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XVI. On the Nerves of the Uterus. By Thomas Snow Beck, Esq., Surgeon. 
Communicated by Sir Benjamin C. Brodie, Bart., F.R.S. 
Received May 29, — Read June 19, 1845. 
In February 1843, during the examination of the body of a woman who died from 
uterine haemorrhage immediately after delivery, it occurred to me that the uterus 
afforded a good opportunity for examining the condition of the nerves in the im- 
pregnated state, to which attention had been directed by Dr. Robert Lee in commu- 
nications to this Society in the years 1841 and 1842. With the view of confirming the 
researches of Dr. Lee, I commenced the dissection of the nerves of the gravid uterus, 
but found so many points at variance with his published statements*, and the nerves 
so small, considering the size of the organ, that it appeared very doubtful whether or 
not they had increased in size during pregnancy ; but in order to arrive at a correct 
conclusion on this point, a comparison of the nerves of the imimpregnated with those 
of the gravid uterus was indispensable ; and in the following year I commenced a 
dissection of the nerves of the unimpregnated uterus and of the neighbouring organs. 
* To the structures described as nervous ganglia and plexuses, Dr. Lee gave the following names : “ The 
posterior suhperitoneal ganglion and plexuses,” “ a great nervous web under the peritoneum,” to which “ it 
adheres firmly,” and which covers the posterior surface of the uterus “ as high as the fundus.” “ It represents 
the appearance of a layer of dense structure composed of fibres strongly interlaced together, having a yellowish - 
brown colour.” “ The anterior suhperitoneal ganglia and plexuses,” “ a nervous and vascular mass of great 
extent, and similar in structure to the suhperitoneal ganglia on the posterior surface.” It “ adheres to the pe- 
ritoneum firmly,” and covers “ the whole anterior surface of the uterus.” “ The left suhperitoneal plexuses.” 
" Another ganglion of considerable size,” “ near the edge of the uterus.” “ The great transverse plexuses,” 
“ which proceed across the uterus,” and “ present the appearance of a white, pearly fuciculated membrane about 
a quarter of an inch in breadth.” “The left spermatic ganglion,” “a dense reddish-brown coloured mass 
consisting of fibres firmly interlaced together.” “ The hypogastric or utero-cervical ganglion,” which “ ex- 
ceeds in size the semilunar ganglia of the great sympathetic,” and “is nearly two inches in breadth.” The 
middle vesical ganglion,” and “ the internal and external vesical ganglia,” which “ form a great web of ganglia 
and nerves on the side of the vagina.” Dr. Lee further adds, "It is chiefly by the influence of these nerves, 
that the uterus performs the varied functions of menstruation, conception, and parturition, and it is solely by 
their means that the whole fabric of the nervous system sympathises with the different morbid affections of the 
uterus. If the nerves of the uterus could not be demonstrated, its physiology and pathology would be completely 
inexplicable.” In the progress of my dissections, I found that the structure considered by Dr. Lee as “ the 
hypogastric or utero-cervical ganglion” was a mass of dense fibro- cellular tissue enveloping several small ganglia 
and a nervous plexus, formed at the junction of the lateral hypogastric plexus with branches from the sacral 
nerves ; that the “ vesical ganglia” were also a mass of fibro-cellular tissue, in about the centre of which were 
situated small ganglia; and that the remaining structures described as ganglia and plexuses were not nervous 
structures.— (May 1846.) 
