Nerves of the Gravid Uterus. 593 



band under the round ligament, numerous small, delicate filaments, 

 apparently nervous, are sent to the base of the ovarium. 



On the right side of the uterus, the author finds that the distribu- 

 tion of the hypogastric and spermatic nerves does not essentially 

 dififer from that now described as seen on the left side. The form and 

 situation of the right posterior band is, he states, much more clearly 

 seen than on the left side, and presents the appearance of a white 

 pearly fasciculated membrane about a quarter of an inch in breadth, 

 proceeding from the mesial line at right angles to the hypogastric 

 nerves, across the body of the uterus, to the round ligament, where 

 it unites with the anterior band. Numerous branches, strikingly 

 resembling the branches of nerves, are sent off from the upper and 

 lower edges of this band, and from its posterior surface to the mus- 

 cular coat of the uterus. An extensive and intimate union at various 

 points is distinctly perceptible between these branches sent off from 

 the band and the branches of the hypogastric nerves. On the an- 

 terior and upper part of the neck of the uterus, there is a great mass 

 of reddish-coloured fibres, firmly interlaced together, resembling a 

 ganglion of nerves, into which numerous large branches of the hy- 

 pogastric nerves on both sides enter, and to which they firmly ad- 

 here. From the upper part of this fibrous substance there passes up, 

 over the whole anterior surface of the uterus, a thin band of firm 

 wliite fasciculated fibres, prolongations of which extend to the 

 round ligaments, — into which, and into the posterior band, they are 

 continued by numerous filaments, like those of nerves. From the 

 posterior surface of this great band, numerous branches, also appa- 

 rently nervous, can be traced to a considerable depth through the 

 muscular coat of the uterus. 



The author concludes his paper with the following remark, and a 

 short historical account of the progress of discovery on the subject 

 of the nerves of the uterus : — 



"From the form, colour and general appearance of these fasciculated 

 bands, and the resemblance they bear to ganglionic plexuses of nerves, 

 and from their branches actually coalescing with the hypogastric and 

 spermatic nerves, I was induced to conclude, on first discovering 

 them, that they were nervous plexuses, and constituted the special 

 nervous system of the uterus. The recent examination, ho-wever, of 

 the gravid uterus of some of the lower animals, in which I have found 

 a structui'e similar to those bands in large quantity under the peri- 

 toneum, has left me in considerable doubt as to the nature of these 

 bands, and until further investigations have been made, I shall not 

 venture to pronounce a positive opinion respecting them." 



The desci-iption of the nerves of the uterus contained in Professor 

 Tiedemann's splendid work, the author adds, is usually referred to by 

 anatomical writers as the most accurate and complete which has 

 ever been given. Professor Tiedemann has represented the sperma- 

 tic nerves as being distributed chiefly to the ovarium ; and the hypo- 

 gastric as invariably accompanying the trunk and branches of tlie 

 uterine arteries, along the sides of the uterus, — dividing into smaller 

 branches, and quickly disappearing in the muscular coat of the ute- 



