On the Viscera of a Female Chimpanzee. 311 



deep, which would admit a No. 9 catheter. Into tlie poste- 

 rior pouch on each side opened a duct just admitting a liog's 

 bristle. The duct could be traced upwards at the side of the 

 vagina nearly as high as the external os uteii. Here it 

 became connected with a small mass of glandular tissue, 

 which obviously represented the gland of Bartholin or 

 iJuvernoy. In my other specimen there were only two 

 recesses, one on each side ; but on opening them up they 

 were found to be imperfectly divided into two compartments. 

 Although generally overlooked or imperfectly described, 

 similar recesses will generally be found in the human 

 subject. These pouches are situated just external to the 

 hymen. They are usually well marked in the foetus, but 

 will be found to vary a little in their number and depth. 

 In one nine-months' foetus I found four recesses, the posterior 

 pair receiving the ducts of Duvernoy's glands. These 

 recesses are not usually quite so distinct in the adult, but 

 those situated anteriorly near the urethral orifice are almost 

 always present, and may be mistaken for that opening. The 

 human hymen is evidently the homologue of the folds found 

 at the vaginal orifice in the chimpanzee, these folds having 

 blended to form a continuous membrane. In the specimen 

 represented in Fig. 2 there was an example of a tendency to 

 this fusion, since there were only two folds, one on either 

 side. The vagina was directed downwards and backwards. 

 It was nearly twice the length of the uro-genital canal. 

 Both the anterior and posterior walls had a few faint folds 

 of the mucous membrane, but there were no distinct columns 

 or rug?e. The uterus resembled very closely that of a young 

 child. The cervix was thicker and firmer than that of the 

 body. On opening into the cavity of the uterus, the folds of 

 its mucous membrane were seen to reach to the top of the 

 uterus. The only peculiarity in these folds was that the 

 longitudinal ones were rather better marked, and the trans- 

 verse ones less distinct than in the child. The length of the 

 uterus was f of an inch in one specimen, and |- of an inch 

 in the other. 



In the human subject the uterus retains its infantile form 

 and size until near puberty, when it begins to grow rapidly, 



