Table XXI

Against the posterior abdominal wall the two kidneys with all their vessels and the ureters are represented and, inside the pelvic cavity, the urinary bladder inclines towards the left and shows, along its border, the right umbilical ligament resected near the apex of the organ.

Behind the bladder there is the uterus, from whose lateral angles we can see the origin of the two round ligaments which then go to the pubis and the two uterine (Falloppian) tubes, moved downwards, hanging on their mesosalpinx. In each tube one can recognize, starting from the uterus: the isthmus (on the left tube the isthmus is open longitudinally); the ampullae and finally the infundibulum with its fimbriae forming a trumpet shaped expansion (the morsus diaboli of old anatomists) among which the ovarian fimbria linked to the tuba I extremity of the corresponding ovary is recognizable.

On the top of the uterine tubes the two ovaries are visible; the right one is dissected longitudinally to expose some ovarian follicles. Finally, the two ovarian arteries are visible descending from the aorta and the veins of the ovaries that form two pampiniform plexuses from which originate the ovarian veins.

The right then goes to the inferior vena cava, and the left vein to the left renal vein. In this model we can also see the iliac colon with its anterior taenia, showing, along its lateral border, the appendices epiploicae and, along the medial margin, there are the arteries which derive from the inferior mesenteric of the aorta, and the veins tributaries to the inferior mesenteric veins which here have been resected superiorly.