size and shape of an ovary.

=The Fallopian Tubes.= The Fallopian tubes (so called from Fallopius,
a great anatomist, who discovered them; also called oviducts: egg
conductors, because they conduct the eggs from the ovary into the
uterus) are two very thin tubes, extending one from each upper angle
of the womb to the ovaries; but at their ovarian end they expand into
a fringed and trumpet-shaped extremity. The fringes are referred to as
_fimbria_. They are about five inches long and only about
one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter; the function of the tubes is to
catch the ova as they burst forth from the ovaries and to convey them
to the uterus. Taking into consideration the very narrow _lumen_, or
_caliber_, of the Fallopian tubes, it is easy to understand why even a
very slight inflammation is apt to clog them up, to seal their mouths
or openings, thus rendering the woman _sterile_, or incapable of
having children. For, if the Fallopian tubes are "clogged" up, the
eggs, or ova, have no way of reaching the uterus.

The Greek name for the Fallopian tube is salpinx (salpinx in Greek
means tube). An inflammation of the Fallopian tube is therefore called
salpingitis. (A salpingitis has the same effect in causing sterility
in the female as has an epididymitis in the male.) Salpingectomy is
the cutting away of the whole or of a piece of the Fallopian tube
(corresponds to vasectomy in the male).

=The Uterus.= The uterus or womb is the organ in which the fertilized
ovum, or egg, grows and develops into a child. It is a hollow muscular
organ, about the size of a pear, with thick walls, capable under the
influence of pregnancy of great expansion and growth. The broad part
of the pear is called the _body_ of the uterus; the lower narrow part
is called the _neck_ of the uterus, or _cervix_. The uterus in the
adult girl or woman is about three inches long, two inches broad in
its upper part and nearly an inch thick. It weighs from an ounce to an
ounce and a half. When the uterus is in a pregnant condition, it
increases enormously, both in size and in weight, as we will see in a
future chapter. The cavity of the uterus is somewhat triangular in
shape; at each upper angle is the small opening communicating with the
Fallopian tube; the upper portion of the uterus is called the fundus;
the external opening of the womb, situated in the center of the
cervix, is called the mouth of the womb, or the _os_, or external os.

[Illustr