DEPARTMENT OF SURGERY. 
503 
Fig. 26. 
VAGINAL OVARIECTOMY. 
Diagrammatic horizontal section of uterus and dilated vagina. C, clitoris ; M, urinary 
meatus; V, vagina ; OU, os uteri; U, uterus ; O , ovary. 
immediate contact with the great pelvic vessels (A Fig. 25), 
while at the sides and below the vaginal walls are generally in 
immediate contact with the bony walls of the pelvis. The roof 
of the vagina, when at rest, is in contact with the floor of the 
rectum and attached thereto by connective tissue until within 6 
to 8 cm. of the os uteri, where the two organs are separated by a 
peritoneal duplicature which constitutes the operative area. 
This operative area, parallel to the rectum when the vagina is 
at rest becomes perpendicular to it when “ ballooned,” so that 
the operator needs to make his incision directly forward through 
a tense, thin, perpendicular wall like a drumhead. There is 
in this state no operative area above whatever and an upward 
incision wounds the rectum and perhaps the posterior aorta or 
one of the iliac arteries. 
If the hand is introduced immediately after the injection of 
-o 
