892 



OF GENERATION ACTION OF THE FEMALE. 



FIG. 312. 



openings iu the peritoneal coat, and no cicatrix is left. At the period of 

 puberty, the stroma of the ovariura is crowded with ovisacs; which are still 

 so minute, that in the Ox (according to Dr. Barry's computation) 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 such, the Graafian vesicle, 

 with its two coats, may be distinctly traced. In those 

 animals whose aptitude for conception is periodical, the 

 development of the ova to such a degree that they be- 

 come prepared for fecundation, is periodical also. This 

 development is made evident, when the parts are ex- 

 amined iu an animal which is "in heat," by the projec- 

 tion of the Graafian vesicles from the surface (Fig. 312) ; 

 and it consists not merely iu an increase of size, but in 

 certain internal changes presently to be described ( 744). 

 740. In the Human female, the period of Puberty, or 

 commencing aptitude for procreation, is usually between 

 the 13th and 16th years ; it is generally thought to be some- 

 what earlier in warm climates than in cold, 1 and in densely 

 populated manufacturing towns than in thinly peopled 

 agricultural districts. The mental and bodily habits of 

 the individual have also considerable influence upon the 

 time of its occurrence; girls brought up in the midst of 

 luxury or sensual indulgence, undergoing this change 



ear j ier than ^ Q ^ ^^ ; n hard j hood an(J se lf.deuial. 

 rp, i i i ^ c <.\ 



-*- ne changes in which puberty consists, are ior the most 

 part connected with the Reproductive system. The ex- 

 terual and internal organs of generation undergo a con- 

 siderable increase of size; the mammary glands enlarge; 

 and a deposition of fat takes place in the mammre and on the pubes, as well 

 as over the whole surface of the body, giving to the person that roundness 

 and fulness, which are so attractive to the opposite sex at the period of com- 

 mencing womanhood. The first appearance of the Catameuia usually occurs 

 whilst these changes are in progress, and is a decided indication of the arrival 

 of the period of puberty; but it is not unfrequeutly delayed much longer; and 

 its absence is by no means to be regarded as a proof of the want of aptitude for 

 procreation, since many women have borne large families without having ever 

 menstruated. The Catameuial discharge, as it issues from the uterus, appears 



1 It has been stated, by almost all physiological writers, that women (like fruits) 

 reach maturity, nnd that menstruation commences, much earlier in hot climates, par- 

 ticularly between the tropics, than in temperate and vei'y cold countries. From 

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

 however, especially from those of Mr. Koberton of Manchester (collected in his Es- 

 says on Menstruation, and on Practical Midwifery, 1851), it would seem that the 

 natural period of puberty in temperate climates occurs in a much more extended 

 range of ages, and is much more equally distributed through that range, than others 

 have alleged; and that, in other countries, the supposed parallel between plants and 

 fruits does not hold good. The fact seems to be, that this, like other periodic phenom- 

 ena of warm-blooded animals, is but little influenced by external temperature, sim- 

 ply because the rate of growth and development, of which these phenomena are the 

 exponents, is determined by the temperature of the body itself, not by that of the 

 surrounding medium. Still it is quite possible that external warmth may have a 

 slight influence in determining early puberty ; since, as already shown, it tends to 

 maintain a somewhat higher degree of bodily heat ($ 425). According to Szukitz, 

 the average age at which the catamenia appear amongst German women is 15 years ; 

 acennling to Brierre de Boisrnont, it occurs a year earlier in Parisian girls. See 

 ilenle and Meissner's Bericht, 1857. p. 606. 



Ovarium of the Rab- 

 bit, at the period of 



Heat -showing various 



stages of the extrusion 

 of ova. 



