Female Organs of Generation. 77 



416. The Specular View 417. The Specular View 



of the Portio vaginalis uteri of the Portio vaginalis uteri 



in the virginal state. after repeated confinements. 



The cavity of the uterus, Cavum uteri, is triangular 5 its base is 

 directed upwards towards the Fundus uteri ; in the two angles of the triangle 

 are the openings of the two tubes; the inferior portion is prolonged into 

 the cavity of the cervix, Canalis ccrvicis uteri. This canal is somewhat dilated 

 in the middle, its upper extremity opening into the cavity of the uterus 

 is called the internal orifice, Orificium uterinum, its lower end opening 

 into the vagina is called the external orifice, Orificium vaginale. The 

 external orifice presents, before a labor has taken place, a smooth, trans- 

 verse aperture, with an anterior longer lip, Ldbium anterius, and a posterior 

 shorter lip, Ldbium poster ius ; after parturition, the external orifice becomes 

 irregular, and sometimes fissured or cleft. 



The uterus is composed of three coats: a) an external, derived 

 from the peritoneum, only present at the anterior and posterior surfaces 

 and fundus of the uterus; b) an internal mucous membrane, which, 

 on the anterior and posterior walls of the cavity of the cervix, forms 

 rugae, the Palmae plicatae s. Arbor vitae (see Fig. 415). Between the rugae 

 are closed follicles, the Ovula Nabothi; in the cavity of the uterus, the 

 mucous membrane has numerous tubular glands, the Glandulae utriculares. 

 c) The middle, very dense coat of the uterus consists of smooth muscular 

 fibres, which are disposed in bundles and cross each other in different 

 directions; between the bundles are blood-vessels and areolar tissue. In 

 the pregnant uterus the muscle fibres are increased by new formations 

 both in thickness and length. 



