694 OF REPRODUCTION. 



Ovarium. The Ovaria are studded with numerous minute copper-coloured 

 maculae ; and their surface presents delicate vesicular elevations, which are 

 occasioned by the most matured ovisacs : the dehiscence of these takes place 

 by minute punctiform openings in the peritoneal coat ; and no cicatrix is left. 

 At the period of puberty, the stroma of the ovarium is crowded with Ovisacs; 

 which are still so minute, that in the Ox (according to Dr. Barry's computa- 

 tion) a cubic inch would contain 200 millions of them. The greatest advance 

 is seen in those which are situated nearest the surface of the Ovarium ; and 

 in these, the Graafian follicle with its two coats, may be distinctly traced. It 

 is curious that the outer wall (which is itself a part of the condensed stroma 

 of the ovarium) should contain an immense number of minute ovisacs ; so' 

 that this, in the adult animal, is the most convenient situation in which to 

 view them: these ovisacs have been termed by Dr. Barry " parasitic ovisacs." 

 In those animals whose aptitude for conception is periodical, the development 

 of the Ova, to such a degree that they become prepared for fecundation, is 

 periodical .also. This development becomes evident, when the parts are ex- 

 amined in an animal which is "in heat," by the projection of the Graafian 

 follicles from the surface ; and it consists not merely in an increase of size, 

 but in certain internal changes presently to be described. 



908. In the Human female, the period of Puberty, or of commencing apti- 

 tude for procreation, is usually between the 13th and 16th year; it is earlier 

 in warm climates than in cold;* and in densely-populated manufacturing towns, 

 than in thinly peopled agricultural districts. The mental and bodily habits 

 of the individual have also a considerable influence upon the time of its 

 occurrence ; girls brought up in the midst of luxury or sensual indulgence, 

 undergoing this change earlier than those reared in hardihood and self-denial. 

 The changes in which Puberty consists, are for the most part connected with 

 the Reproductive system. The external and internal organs of generation 



[*It has been stated, by almost all physiological writers, that women reach maturity, and 

 that menstruation commences much earlier in hot climates, particularly between the tropics, 

 than in temperate and very cold countries. Haller states that in the warm regions of Asia, 

 the catamenia appear from' the 8th to the 10th year; and in Switzerland, Britain, and other 

 temperate regions, at the age of 12 or 13, and later the farther we ascend towards the north. 

 The same view has been held by nearly all subsequent writers on the subject, and they infer 

 that animals, like plants, reach maturity sooner in hot than in cold climates. Dewees says 

 that menstruation occurs later in our northern than in our southern states. From many 

 elaborate and interesting papers which have been published within a few years, especially 

 from those of Mr. Roberton of Manchester, it would seem that the natural period of puberty 

 in women occurs in a much more extended range of ages, and is much more equally dis- 

 tributed through that range than others have alleged, and that, in other countries, the parallel 

 between plants and fruits does not hold good. 



At Gottingen, Osiander ascertained the ages at which ] 37 women began to menstruate. 

 In 21 of these the catamenia appeared at 14; in 32 at 15 ; in 24 at 16 ; 9 at 12 ; and 1 not 

 before the 24th year. The Indian girls in Canada, and in our north-western states and ter- 

 ritories, begin to menstruate frequently at 12, 13 and 14. From the statement of Baron 

 Humboldt, the same is equally true of the Kowiacs, and the tribes of northern Asia, where 

 girls of ID years are sometimes found mothers. The notion that women in Lapland do not 

 menstruate till ~M, and then only during summer, is founded on a mistake in Linna?us's 

 Flora Lapponica. Tooke states that the Sclavonian, or native Russians, reach puberty at an 

 early age; and Dr. Robert Lee, who was in the Crimea, and all the Russian provinces along 

 the Black Sea, and in the Ukraine, and whose opportunities of observation were extensive, 

 says that his conviction is, that over the whole south of Russia the period of puberty is the 

 same as in Great Britain; and that women cease to bear children at the same age. The 

 same would appear to hold good in Java, and in all the islands of the Indian Archipelago, and 

 in Sierra Leone; and the difference said to exist in Arabia in this respect is due to the 

 early marriages, and universal hceiitioiisnrss and depravity of morals 'in thatcouiitry. It 

 would appear from observations made in the West India Islands, that menstruation occurs 

 there about the same period, and that the alleged difference in this respect between the 

 negress and tfie white female does not exist. M. C.] 



