Anatomy, descriptive and surgical / by Henry Gray ; the drawings by H.V. Carter ; with additional drawings in the 2nd and later editions by Dr. Westmacott ; the dissections jointly by the author and Dr.Carter.

  • Gray, Henry, 1827-1861.
Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Anatomy, descriptive and surgical / by Henry Gray ; the drawings by H.V. Carter ; with additional drawings in the 2nd and later editions by Dr. Westmacott ; the dissections jointly by the author and Dr.Carter. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    897/988 (page 733)
    THE YULVA. dartos of the scrotum, besides vessels, nerves, and glands. The labia are thicker in front than behind, and joined together at each extremity, forming the anterior and posterior commissures. The interval left between the posterior commissure and the margin of the anus is about an inch in length, and constitutes the perinaeum. Just within the posterior commissure is a small transverse fold, the frenulum pudendi or fourchette, which is commonly ruptured in the first parturition, and the space between it and the commissure is called the fossa navicularis. The labia are analogous to the scrotum in the male. The labia minora or nymphce are two small folds of mucous membrane, situated within the labia majora, extending from the clitoris obliquely downwards and out- wards for about an inch and a half on each side of the orifice of the vagina, on the sides of which they are lost. They are continuous externally with the labia majora, internally with the inner surface of the vagina. As they converge towards the clitoris in front, each labium divides into two folds, which surround the glans clitoridis, the superior folds uniting to form the prseputium clitoridis, the inferior folds being attached to the glans, and forming the framum. The nymphse are com- posed of mucous membrane, covered by a thin epithelial layer. They contain a plexus of vessels in their interior, and are provided with numerous large mucous crypts which secrete abundance of sebaceous matter. The clitoris is an erectile structure, analogous to the corpora cavernosa of the penis. It is situated beneath the anterior commissure, partially hidden between the anterior extremities of the labia minora. It is an elongated organ, connected to the rami of the pubes and ischia on each side by two crura ; the body is short and con- cealed beneath the labia; the free extremity, or glans clitoridis, is a small rounded tubercle, consisting of spongy erectile tissue, and highly sensitive. The clitoris con- sists of two corpora cavernosa, composed of erectile tissue enclosed in a dense layer of fibrous membrane, united together along their inner surfaces by an incomplete fibrous pectiniform septum. It is provided, like the penis, with a suspensory liga- ment, and with two small muscles, the Erectores clitoridis, which are inserted into the crura of the corpora cavernosa. Between the clitoris and the entrance of the vagina is a triangular smooth surface, bounded on each side by the nymphaa : this is the vestibule. The orifice of the urethra (meatus urinarius) is situated at the back part of the vestibule, about an inch below the clitoris, and near the margin of the vagina, surrounded by a prominent elevation of the mucous membrane. Below the~meatus urinarius is the orifice of the vagina, an elliptical aperture, more or less closed in the virgin by a membranous fold, the hymen. The hymen is a thin semilunar fold of mucous membrane, stretched across the lower part of the orifice of the vagina ; its concave margin being turned upwards towards the pubes. Sometimes this membrane forms a complete septum across the orifice of the A^agina : a condition known as imperforate hymen. Occasionally it forms a circular septum, perforated in the centre by a round opening ; sometimes it is cribriform, or its free margin forms a membranous fringe, or it may be entirely absent. It may also persist after copulation. The hymen cannot, consequently, be considered as a test of virginity. Its rupture, or the rudimentary condition of the membrane above referred to, gives rise to those small rounded elevations which surround the opening of the vagina, the carunculai myrliformes. Glands of Bartholine. On each side of the commencement of the vagina is a round or oblong body, of a reddish-yellow colour, and of the size of a horse-bean, analogous to Cowper's gland in the male. It is called the gland of Bartholine. Each gland opens by means of a long single duct, upon the inner side of thenympha?, external to the hymen. Extending from the clitoris, along either side of the vesti- bule, and lying a little behind the nymphse, are two large oblong masses, about an inch in length, consisting of a plexus of veins, enclosed in a thin layer of fibrous membrane. These bodies are narrow in front, rounded below, and are connected with the crura of the clitoris and rami of the pubes : they are termed by Kobelt the bulbi vjstibicli; and he considers them analogous to the bulb of the corpus spongio-