474 



PROFESSOR TURNER ON THE GRAVID UTERUS AND 



These folds reached as far as the os externum, the orifice of which was suffi- 

 ciently large to admit a good-sized orange. The wall of the cervix was half an 

 inch thick. 



When the free surface of the mucous membrane of the uterine cornua was 

 examined with the naked eye in a good light, under either water or spirit, it 

 was seen to possess a delicate reticulated character. The strands of the net- 

 work were formed of slender bands of the mucous membrane, many of which 

 ran parallel, being connected at intervals by shorter transverse or oblique bars ; 

 whilst others, again, had a much more irregular arrangement. Small recesses, 

 or pits, or furrows opened on the surface of the membrane, between these 

 bands or bars, and sank some depth into its substance. By the use of low 



Surface view, under a low power of the microscope, of a portion of the uninjected uterine mucous membrane. 

 The recesses, furrows, and pits, into which the pockets or crypts open, are darkly shaded in the figure. 



magnifying powers these recesses could be more accurately studied. Some- 

 times they formed elongated furrows, which were again subdivided by more 

 delicate bands of the mucous membrane into smaller crypt-like compartments, 

 which opened freely into the furrow. In other localities the recesses were 

 irregular polygonal pits, and sometimes even ovoid or circular in form. These 

 also, like the furrows, were subdivided into a variable number of crypt-like 

 compartments. In some places the recesses were so closely crowded together 

 that the surface of the mucous membrane had a honeycomb appearance, but 

 in others comparatively broad patches of membrane separated a cluster of 

 recesses and crypts from those which lay around. As a rule, the body of each 

 crypt was more dilated than its mouth, and the crypts formed little pockets or 

 pouches for the reception of the club-shaped processes of the chorionic villi. 



