The female external genital organs : a criticism on current anatomical description / by D.S. Lamb.

  • Daniel Smith Lamb
Date:
1894
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The female external genital organs : a criticism on current anatomical description / by D.S. Lamb. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    nuclei. 1'iorsol says of the external surface that it resembles some- what in appearance the adjoining integument of the external labia. Macalister calls the outer surface modified skin ; Allen uses the term Muco-dertnic. Gray says, in the loose manner that he so often falls into, that there are large mucous crypts which secrete abundance of sebaceous matter. Coe, as a compromise, suggests “ muco-cutaneous. The facts are these : x. There is laminated pavement which are non-nucleated. epithelium, many of the cells of -• The deep layer of epithelium contains pigment granules. What 1 have said about the dark color of the larger lips in brunettes and women of the dark races, applies to the lesser lips, especially the in- terior portions of both surfaces ; not so much to the inner as the outer surface. 3. 1'here are vascular papillse. 4. Sebaceous glands. There are no mucous glands. These positive and negative characters, as in the case of the labia majora, seem to establish the fact that the outer surface of the labia minora is integumentary. The inner surface of the labia minora, Gray says, is a mucous membrane. Macalister, that it is nearly assimilated to mucous mem- brane. Allen states that there are abundant papillse and numerous racemose glands. Hvrtl says it is mucous membrane with mucous fol- licles. Piersol that there are vascular papilla: and sebaceous follicles. I have already mentioned the pigmentation. Ranney states that scat- tered hairs are found upon the surface of the labia minora of the adult. McClellan says that the labia minora are a modified skin. Hart and Barbour, however, use the following language: “ The labia mi- nora are skin, thin and fine, and not mucous membrane, as often alleged. The sharp line between skin and mucous membrane can be distinctly seen in the living woman. A line running as follows sepa- rates the mucous membrane from the skin ; starting from the base of the inner aspect of the right labium minus, it passes down beside the base of the outer aspect of the hymen, up along the base of the left labium minus, in beneath the prepuce of the clitoris and down to where it first started from.” Ranney (Topographical Relations of Fe- male Pelvic Organs) mentions this line and says it is quite sharply defined. Coe states that he has frequently identified the line de- scribed. I can also give similar testimony. Coe goes on to say that, in his opinion, the labia minora consist essentially of delicate skin, which, on their inner surfaces, pass over insensibly into a sort of
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