Femina, A Work for Every Woman

by John A. Miller

The Perineum is the muscular triangular body between the vagina and rectum; it constitutes a segment of the female pelvic floor; it is the prop for all the pelvic organs, and for that reason every woman should know precisely what it is, and study the plate carefully until she understands it. The skin covering it is of a dark color, thin and freely movable over the underlying parts. There is no part of the pelvic anatomy so vulnerable, because in confinement during the passage of the child’s head into the world, the perineum is put on a great stretch, and if the delivery progresses too quickly or is hurried, then the tissues have no time to stretch themselves so as to accommodate the child’s head, and they must naturally tear.

The awkward and officious use of instruments will do the same thing. I have seen the perineum torn asunder from this cause, from the vagina and back into the rectum.

Plate III is one of the most instructive drawings that I could devise. It gives the reader a practical illustration of the internal generative organs and their anatomical relations to each other. This was a drawing from my own dissection, and the clearness and artistic reproduction is due to the skill of the engraver, Mr. H. X. Van de Casteele, of this city.

THE VAGINA.

The vagina is a membranous canal, extending from the vulva or introitus to the uterus. It is situated in the cavity of the pelvis, between the bladder in front and the rectum behind; its direction is not in a straight line, but curved from below backwards and upwards. When distended it is cylindrical in shape, but naturally it is flattened from before backwards, so that its walls are ordinarily in contact with each other. In length it averages about four inches in its anterior wall, while its posterior wall describes a segment of a larger circle, that makes it between one and two inches longer. At its commencement it is constricted, and at its upper extremity, where it is attached to the womb, it is dilated, so as to surround the vaginal portion of the neck of the womb (see Plate III, c) this is a short distance above the mouth of the womb. The attachment extends higher up on the posterior than on the anterior wall of the womb, which makes the posterior lip of the womb longer than the anterior.

The mucous membrane is continuous above with that covering the vaginal portion of the uterus; below it begins at the vulva. Running longitudinally along the anterior and posterior walls are distinct ridges or raphe; these are the columns of the vagina.

The relations of the vagina to the neighboring organs can be studied to better advantage by referring to Plate I.

The Vagina slit open to the neck or Cervix of the Uterus, showing the insertion of the latter into the former.