GENERATION. 



tliey arc almoil entirely effaced, fo that t!ie tulics and ovarifS, one Fallopian tube to tlie other, is gently convex, and fup- 

 \vhich they eoiitaiiied before the enlargement of the ntcrus, ports the convolutions of the fmall intefliiie. At the ends 

 arenovv' applied immediately to the lateral and inferior parts of tin's upper edge angles are formed between the fundus 

 of the uterus, in confequence of tl'.e manner in which this and tlie lateral fides of the vifcus. To thefe angles of the 

 organ has feparated tlie two layers of peritoneum. uterus the round ligaments, the Fallopian tubes, and the 



The anterior ligaments are two fmall folds formed by ligaments of the ovaries are attached. The inferior edge, 

 the periton-.-um, as it is reflcfted from the back of the much Ihorter than the fuperior, is continuous with the 

 bladder to the front of the uterus. They are vilible only neck of the organ ; and indeed the line of feparation is 

 when the two vifcera are feparated from er.ch other, and imaginary. The lateral fides are very (hort, ilightly con- 

 they appeir under the form of en fcents, with the con- vex, and convergmg ■ they give attachment to the broad 

 cavities direfted upwards. The poilerior ligaments are ligaments, and are concealed by them. 



two other folds of the fame membrane, v.-here it is conti- The neck of the uterus refembles a cylinder, Ili<rhtlv 

 nuid from the back of the uterus to the reflum. They flattened from before backwards, and continued down- 

 refemble the former in every rcfpeft. The round ligament.s wards from the body. Its long a.xis is perpendicular to the 

 are two whitiftt cords, extended trom the upper angles of tranfverfe diameter of the body. We defcribe in it an an- 

 the uterus, in front and rather below the Fallopian tubes, to terior and pofterior furface, two lateral margins, and a fupe- 

 the groins. They pafs firll outwards and rather upwards, rior and inferior extremity. The two furfaces are convex 

 in the broad ligaments, on the front furface of which they and fmooth ; the former currefponds to the bladder, and 

 form a remarkable prominence, they then pafs on the inner the latter to the rectum. To the fides, whicli are ilraight, 

 furface of the iliac veifels, behind the peritoneum, to the the broad ligaments are attached. The fuperior extre- 

 upper opening of the abdominal ring. They traverfe that mity is continuous with the boily of the or-ran ; the in- 

 canal in a direction obliquely downwards and inwards, ferior is obliquely embraced by the vagina, in which it 

 juft as the fpcrmatic cord does in the male fubjeft, and projects, more confiderably on the interior than on the 

 efcape at the !'»wer orifice. They then ieparate into fevc- polterior part. This extremity is perforated bv an oval 

 ral threads, which are loft in the cellular fubftance of the opening, with its long diameter placed traiifverfelv, named 

 mens veneris and labia. Thefe ligaments are flightly the os utevi, 03 internum, or os tincse. The latter name 

 flattened in their whole extent, and broader at their tv/o has been given to it from a comparifon to the mouth of 

 extremities, than in the middle. They are arched, fo as to the tench ; the end of the uterus is obtufe, and as the 

 defcribe altogether a femicircle. aperture is tranfverfe, there is fome refemblance to two- 



The round ligaments are compofed of longitudinal fibres, thick lips. In a newly born child, the length of the open- 

 confifting apparently only of a denfe cellular tiflue, very ing is two lines ; in a girl of twenty years, three lines ; 

 flightly fufceptible of extenlion, of blood-velfcls and lym- in women, who have had children, five to eight lines. Thu 

 phatics, and nerves. As they are fwelled in pregnancy, orifice is always naturally gaping, but it is more or lefs 

 and in fome affeftions of the uterus, this circumftance fo, iu proportion as women have had many children, or 

 has been employed to explain the pains in the groins none. Indead of being exaftly in the middle it is rathef 

 experienced by females on fuch occafions. They con- behind ; fo that the anterior lip of the orifice is the thickell. 

 tribute to fix the uterus in its pofition, and to limit its That portion of the cervix uteri, which projefts into the 

 motions. vagina, and forms the os tincx, is about four or five lines long 



The ligaments, which we have juft particularized, are in front, and rather r.iore behind : it meafures about eight 

 fo diipcfed, as to allow to the uterus, in its natural ftate, or nine hnes tranfverfely, and fix or eight from before 

 a certain degree of mobility. Hence its fituation may be backwards, being ilightly flattened in that direftion. This 

 flightly changed in all the confiderable morions of the part of tiie uterus is fometimes much loni-^er and thicker, 

 abdomir.al vifcera in general; coming to the ground on the without any difplacem.ent of the organ, or' fwclliii'r of its 

 feet with much force, a violent exertion in raifing a con- neck. In women who have hud many children, theV.cck of 

 fiderable weight, a deep, forcible, and long continued in- the uterus is generally thicker, and more roimded. It.s 

 fpiration, all tend to force the uterus downwards into the oriiice is almoft always very gsping, and the lips more or lefs 

 vagina, and thereby to produce the afTeftion termed pro- irregular, prefenting gfnenilly one or moi-e grooves cr 

 lapfus or defcent of the uterus. Diftention of the bladder, chops, feparated by a kind of tubercles. .The cs uteri niav 

 cr of the reflum, occafions changes in the pofition of the however be as regular in its firrure in women who have 

 uterus. But age and pregnancy produce the moft fignal had children, as in others : and, on the contrary, it may 

 eifefts in the pofition of this organ. preient in the latter thofe irrcsrularities which are more 



In an adult and unimpregnated female, its length is about ufual in the former. Hence the inferences drawn from thV 

 2^ inches, its thicknefe one inch, its breadth at the fundus ftate of tins part, in inftai:ces where infanticide is fuf- 

 l| or 3 inches, and at the cervix about 10 lines. Although petted, or where parturition is fupi^ofed to have been 

 it returns after parturition to its original fize, it never concealed, are very liable to uncertainty, 

 becomes again fo fmall as it was in the virgin. Its figure The cavity of the uterus is proportionate to the bulk 

 on the whole is triangular, with the bafc upwards, and of tlie organ when it is empty ; the parietes are conti'ruous, 

 the apex downwards, and ftattcncd from before backwards, and leave between them no farther vacuity than fufficcs 

 It is divided into twoparts, afuperior and broader, named the to hold a little mucous fluid. In this hollov/ the nientlrual 

 body; an inferior and narrower, called the neck. The body difcharge flows, and the produce of conception is received, 

 of the uterus is nearly oval externally, with the greateft It is divided into two parts, one belonging to the bodv, 

 diameter tranfverfe. We obferve in it an anterior and a the other to the neck of the organ. Of thefe, the forrrer 

 pofterior furface, a fuperior, an inferior, and two lateral is the largeft : its figure is nearly triangular, efpecially 

 fides. The auter'or furface, flightly convex, flepes gently when the uterus has experienced no alteration in its bulk, 

 "downwards and forwards, and corrcfponds to the bladder. We have to notice in it an anterior and a pollerior furface. 

 The pofterior, more convex, is inclined in the fame di- three edges and three angle?. The two furfaces are 

 reftion, and is contiguous to the reflum. The fuperior fmooth and contiguous to each other. On each of thcru 

 edge, which is named the fundus, and which extends from a flightly prominent longitudinal line may be cbferved, 



uividin^ 



