. The cyclopædia of anatomy and physiology. Anatomy; Physiology; Zoology. UTERUS —(DEVELOPMENT). 647 uteri into the upper part of the vagina be- comes gradually less and less distinctly ascer- tainable by the finger. The latter change is commonly termed the "shortening of the cer- vix;" but the conditions upon which it de- pends, have not been very accurately examined, and they are certainly not at all clearly or adequately represented by the figures by which the description of this process is usu- ally accompanied. As much importance is usually attached, in works on forensic and obs
. The cyclopædia of anatomy and physiology. Anatomy; Physiology; Zoology. UTERUS —(DEVELOPMENT). 647 uteri into the upper part of the vagina be- comes gradually less and less distinctly ascer- tainable by the finger. The latter change is commonly termed the "shortening of the cer- vix;" but the conditions upon which it de- pends, have not been very accurately examined, and they are certainly not at all clearly or adequately represented by the figures by which the description of this process is usu- ally accompanied. As much importance is usually attached, in works on forensic and obstetric medicine, to the changes in question, it will be necessary here to examine a little more closely the process by which this appa- rent shortening of the cervix is produced. It is commonly said that no material altera- tion, in the length of the cervix uteri, occurs before the fifth month of gestation ; that, at the sixth or seventh month, the uterine neck has begun to shorten ; at the eighth month, it is nearly, and at the end of the ninth month, it is quite, obliterated. But while it is true that a lessening of the projection of the cervix into the vagina com- monly takes place in pregnancy (fig. 44-6.), I can hardly coincide in the explanation which is usually offered of this circumstance, namely, that it is due to a gradual drawing up, as it were, of the cervix, by which its walls become added to those of the body of the uterus, for the purpose of increasing the capacity of the uterine cavity; and that in this way the ute- rine neck is gradually shortened, until it finally disappears.* The accompanying fig. 446. exhibits the condition of the cervix in a woman aged thirty-seven, who, having previously borne children, died of phthisis in the eighth month of pregnancy. Here it will be perceived, that, without any actual diminution of the length of the cervix, which measured rather more than one inch, still there is no projection of it into the vagina ; but that it form
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