Cervix uteri from a day-old infant.
pe, pavement epithelium of the vaginal portion of the cervix; c, border-line of the portio and the cavity of the cervix; CE, cylindrical epithelium of the cavity of the cervix; v, blood-vessels.
The second uterine coat consists of non-striated muscular fibres. The uterus has no submucosa. There is an inner circular and an outer longitudinal muscular layer. The larger uterine blood-vessels lie chiefly between these two layers.
The cervix is composed mainly of connective tissue in which is found a large amount of elastic fibres. The cervix contains also erectile tissue of the same kind as the clitoris and the bulbs.
The entire uterus, as far as it is not situated between other organs, is covered with peritoneum. The anterior surface of the uterus is almost flat and is covered with a layer of peritoneum which is inflected upon the bladder at the level of the os internum. The posterior surface is convex and covered, in its whole extent, with a layer of peritoneum which is prolonged downward for a short distance upon the posterior wall of the vagina. The anterior and posterior peritoneal coverings unite laterally and form the broad ligaments.
The uterus is fixed in its place by the round ligaments. The latter are the continuations of the uterine tissue. They run between the folds of the broad ligaments and through the inguinal canals and terminate within the tissue of the labia majora.
CUT XXI.
Schema of the internal female genital apparatus.
a, Fallopian tube; b, ovary; c, cervix; d, round ligament; e, vagina; f, uterus.
The uterus is normally anteflected, the fundus lying forward near the symphysis, and the cervix to the rear. The average length of the uterus is about seven centimeters, the breadth is about four centimeters.
Fallopian tubes.—The Fallopian tubes are two serpentine, trumpet-shaped tubes, of about twelve centimeters in length. They lie at the upper margin of the broad ligaments, between the two layers of the same. The uterine half of the tubal canal is narrow, about three millimeters in diameter, and opens into the basic uterine angle; the distal half is of a width of about eight millimeters in diameter, widens into the ampulla and opens into the abdominal cavity. This opening is surrounded with fringes, one of which touches almost the ovary and probably furnishes the road the ovum takes to reach the tube.