Diseases of women / by Alfred Lewis Galabin.

  • Galabin, Alfred Lewis, 1843-1913.
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Diseases of women / by Alfred Lewis Galabin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    raidcUc line. The glans clitoridis only is free above the level of the mucous membrane. The clitoris has also a suspensory ligament attached to the symphysis pubis. It is erectile, and is supplied by the pudic artery and pudic nerve, like the penis. The prepuce of the clitoris forms a kind of hood above it, but does not completely cover it. The Vestibule (Fig. 1 : e) is a triangular surface of mucous membrane, somewhat less than an inch in length. The apex, in front, is formed by the clitoris. Its sides are formed by the diverging nymphte, and its base by a transverse line constituting the entrance of the vagina. At the centre of this base is the urethral orifice, or meatufi urinarhifi (Fig. 1 : ?.), from which the hymen diverges at each side. The vestibule contains mucous glands. The IIi/iiioi (Fig. 1 : 7) forms the separation b(>tw('cn tlie vulva and the vagina. It consists of a fold of mucous membrane, generally crescentic with its con- cavity forward, and terminating anteriorly at the meatus urinarius, where it is represented only by a thickening of tlie mucous membrane, which causes tlie posterior border of the meatus to be more prominent than the anterior. Often this thickening forms a rim directed forwards, and somewliat overlapiung the meatus. Sometimes the hymen is annular, but narrower in fi'ont than posteriorly. In rare cases, the vagina is closed, cither bv an imperforate hymen, or by a septum immediately beliind the hymen. A cribriform opening to the hymen is described as occasionally seen, but is very rare. In the virgin the orifice of the hymen is closed by apposition of its sides so as to form a longitudinal slit, or st(>llate figure, with its greatest axis longitudinal, the edges of the hymen being (>verted, so as to look downward. Tlu^ vagina is not seen as shown in Fig. 1, until the sides of the vulva are di'awn a])art. In rare cases, the liymen forms a trans- A'ei-se slit. Immediately behind the hynu'U the vagina forms a transverse slit in all cases.