A manual of midwifery / by Alfred Meadows.

  • Alfred Meadows
Date:
1871
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of midwifery / by Alfred Meadows. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    42/474 page 20
    The cavity of the organ (a, fig. 11) is triangular in shape, with the base at the fundus, its length is about 2 j inches, breadth between the Fallopian tubes 1£ inches, in the centre half an inch barely, and at the lower orifice ^ to ^ of an inch. At each of the three angles there is an opening; the two upper are the orifices of* the Fallopian tubes (c c, fig. 11), the lowermost, which is also the narrowest part of the uterine cavity, is the os uteri internum, leading into the canal of the cervix, which is about 1 inch long and from | to f of an inch across its widest part, which is at the middle. The mucous membrane of the cervix, continuous with tbat of the vagina, is arranged in folds or plicas, which, however, are so diversified that if twenty specimens be compared together, scarcely two will be found to present quite the same arrangement (Farre); generally there is a prominent raphe in the centre of each wall, and from either side of this, horizontal folds,, six to nine in num- ber, are given off, which soon bifurcate, and give rise to what is called the arbor vitce utermus. In this mucous membrane numerous follicles and glands are to be found, besides some small vesicular bodies, erroneously styled the ovules Nabothii; they are nothing more than obstructed mucous follicles. The cervical mucous membrane is covered with scaly epithelium, like that which covers the mucous membrane of the vagina. By far the greater part of the structure of the uterus consists of bundles of plain unstriped muscular fibre; these permeate all the coats of the viscus, are clearly seen among the mucous follicles, after emerging from which they begin to exhibit a certain order of stratification, the strata being very closely superimposed, and arranged, for the most part, in such a manner as to He parallel with the walls of the uterine cavity, which is, therefore, surrounded by them.—Farre. Some have disputed the muscularity of the unimpreg- nated uterus; but, besides the fact, upon which all are
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