, and the vagina 

 laid open with the scissors along its superior surface. 



The vagina occupies a position corresponding to the axis 

 of the outlet of the pelvis, and reaches from the cervix of 

 the uterus, which projects into it, to the external opening 

 of the vulva ; it is placed between the bladder and the 

 rectum, and at its sides is embraced by the levatores ani 

 muscles. Its orifice is surrounded by a sphincter muscle 

 (p. 203), and its upper extremity is dilated ; its internal 

 surface is lined with mucous membrane, thrown into rugae, 

 more marked near the entrance than higher up ; these meet 

 in a raphe which extends along the centre of both the ante- 

 rior and posterior walls ; the two raphes being called the 

 columns of the vagina. Beneath the mucous membrane is 

 a layer of contractile tissue similar to the dartos, and 

 external to this a layer of cellular tissue ; the upper part of 

 the posterior wall of the vagina is covered by the perito- 

 neum of the recto-uterine fold. 



The UTERUS, with the exception of its mouth and neck, 

 is covered with peritoneum, which spreads out on both 



