SEXUAL ORGANS OF THE FEMALE. 559 



II. SEXUAL ORGANS OF THE FEMALE. 



The sexual organs of the female are: 1, the vulva ; 2, the vagina; 

 3, the uterus and oviducts; and 4, the ovaries. To these the lacteal 

 glands must also be added. 



1. Of the external genital organs of the female, together consti- 

 tuting the vulva, the clitoris with its two corpora cavernosa and 

 glans, presents, on a small scale, precisely the same conditions as the 

 corresponding parts and corpora cavernosa of the male; the mus- 

 cular elements being even more readily isolated. 



The mucous membrane of the vulva has a submucous layer of a 

 spongy, highly vascular, areolar tissue ; and a compound scaly epi- 

 thelium, ^Jfl to T Jfl of an inch thick. Its corium ^ to g '^ of an 

 inch thick, is everywhere furnished" with much developed papillae, 

 T J F to 2 |(j of an inch long on the labia minora, and 2 J S to ^ J B of 

 an inch on the clitoris.- It also contains sebaceous glands on the 

 labia majora (of $ to ^ of an inch), in connection with hair-sacs; 

 and still more abundantly, and mostly without the latter, on the 

 labia minora, T J 7 to ^ of an inch in diameter; and sometimes also 

 round the orifice of the urethra, and laterally at the entrance of the 

 vagina. Common racemose mucous glands -^ to J of an inch in 

 diameter, with excretory ducts either short, or even J an inch long, 

 exist around the orifice of the urethra, in the vestibule and the 

 lateral portions of the entrance of the vagina. The two glands of 

 Bartholini (Duverney's), corresponding to Cowper's glands in the 

 male, and situated at the inferior extremity of the bulbi vestibuli, are 

 common racemose mucous glands J an inch in diameter, with pyri- 

 form caeca lined with a scaly epithelium. Their ducts are 7 to 8 

 lines long, and J- a line wide, having a longitudinal layer of smooth 

 muscular fibres external to their mucous membrane, and a conoidal 

 epithelium jJo-s f an ^ nca thick. The labia majora contain com- 

 mon adipose tissue in their interior. 



2. The walls of the vagina, ^ 2 of an inch thick, consist of an 

 external fibrous coat, a middle muscular layer, and a mucous mem- 

 brane. 1. The external tunic is a layer of areolar tissue, contain- 

 ing plexuses of veins, and passing without any line of demarcation 

 into the middle redder layer, consisting of areolar tissue, numerous 

 veins, and some muscular fibres. 2. The latter increase during 

 pregnancy, and becoming -gj^ to T Jo of an inch long, constitute a 

 true muscular membrane. 3. The mucous membrane is pale red, 



