46 3 



ii^ absence be regarded as evidence of intercourse having occurred ; 

 sometimes, indeed, the hymen has to be incised in the parturient 

 woman. 



kvulvo-vaginal gland \A placed on each side of the entrance to 

 the vagina ; it corresponds to Cov.per's gland, and discharges its 

 /on by a small duct opening in front of the hymen. The duct 

 is liable to inflammation and suppuration, often the result of sexual 

 or gonorrhea] irritation. The resulting abscess is hard, round, and 

 painful, and the muco-cutaneous covering is bright-red. 



Masses of erectile tissue, bulbi vestibuli, are placed beneath the 

 mucous lining of the entrance of the vagina. They correspond to the 

 lateral halves of the bulb of the male urethra. From injury or other 

 cause, rupture of this tissue may occur, with the formation of a large, 

 dusky, blood-tumour a pudendal hcEmatocele which is more often 

 met with in pregnant women. The external abdominal ring being clear 

 shows that the pudendal swelling is not a hernia. 



The blood-vessels and lymphatics of the labia correspond with 

 -otum and penis ; separate description of them is not 

 needed. The vein from the dorsum of the clitoris, however, joins 

 in a plexus around the urethra, which communicates with the 

 vaginal, vesical, and haemorrhoidal branches of the anterior division 

 of the internal iliac vein. The nerves are derived from the lumbar 

 plexus, the internal pudic, and the lesser sciatic, as in the male. 



The urethra is about i \ in . long. It runs downwards and forwards, 

 parallel with, and imbedded in, the anterior wall of the vagina. The 

 narrowest part is the meatus urinarius. In the child the meatus is, 

 ount of the slight development of the pelvis and its viscera, far 

 within the opening of the vulva. The urethra is lined with mucous 

 membrane arranged in longitudinal folds and covered with scaly 

 epithelium. Next conies a submucous layer of white and elastic fibres, 

 and then a layer of erectile tissue and pale muscular fibres continuous 

 with those of the bladder. Around all, as the urethra passes through 

 the rudimentary triangular ligament, is the striated compressor urethrae. 

 Small vascular tumours grow from the mucous membrane of the 

 meatus urinarius ; their effect upon the patient is like that which 

 follows preputial irritation in the male ; they must be carefully searched 

 for and cut off. 



The female urethra is extremely dilatable, and after the introduc- 

 tion of the finger in exploration of the bladder the paralysis quickly 

 ;s away. 



n in the child the little finger of the surgeon may be gradually 

 introduced, or a large lithotrite used, and fragments of calculus ex- 

 :. with merely a temporary incontinence of urine. 



The vagina is the musculo-membranous passage which leads from 



the vulva to the uterus. It follows the axis of the pelvic outlet, lying 



behind the bladder and the urethra, in front of the rectum, and 



u L> 2 



