MR. T. SNOW BECK ON THE NERVES OF THE UTERUS. 22l 
over a larger surface, which allows their arrangement to be more readily determined. 
The continuation of the hypogastric plexus, which supplies the uterus, is seen to 
approach the side of that organ in company with the vessels, and afterwards to leave 
them, some of the branches passing to the anterior, and some to the posterior surface, 
both of which finally enter into its substance. 2ndly. The course taken by the nerve 
which supplies the middle portion of the uterus appears to be different in the two 
dissections. This however is more apparent than real, for the nerve passes off from 
tbe hypogastric plexus high up in the pelvis, and coming down in company with it 
interchanges some filaments. On reaching the neck of the uterus it enters the organ, 
and passing up in a distinct tendinous canal immediately beneath the surface, neither 
receives nor gives any branches until it reaches the portion a little below the insertion 
of the Fallopian tubes ; there the tendinous canal ceases, and the nerve divides into 
two branches, one supplying the anterior, and the other the posterior surface. The 
anterior branch, the larger of the two, after entering deeply into the substance of the 
uterus, again approaches the surface at the insertion of the Fallopian tube, and appa- 
rently sends some filaments to it ; but whether this is the case or not I am unable 
to decide, as the nerve was accidentally divided. 
The Nerves of the Ovary . — The nerve supplying the ovary passes down from the 
renal plexus in company with the spermatic artery, and when about two and a half 
inches from the gland it separates from the artery, taking a slightly different course 
to reach the middle of this body. It there divides into four branches, of which three 
supply the ovary, and the fourth, passing onwards to the uterus, again divides into 
two branches, which enter the substance of the uterus on the anterior and posterior 
aspect of the fundus. Before the nerve reaches the ovary to divide into its terminal 
branches, it forms a considerable fusiform enlargement. 
The Size of the Nerves . — The size of the nerves in both these dissections is essen- 
tially the same, and when the nerves are carefully compared, no doubt is left that the 
nerves of the gravid uterus have undergone no change in size ; nor any change in 
position, except that consequent upon the development of the organ. Yet at first 
sight the nerves of the unimpregnated uterus appear even larger than those of the 
gravid uterus ; this however is due to the manner in which they are arranged. In 
the unimpregnated state of the uterus, the nerves of the lower portion of the hypo- 
gastric and pelvic plexuses, are crowded and packed together so as to occupy a much 
smaller space than they do in the gravid state of the uterus. The consequence of 
this is, that the nerves of the former present a wavy arrangement, which gives them 
the appearance of greater thickness and plumpness. The close manner in which 
they are packed, and the wavy aspect they assume, can only be fully appreciated when 
they are first exposed ; for in the after process of cleaning and isolating them from the 
surrounding tissues, these characters are considerably altered. 
We may therefore conclude — 
1. That the uterus receives its nerves from the hypogastric plexus. It ought 
