_Absence of the uterus._ We have before alluded to this occasional defect; it has sometimes occurred, where the vagina has been wholly impervious.[330] _Columbus_ dissected a woman who had always complained of great pain _in coitu_, in whom he found the vagina very short, and no uterus at its termination. In _Hufeland’s_ German Journal[331] for May 1819, a case is related of a total deficiency of the uterus, which was discovered by Professor _Stein_ during an operation undertaken to remedy a supposed contraction; in this paper the author quotes several analogous cases from the writings of _Engel_, _Schmuker_, and _Theden_. _Imperforated uterus._ The os uteri, says Dr. Baillie, has been found to be so contracted as to have its passage in a great measure obliterated; and it has even been known to be closed up by the growth of an adventitious membrane. The _os tincæ_ may be also shut up, either originally, or by cicatrix, in consequence of suppuration, laceration, ulceration, or the like, when the case may be considered as incurable, unless the menstrual discharge force a passage by its pressure, or the introduction of a trochar is able to afford an opening[332]. Original conformations of this kind seldom admit of any cure, for besides the impervious state of the _os tincæ_ it not unfrequently occurs that the uterus itself appears as a solid body, without any cavity in its centre.[333] _Morgagni_ states that he was consulted by a barren woman, whose vagina was only a third part of the usual length, and that its termination felt firm and fleshy, in which case he advised a dissolution of the marriage. _Marchetti_, on the contrary, has given a case where the vagina ran downwards beyond the internal orifice of the uterus, and terminated in a kind of cul de sac. _Polypus in utero._ This may be sometimes removed by exsection; a valuable paper upon this subject by _M. Deguise_ is to be found in the _Nouveau Journal de Medicine_, entitled “Observations des Polypes Uterines,” in which the author relates many successful cases, and controverts the common opinion, that after the operation for an uterine polypus, the organ is incapable of being impregnated.