Questions in obstetrics : asked at the examinations held by the New York State Board of Medical Examiners, complete, with references and answers to every question / Comp. and ed. by R.J.E. Scott.

  • Scott, R. J. E. (Richard John Ernst), 1863-1932
Date:
[1903], [©1903]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Questions in obstetrics : asked at the examinations held by the New York State Board of Medical Examiners, complete, with references and answers to every question / Comp. and ed. by R.J.E. Scott. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    Questions asked May, 1903. 886. (a) Give an anatomical description of the uterus, (b) including the arrangement of its muscular fibres. 886. (a) See Q. 8 and 9; (b) ^'The uterus is essentially a muscular organ. It is lined with mucous membrane and partially invested with peritoneum. Its walls are of an average thickness of three-eighths of an inch. Though the fibres interlace in such a manner as to be inseparable except in the gravid uterus, anatomists are almost univer- sally agreed that they are arranged m three distinct layers. They are of the unstriated or involuntary variety, and have interpose'd between them connective-tissue cells. The external muscular layer or stratum is exceedingly thin, and can be demonstrated upon such parts of the uterus onty as are covered by the peritoneum, and with this it is intimately connected. The fibres of this layer pass from the anterior and the posterior surfaces and from the fundus upon the Fallopian tubes, the round and the ovarian ligaments, and accompany such parts of the peritoneum as form the broad and the utero-sacral ligaments. The internal muscular layer is so intimately connected with the mucous membrane as to be, by some, described with it, for, except in the cervix, there exists in the uterus no submucosa. The fibres of this layer have a chcular arrangement. They are augmented at the orifices of the Fallopian tubes, at the os externum, and at the os internum. Those at the os internum are considered as forming a s])hincter muscle. The middle muscular layer constitutes much the greatest part of the structm^e of the uterus, and is continuous with the muscular coat of the vagina. It is of an average thickness of one-quarter of an inch. The fibres have no definite arrangement, but interlace in every direction. They develop in size enormoush^ during gesta- tion. This stratum is exceeclingty vascular. (Jewett's Practice of Obstetrics.)