OVARY (FUNCTIONS). 



567 



the expectation that in such a case the amount 

 of objective proof, collected by those who 

 have undertaken to establish a law of spon- 

 taneous ovulation in Mammalia, would be 

 sufficient to prove that law beyond the possi- 

 bility of question. But when we turn to the 

 principal writers who have devoted their at- 

 tention to this point, with the view of collect- 

 ing and critically examining such evidence, it 

 must be confessed that the result is productive 

 of a certain feeling of disappointment at the 

 form in which the facts have been recorded, 

 and the circumstances under which the obser- 

 vations and experiments have generally been 

 made. 



This is more particularly felt when, after 

 examination of the evidence adduced, an 

 unhesitating acceptance of the law, as one 

 of universal application, is demanded. Be- 

 fore, however, the question of universality is 

 considered, it will suffice, for the purpose of 

 proving the possibility of a spontaneous ovi- 

 pont, to give one or two examples in which 

 all the conditions necessary to establish this 

 fact were observed, viz., absence of coitus, 

 rupture of the ovarian follicle, and the presence 

 of the unimpregnated ovum in the oviduct. 



The following case is related by Bischoff.* 

 A Iamb which had never received the male, and 

 which had exhibited signs of " heat " about an 

 hour previously, was shut up alone. On the 

 following morning the male was admitted (for 

 the purpose of testing the heat). He several 

 times showed a desire for the coitus, but was 

 prevented. The animal was killed the same 

 afternoon, when it was found that a Graafian 

 vesicle in the right ovary had burst. The 

 spot did not project from the surface of the 

 ovary, but attracted attention by the circle of 

 red vessels surrounding the small opening 

 which constitutes a familiar appearance in dogs 

 and rabbits after bursting of a follicle. The 

 diameter of this opening was about |/". As 

 a matter of precaution, search was made for 

 spermatozoa, in order to obtain the negative 

 certainty that no coition had taken place, but 

 none were found. The infundibulum con- 

 tained a thread of mucus intermixed with 

 granules resembling those of the membrana 

 granulosa. The Fallopian tube was next 

 carefully examined, and at a distance of a'" 

 from its entrance was found an ovum still 

 surrounded by the cells of the granular disc, 

 and possessing all the characters of the unim- 

 pregnated ovarian ovum. 



But since in this instance the presence of 

 the male was permitted, though coitus was 

 prevented, as was also the case in one half of 

 the instances recorded by Bischoff' in his ce- 

 lebrated Treatise from which this example is 

 quoted, it may be well to notice another ob- 

 servation taken from Raciborski f , in which 

 this possible objection was removed. 



A bitch which had never been covered, and 

 was just commencing to be in heat, was kept 

 shut up for eight days, apart from other dogs. 



* Beweis, p. 24. See next page, 

 t De la Pubert^, p. 376. 



It was then killed. Only one ovary was ex- 

 amined, the other having been laid aside and 

 forgotten. Three large follicles of a lively red 

 occupied the entire surface of the ovary. One 

 of these follicles was already shrunk, and 

 presented at its summit a distinct fissure. In 

 each cornu of the uterus, an ovum, the size 

 of a poppy-seed, was found, surrounded by 

 bloody mucus,. the one at a distance of 

 about 2J inches, and the other at f of an 

 inch from the extremities of the tubes. Doubt- 

 less, if the other ovary had been examined, at 

 least one follicle would have been found to 

 have opened there also. 



In order to show that the same process 

 of discharge of the ovum, independent of 

 sexual congress, may take place in the human 

 subject, a case, recorded by Dr. Letheby, 

 may be here quoted * : " The body of a lunatic, 

 aged 23, who had died in St. Luke's Hos- 

 pital, was examined. She had been a patient 

 in that institution for eleven months, under 

 circumstances which deprived her of the op- 

 portunity of associating with a male for a long 

 period before her death. It was ascertained 

 that the girl had quitted life during a men- 

 strual period ; the cavity of the uterus, and 

 the Fallopian tubes, contained a red, jelly-like 

 secretion. On the outer and lower part of 

 the right ovary was a dark livid spot, in the 

 centre of which was a hole. On making a 

 section of the ovary so as to divide it through 

 the spot and an adjacent cicatrix, it was per- 

 ceived that the hole led into a cavity which 

 was surrounded by a dark-red tissue, and that 

 the cicatrix communicated with a very per- 

 fectly-formed corpus hiteum, having a central 

 cavity containing a dark-red clot. In the right 

 Fallopian tube was discovered a little globular 

 body of the size of a pin's head. This was 

 seen, under the microscope, to consist, in its 

 outer surface, of a mass of nucleated cells. 

 At one end of this mass was a transparent 

 ring, enclosing a rather opaque granular mass, 

 in which there was an eccentric spot." The 

 author had no doubt that this was the ovule 

 consisting of the zona pellucida, yolk, and 

 germinal vesicle. In another case related at 

 the same time, and where the hymen was per- 

 fect, similar results were obtained. 



The possibility of a spontaneous ovipont 

 having been established by these and like in- 

 stances which might be quoted, it becomes 

 important next to determine how far the law 

 just enunciated is universal in its application ; 

 we may therefore inquire, 



Does the discharge of ova from the ovary al- 

 ways take place spontaneously, and independent 

 of sexual intercourse ? 



It is in endeavouring to determine this 

 question, so far as the attempt has been made 

 to base this law upon observations and experi- 

 ments on animals, that the difficulty to which 

 1 have just adverted is experienced ; for, 

 whilst there is no lack of argument upon the 

 subject, it must be confessed that the number 

 of well-recorded instances proving a spon- 



* Phil. Trans, 1852, pt. i. p. 5. 

 o o 4 



