VISCERA OF THE FEMALE PELVIS.
1. The symphysis pubis; to the upper part of which the tendon of the rectus muscle is attached. 2. The abdominal parietes. 3. The collection of fat, forming the projection of the mons Veneris. 4. The urinary bladder. 5. The entrance of the left ureter. 6. The canal of the urethra, converted into a mere fissure by the contraction of its walls. 7. The meatus urinarius. 8. The clitoris, with its præputiam, divided through the middle. 9. The left nympha. 10. The left labium majus. 11. The meatus of the vagina, narrowed by the contraction of its sphincter. 12. The canal of the vagina, upon which the transverse rugæ are apparent. 13. The thick wall of separation between the base of the bladder and the vagina. 14. The wall of separation between the vagina and rectum. 15. The perineum. 16. The os uteri. 17. Its cervix. 18. The fundus uteri. The cavitas uteri is seen along the center of the organ. 19. The rectum, showing the disposition of its mucous membrane. 20. The anus. 21. The upper part of the rectum, invested by the peritoneum. 22. The recto-uterine fold of the peritoneum. 23. The utero-vesical fold. 24. The reflexion of the peritoneum, from the apex of the bladder upon the urachus to the internal surface of the abdominal parietes. 25. The last lumbar vertebra. 26. The sacrum. 27. The coccyx.
The Fallopian tubes or oviducts—the uterine trumpets of the French writers—are situated in the upper border of the broad ligaments, and are connected with the superior angles of the uterus. They are somewhat trumpet-shaped, being much smaller at the uterine than at the free extremity, and narrower in the middle than at either end. Each tube is about four or five inches in length, and more or less flexuous in its course. The canal of the Fallopian tube is exceedingly minute; its inner extremity opens by means of the ostium uterinum into the upper angle of the cavity of the uterus, and the opposite end into the cavity of the peritoneum. The free or expanded extremity of the Fallopian tube presents a double, and sometimes a triple series of small processes or fringes, which surround the margin of the trumpet or funnel-shaped opening, the ostium abdominale. This fringe-like appendage to the end of the tube has gained for it the appellation of the fimbriated extremity; and the remarkable manner in which this circular fringe applies itself to the surface of the ovary during sexual excitement, the additional title of morsus diaboli. One of the processes, longer than the rest, or, according to Cruveilhier, a distinct ligamentous cord, is attached to the distal end of the ovary, and serves to guide the tube in its seizure of that organ.
The Fallopian tube is composed of three tunices: an external and loose investment derived from the peritoneum; a middle or muscular coat, consisting of circular (internal) and longitudinal (external) fibers, continuous with those of the uterus; and an external or lining mucous membrane, which is continuous, on the one hand, with the mucous membrane of the uterus, and at the opposite extremity with the peritoneum. In the minute canal of the tube, the mucous membrane is thrown into longitudinal folds or rugæ, which indicate the adaptation of the tube to dilatation.
The ovaries are two oblong, flattened, and oval bodies of a whitish color, situated in the posterior layer of peritoneum of the broad ligaments. They are connected to the upper angles of the uterus at each side by means of a rounded cord, consisting chiefly of muscular fibers derived from the uterus, the ligament of the ovary.
In structure, the ovary is composed of a cellulo-fibrous parenchyma or stroma, traversed by blood-vessels, and inclosed in a capsule consisting of three layers: a vascular layer, which is situated most internally, and sends processes inward to the interior of the organ; a middle or fibrous layer of considerable density; and an external investment of peritoneum. In the cells of the stroma of the ovary, the small vesicles or ovisacs of the future ova, the Graafian vesicles, as they have been termed, are developed. There are usually about fifteen fully-formed Graafian vesicles in each ovary; and Dr. Martin Barry has shown that countless numbers of microscopic ovisacs exist in the parenchyma of the organ, and that very few out of these are perfected so as to produce ova.
After conception, a yellow spot, the corpus luteum, is found in one or both ovaries. The corpus luteum is a globular mass of yellow, spongy tissue, traversed by white areolar bands, and containing in its center a small cavity, more or less obliterated, which was originally occupied by the ovum. The interior of the cavity is lined by a puckered membrane, the remains of the ovisac. In recent corpora lutea, the opening by which the ovum escaped from the ovisac through the capsule of the ovary, is distinctly visible; when closed, a small cicatrix may be seen upon the surface of the ovary in the situation of the opening. A similar appearance to the preceding, but of smaller size, and without a central cavity, is sometimes met with in the ovaries of the virgin; this is false corpus luteum.
Vessels and Nerves.—The arteries of the ovaries are the spermatic; their nerves are derived from the spermatic plexus.
The round ligaments are two muscular and fibrous cords situated between the layers of the broad ligaments, and extending from the upper angles of the uterus, and along the spermatic canals to the labia majora, in which they are lost. They are accompanied by a small artery, by several filaments of the spermatic plexus of nerves, and by a plexus of veins. The latter occasionally become varicose, and form a small tumor at the external abdominal ring, which has been mistaken for inguinal hernia. The round ligaments serve to retain the uterus in its proper position in the pelvis, and during utero-gestation to draw the anterior surface of the organ against the abdominal parietes.