THE OVARIES 1053 



pelvic wall in a hollf)\v between the internal iliac artery and vein, but there is every 

 reason to believe that it is very varial>le in the adult. The laxity of its connections, 

 the liability to clianges of position during pregnancy, and the changing relations of 

 the contiguous viscera make it dillicult to accept any one of the many views as 

 al)Solutely correct. The organ when enlarged may be felt tlirough the vagina, and, 

 better, through the rectum, and its position with regard to tlie surface is indicated 

 by a point al)out two inches to the inner side oi the anterior superior spine of the 

 ilium. The surfaces and free border are of a dull white, and after puberty are 

 scarred by l>reachcs of surfaces due to the dehiscence of ripe ova; the attached Ijor- 

 der is j)ierced Ijy the ovarian vessels and nerves which lie between the layers of the 

 broad ligament, and their point of entrance is termed the hilum. 



Structure. — The ovary consists of a parenchyma and a kind of capsule, or 

 tunica albuginea. The latter, unlike the tunica albuginea of the testis, is a 

 modilication of the stroma of the gland, and does not exceed the two-hundred-and- 

 fiftieth of an inch in thickness; it is crowned with an epithelium (columnar) 

 differing in character from that of the serous membrane with which it is connected. 

 The true gland-structure is a mass of connective tissue and unstriped muscle with 

 vessels and nerves. It is very vascular in the neighbourhood of the liilum, where 

 the veins are peculiarly large and closely set, and is condensed into a kind of cortex 

 beneath the albuginea. The cortex is about half a line in thickness, and consists 

 of interlacing bundles of white fibrous tissue, which pass insensibly into the faintly 

 fibrillated tunica albuginea, and enclose multitudes of small vessels called ovisacs, 

 or Graafian follicles, in which the ova are develojjed. 



The majority of the ovisacs are microscopic, but as they ripen and approach the 

 surface they increase in dimensions, and may even attain the size of a large white 

 currant. Their rupture leads to the scarring already mentioned, and the emi)ty 

 capsule slowly disappears when impregnation has not occurred; Init under the 

 influence of the vascularisation of the organs during pregnancy, it may undergo 

 a renuirkal)le development and form a yelloAV plicated body known as the corpus 

 luteum. 



VESSELS AND NERVES OF THE UTERUS AND ITS APPENDAGES 



The vessels are the uterine, ovarian, and funicular, all of which are paired. 

 The uterine artery (fig. 643), a branch of the internal iliac, runs from its origin 

 in a downward direction along the jjclvic wall as far as the base of the broad liga- 

 ment; then, crossing horizontally towards the cervix uteri in front of the ureter, it 

 gives off some small vaginal and vesical branches, and runs upwards in a serpentine 

 course close to the side of the body of the uterus, supplying transverse branches to 

 the anterior and posterior walls of the organ. These anastomose with their fellows 

 across the middle line, one larger branch opi)osite the junction of the liody and 

 cervix, forming with the corresponding vessel of the other side, the * arterial circle 

 of Huguier. ' Finally they conmiunicate at the upper angle with the terminal 

 twigs of the ovarian and funicular arteries. The uterine veins are of very large 

 size, and on leaving the uterus form a plexus in the muscular tissue of the broad 

 ligaments, at length joining a trunk which runs side l>y side with the artery to end 

 in the internal iliac vein. 



The ovarian artery, arising from the aorta (like the spermatic in the male), 

 crosses the coimnon iliac artery, and is conducted into the broad ligament by the 

 ligamentum infundibulo-pelvicum (page 104.S), which extends to the outer end of 

 the oviduct. It breaks up into two divisions: (1) The tubal, which runs along the 

 lower border of the oviduct, where the peritoneal layers of the tube separate, and 

 sends numerous branches to it; and (2) the orarifin jirnjter, a large ser]»entine vessel 

 which gives off many large branches into the hilum of the gland, and then passes 

 to the angle of the uterus, where it ends by anastomosing with the uterine and 

 funicular arteries. 



The ovarian veins, very largely developed about the hilum of tin* ovary, 

 appear as a plexus in the broad ligament, and. reaching the margin of the )>li xus, 



