A treatise on the science and practice of midwifery / By W. S. Playfair.
- William Smoult Playfair
- Date:
- 1885
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A treatise on the science and practice of midwifery / By W. S. Playfair. 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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![the uterus may be said to lie in a line roug^Iily corresiponding with the axis of the pelvic brim, its fundus being pointed forward, and its cervix lying in such a direction that a line drawn from it would impinge on the junction between the sacrum and coccyx. According to some authorities, the uterus in early life is more curved in the anterior direc- tion, and is, in fact, normally in a state of anteflexion. Sappey holds that this is not necessarily the case, but that the amount of anterior curvature depends on the emptiness or fulness to the bladder, on which the uterus, as it were, moulds itself in the unimpregnated state. It is believed also that the body of the uterus is very generally twisted some- what obliquely, so that its interior surface looks a little toward the right side, this probably depending on the presence and frequent distension of the rectum in the left side of the pelvis. The anterior surface of the uterus is convex, and is covered in three-fourths of its extent by the peritoneum, which is intimately adherent to it. Below the reflexion of the membrane it is loosely connected by cellular tissue to the bladder, so that any downward displacement of the uterus drags the bladder along with it. The posterior surface is also convex, jput more distinct- ly so than the anterior, as may be observed in looHng at a transverse section of the organ (Fig. 19). It is also covered by peritoneum, the Fitr 19 O'*-'*-'^*-*./- Transverse Section of Uterus reflexion of which on the rectum forms the cavity known as Douglas's pouch. The fundus is the upper extremitv of the uterus, lying above the points of entry by the Fallopian tubes. Itis only slightlyjwnded in the virgin, but becomes more decidedly and permanently rounded in the wonran who_ha.s borni;[[chi]dren. lU /Surfaces.—Until the period of puberty the uterus remains small I and undeveloped (Fig. 20); after that time it reaches the adult size, at which it remains until menstruation ceases, when it again atrophies. If i the woman has borne children it always remains larger than in the nul- lipara. In the virgin adult the uterus measures 2^ inches from the orifl(;e to the fundus, rather more than half being taken up by the cervix. Its greatest breadth is opposite the insertion of the Fallopian tubes; its greatest, thickness, about 11 or 12 lines, opposite the centre of its body. Its average weight is about^9 or 10 drachms. Independ- ently of pregnancy, the uterus is subjccst to great alterations of size toward the menstrual period, when, on account of the congestion then present, it enlarges, sometimes, it is said, c()nsi(leral)ly. This fact should be borne in mind, as this [)eriodi(;al swelling might be taken for an early pregnancy. 2.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2121072x_0065.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
