Outlines of the diseases of women.

  • Phillips, John.
Date:
1901
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Outlines of the diseases of women. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    The Vestibule (4) is a triangular flat surface of mucous membrane, bounded posteriorly by the anterior or upper margin of the vaginal opening, and laterally by the inner surfaces of the labia minora: the apex is marked by the clitoris with its pre- putium (c), near the base, and in the median line is the orifice of the urethra (u), which is usually described as a dimple, but consists of a right and left labium. The clitoris is formed of two corpora cavernosa, which are attached to the rami of the ischium and pubes by means of crura. The glans clitoridis is composed of spongy erectile tissue. The Orifice of the Vagina (5) is formed anteriorly by the base of the vestibule, posteriorly by the edge of the hymen. The shape of this latter produces the various appearances seen in the vaginal opening. It may be a circular orifice or a slit directed transversely. The Hymen (Fig. 1: 6), which is usually crescentic in shape with its concavity forwards, and arises from the anterior part of the perineal body, is by some con- sidered as the lower end of the vagina, being the remains of the septum between the sinus and others are of opinion that it be- longs to the pudendum proper. Less common variations than this Fig. 2. urogenital the genital ingrowth : Antero-posterior and vertical section of pudendum (left side) viewed from the patient’s right side, the fourchette (7) is drawn down, producing with the hymen (6) the navicular or scaphoid fossa (8). The anus (10). The remaining numbers and letters as in Fig. 1. shape are the annular—where a central aperture exists only—a cribriform, a fimbriated, and a completely imperforate kind ; this last we shall consider later under retained menstruation (p. 104). It varies in texture, and may be of extreme delicacy or remarkable toughness. Three to five small fleshy tubercles, called ccirunculce myrliformes, are found at the site of the hymen and are the result of the passage of a large body (foetus or polypus) through the vulva. The Fourchette (Fig. 2: 7), which is only the united and thinned- out posterior edge of the external labia, can artificially be raised from the true perineal body by a hook: by so doing a sulcus is produced with the lower or posterior surface of the base of the hymen like the prow of a boat, and called the scaphoid fossa or fossa navicularis (8), whose boundaries would therefore be, anteriorly, the posterior surface of the hymen, and posteriorly the