A manual of midwifery / by Alfred Meadows.

  • Meadows, Alfred, 1823-1887.
Date:
1871
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of midwifery / by Alfred Meadows. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

    42/476 (page 18)
    of unfavourable import, as it indicates exhaustion. Along its inner surface, on the anterior and posterior walls, are two ridges in tlie median line, the columnce rugarum {d, fig. 9), on either side of which are transverse rugae, which seem to be continuous with similar rugae in the cervix uteri. The orifice of the vagina is guarded by a sphincter muscle. Blood-vessels are very plentiful, especially near the orifice, the veins of which are collected, particularly at its upper part, to form the plexus retifonnis or corpus eavernosum of the vagina—so called from the cellular appearance which it presents. The Uterus (/, fig. 9) is a continuation of the generative tract, and though of prime importance in all the processes connected with parturition, it is, physiologically speaking, of secondary value in comparison with the ovaries, to which indeed it may be regarded as an appendage, seeing that all its functions are subservient to those of the ovaries, both in regard to unimpregnated and impregnated ovulation. In the unimpregnated state it is situate deep in the pelvis between the bladder and rectum, having an ovary and Fallopian tube on either side, the small intes- tines above, and the vagina and perineum below; by these, together with its proper ligaments, it is kept in position, subject to the variations which their mobility, under changing circumstances, allows. Ordinarily it does not project above the pelvic brim, but is so placed that its long axis corresponds pretty much with the axis of the pelvic brim or inlet, at least that is my opinion, though many authorities believe that in the virgin or nuUiparous woman, the uterus is normally antecui-ved. My own ob- servations, however, made with all due care, lead—as I have elsewhere stated in an article on Uterine Disi^lace- ments, in The Lancet for 1868—to the conclusion that ordinarily there is no curvature whatever in the general direction of the uterine canal; that; on the conti-ary, it is straight throughout its course, and that its dii-ection is continuous with, and parallel to, that of the cervix. My belief is, further, that the normal axis of the uterine cavity is identical with that of the pelvic brim or inlet, being represented by a line drawn from the umbilicus downwards and backwards to the coccyx, and forming with the horizon an angle of about 30 degrees (see tig. 8, page 11). Whenever it is found that the direction of the uterine cavity diflfers permanently from this, there, in my opinion, is evidence of something abnormal.