516 
MR. RAINEY ON THE STRUCTURE AND USE 
external fasciculus from the inferior column of the ring just above Gimbernat’s liga- 
ment ; from these attachments the fibres pass backwards and outwards, soon becoming 
fleshy; they then unite into a rounded cord, which crosses in front of the epigastric 
artery and behind the lower border of the internal oblique and transversalis muscles, 
from which it is separated by a thin fascia continuous with the fascia transversalis ; it 
then gets between the layers of peritoneum forming the broad ligament of the uterus, 
along which it passes backwards, downwards, and inwards to the anterior and supe- 
rior part of the uterus, into which its fibres, after spreading out a little, maybe said 
to be inserted. 
The striated muscular fibres are not confined merely to the surface of the round 
ligament, as if only accessory to some more important part of it, but they form almost 
the whole of its substance, and are more particularly distinct near to its centre ; nor 
do they extend completely to the uterus, but after passing between the layers of the 
broad ligament to about the distance of an inch or an inch and a half from its supe- 
rior part, they gradually lose their striated character, and degenerate into fasciculi of 
granular fibres mixed with long threads of fibro-cellular tissue. Plate XXXIX. fig. 1 
is an accurate representation of some muscular fibres taken from the centre of the 
round ligament, where it is situated between the layers of the broad ligament, about 
one inch and a half from the uterus. Fig. 2 is also a representation of some muscu- 
lar fibres taken from apart rather nearer to the uterus, showing the manner in which 
the striped muscular fibre terminates in the granular fibres above mentioned. This 
structure of the round ligaments is not, as might be expected, confined to the human 
species. In the Monkey these ligaments are composed almost entirely of striped 
muscular fibre, which extends all along them nearly as far as the uterus. The uterus 
in a monkey which I examined was very small, but the round ligaments were pro- 
portionally large : the primary fasciculi of muscular fibres were pale but very di- 
stinctly striated. In the Dog, as most probably in other animals in which the uterus 
divides into cornua extending into the abdomen considerably beyond the brim of the 
pelvis, the round ligaments, instead of passing downwards to be attached to the pelvis, 
as they are in the human subject, in whom the uterus is situated below its brim, pass 
from the extremities of the cornua of the uterus upwards, or rather forwards to the 
last rib. Hence in these instances, these ligaments, or rather muscles, may be said to 
arise from the last rib, and from the aponeurosis of the diaphragm, by a thin trian- 
gular expansion, partly tendinous, and partly muscular (the fibres of the muscle being 
pale but of the striped kind), and to be inserted into the cornua of the uterus, having 
the same relation to the Fallopian tubes and ligaments of the ovaries as in the animals 
which have a simple uterus. In the Sheep and the Cow the attachments of the round 
ligaments are similar to those in the Dog, and composed likewise of muscular fibres 
distinctly striated. Besides striped muscular fibres these ligaments contain numerous 
vessels, also some nerves and absorbents. The arterial trunks are large, but the 
capillaries into which they ultimately divide have the same size and arrangement as 
