256 



NORMAL HISTOLOGY. 



The uterine wall is thickest at the funclus and posterior aspect of the 

 body, where it measures 1-1.5 cm -> an( ^ somewhat thinner (8-9 mm.) at the 

 entrance of the oviducts and in the cervix. It comprises three coats the 

 mucous, the muscular, and the serous. The mucous coat, or endometrium, 

 is .5-1 mm. thick and consists of a tunica propria of fibrous tissue, contain- 

 ing a large number of colorless blood-cells, and the surface epithelium. The 

 latter is a single layer of columnar cells, about 28 n high, that in their typical 

 condition possess cilia producing a current towards the cervix. The cilia. 



Gland 

 opening 1 on 

 mucoussur- 

 face 



Gland 





Muscle bun- 

 dles invad- 

 ing mucosa 



Fie. 305. Section of mucous membrane of uterus, showing glands cut in various planes. X 40. 



however, are neither always present nor uniformly distributed, since they 

 are lost during menstruation and often present only in patches (Gage). 



The uterine glands are simple tubular or slightly bifurcated wavy 

 imaginations, lined with a single layer of ciliated columnar cells resembling 

 those covering the adjacent uterine mucosa. They are distributed at fairly 

 regular intervals and extend the entire thickness of the mucosa, their tor- 

 tuous blind extremities lying close to the subjacent muscle, since a submucosa 

 is wanting. At the orifices of the oviducts, the uterine mucosa becomes 

 thinner, the epithelium lower, and the glands shorter and fewer, until they 

 finally disappear, glands being absent in the tubal mucous membrane. 



The mucous membrane of the cervical canal is somewhat thicker and 

 denser than that lining the body of the uterus. The single-layered columnar 

 cells vary, in some places being taller (40-50 /*) than those lining the body, 



