Identifier: 67361020R.nlm.nih.gov
Title: Elements of the principles and practice of midwifery
Year: 1848 (1840s)
Authors: Tucker, David H., M.D
Subjects: Obstetrics Midwifery
Publisher: Philadelphia : Lindsay and Blakiston
Contributing Library: U.S. National Library of Medicine
Digitizing Sponsor: U.S. National Library of Medicine

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. In those cases where we wish tointroduce the catheter, the orifice of the urethra may be found bysearching for a small tubercle surrounded by a fold of mucous mem-brane, and situated directly under the symphisis pubis. The vagina is directly below the urethra, and, in the virgin state,it is partially closed in front by a fold of mucous membrane, called ORGANS OF GENERATION. 43 the hymen. The shape of the hymen varies ; sometimes it is cres-cendo—at others circular with a foramen in its centre ; or it may becomplete and imperforate. This membrane also presents differencesas regards the firmness of its texture ; being in some cases exceed-ingly firm and resisting, in others thin and fragile. The existenceof this membrane has been considered as a sure evidence of virginity>but there exist undoubted cases, to prove the falsity of this opinion.On the other hand, the nonexistence of this membrane must not beregarded as indicative of the loss of virginity, since its texture is Fig. 7.
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sometimes so fragile as to be easily ruptured by any violent move-ments of the body. When the hymen is ruptured, as it usually is 44 ORGANS OF GENERATION. at the first sexual union, and often from other causes, there remainsalong the circumference of the orifice of the vagina from two to fivesmall tubercles, called carunculae myrtiformes. Some physiologistsdo not think that these bodies are relics of a ruptured hymen. Between the posterior border of the vaginal orifice and the four-chette, there is a depression termed the fossa navicularis. By the term perinaeum, obstetricians mean all the space lyingbetween the posterior commissure of the vulva and the anus. Thisperineal space measures about Ik inches, and is traversed along itsmesial line by a prominent hard ridge, termed the raphe of the peri-nxura. The perinasum is composed externally of skin ; internallyof adipose and cellular tissue, of fascia, and of a portion of thosemuscles, which we have already demonstrated. We remarked, wh

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