A theoretical and practical treatise on midwifery : including the diseases of pregnancy and parturition / by P. Cazeaux ; revised and annotated by S. Tarnier.

Date:
1870
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A theoretical and practical treatise on midwifery : including the diseases of pregnancy and parturition / by P. Cazeaux ; revised and annotated by S. Tarnier. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    68/1142 (page 64)
    ARTICLE III. OP THE SECRETORY APPARATUS OP THE EXTERNAL ORGANS OP GENERATION. [The secretory apparatus of the female genital organs has been the subject of numerous investigations, but of late a fresh interest in the subject has given rise to ■works by Robert, Iluguier, Sappey, Martin, and L6ger, all of which are placed under contribution in the preparation of this article. Aside from the piliferous bulbs, the glands of the vulva may be arranged in three classes: 1. Sudoriparous glands; 2. Sebaceous glands; 3. Muciparous glands and follicles. First class.—The sudoriparous glands axQ ionn^ on the penil and the external surface of the labia raajora; they are mingled with the sebaceous glands and surround the bases of the hair bulbs. Presenting the same arransement as in other parts of the body, they are noticeable here on account of their great number. Second class. — The sebaceous glands of the vulva are extremely numerous. Those of the mons veneris and of the outer surface of the labia mujora are remark- able for their size, having an average diameter of of an inch. They are generally composed of from four to six lobules, each containing eight or ten culs- de-sac. They always open upon a piliferous bulb. The internal surfaces of the labia majora are also provided with sebaceous glands to the extent of about forty to every | of an inch square. They are still more numerous upon both sides of the lesser labia, the inner surfaces of which present about one hundred and fifty to every of an inch square. Martin and L6ger note the fact, that these glands, which are very apparent in the adult female, become atrophied after the cessation of the menstrual function, and cannot be found at all in the foetus. The sebaceous glands are also found on the fourchette and the prepuce of the clitoris. No trace of them, however, is to be discovered either in the vestibule or around the orifice of the urethra. These glands secrete an oily matter, which maintains the suppleness of the parts to which it is applied, prevents them from contracting abnormal adhesions, and preserves them from irritation by the urine. Third class. — The muciparous follicles as described by M. Huguier, present two varieties: in the first, they aie isolated or simply agminated, isolated or agminaied follicles; in the second they are enclosed in one envelope, and discharge into the same excretory canal, vuloo-vaginal glands. A. Isolated or agminated muciparous follicles. These follicles exist, according to Huguier, upon several points of the circumference of the vaginal orifice ; they are sometimes absent and always difiicult to discover; their existence even has been denied by some anatomists (Sappey, Martin, L6ger). Huguier describes three groups of them. 1. — Eight or ten of them are found in the vestibule below the clitoris, where they open by separate orifices, which are very small and partly covered by a root of valve easily raised by a probe; [Vestibular follicles of Iluguier) (fig. 21, A). These follicles are mere depressions in the mucous membrane without a diverticu- lum. So simple is their structure, that Martin and L6ger refused to call them muciparous follicles.'] 2. Others, termed urethral follicles on account of their situation, are stated by M. Huguier to be less readily discoverable than the preceding, on which account they were supposed by M. Robert to be less numerous. They are