THE VULVO-YAGINAL SECRETORY GLANDS.
The glands which compose the vulvo-vaginal secretory organs are the sudoriparous glands, the sebaceous glands, the muciparous follicles, and two special glands, the vulvo-vaginal glands.
Sudoriparous Glands.—They are found on the mons veneris and the external surface of the labia majora. They are mingled with the sebaceous glands and surround the base of the hair follicles.
Sebaceous Glands.—They occupy the mons veneris, the internal surface of the labia majora, the two surfaces of the labia minora, the fourchette, and the prepuce of the clitoris, but they are never found in the vestibule, or at the circumference of the urinary meatus.
Jluciparous Follicles.—They appear in two forms, either singly or in groups. Sappey denies their existence. Huguier describes four groups.
1st. Vestibular Follicles. —8 or 10 single ones; they are only recesses in the cul-de-sac of the mucous membrane.
2(1. Urethral Follicles.—They are numerous according to Huguier; and scarce according to Robert. Several of these follicles are sunk in the cellulo-vascular tissue of the urethra, and open at the surface of the median tubercle situated immediately below the meatus.
3d. Lateral Urethral Follicles.—They are smaller and all their orifices are united at the bottom of a conical depression. They do not invariably exist.
4th. Lateral Follicle8 at the Entrance of the Vagina.—These are two or three, and they are situated on the lateral portions of the entrance of the vagina, immediately below the hymen or the myrtiform caruncles.
The Vulvo-vaginal Glanch.—(The glands of Bartholin, Duverney, and Cooper.) They have been studied by Huguier, who called them the vulvo-vaginal glands. They belong to the class of globular glands.
There are two of them, a right and left, situated in the lateral and pos terior portion of the vagina, about .39 of an inch above the anterior surface of the hymen, or the myrtiform caruncles, in the angular space which results from the approximation of the rectum and vagina, and below the inferior extremity of the bulb.
Very small in infancy and atrophied in old age, they are, in the adult, very nearly the size of the kernel of an apricot. They present an in ternal surface, which adheres to the vagina, and an external surface, which is covered by the constrictor vaginEe and the perineal branch of the internal pudic nerve.
Structure.—They are composed of lobes, lobules and granulations, the canaliculi of which unite in a single canal which opens immediately in front of the hymen in the angle which it forms with the vulva. This canal is about -I- inch long, and about .11 of an inch wide.
The greater portion of the gland is covered by a fibro-cellular lamina, which sends prolongations into the intervals between the lobes and lobules.
The arteries come from the artery of the clitoris. The veins form a net-work on the surface of the organ, and empty into the pudic veins, as well as into the venous plexus of the vagina and the bulb.
The lymphatics pass to the ganglia situated in the cellular space be tween the walls of the rectum and vagina.
The nerves come from the internal pudic.
The glands secrete a ropy, oily fluid, which, by lubricating the external parts, facilitates copulation.