Royal Society, 317 



Jones of this country, and also to those of MM. Valentin, Negrier, 

 Pouchet, Gendrin, Raciborski, and BischofF on the continent, re- 

 specting the supposed nature of the physiological phenomena mani- 

 fested during the period of menstruation ; and he mentions the law 

 of BischofF, namely, that "the ova formed in the ovaries of the 

 females of all mammiferous animals, including the human female, 

 undergo a periodical maturation and exclusion quite independently 

 of the influence of the male seminal fluid. At these periods, known 

 as those of * heat' or * the rut' in quadrupeds, and ' menstruation' in 

 the human female, the ova which have become mature, disengage 

 themselves from the ovary and are extruded. If the union of the 

 sexes takes place at this period, the ovum is fecundated by the 

 direct action of the semen upon it, but if no union of the sexes 

 occurs, the ovum is nevertheless evolved from the ovary, and enters 

 the Fallopian tube where it perishes." He states, however, that the 

 arguments which have been advanced in support of this opinion, 

 in respect of the human female, are entirely of an analogical cha- 

 racter; and that although the ovaries of women who have died 

 during the menstrual period have been frequently examined, and 

 Graafian follicles found in a recently ruptured state, yet the dis- 

 covery of the liberated ovule had not, so far as the author was aware, 

 ever been detected. The importance of his cases rests upon three 

 grounds, namely, — 1st, the circumstances under which the women 

 had died ; 2ndly, the finding of recently ruptured Graafian follicles ; 

 and 3rdly, the discovery of the ovule and its remains in the fluid 

 matter of the Fallopian tubes. 



In the first of the cases recorded, the woman died during a men- 

 strual period. She had been an inmate of the London Hospital for 

 twenty-four days before her death, where she was closely watched 

 day and night by a nurse, in consequence of her having attempted 

 self-destruction by cutting her throat twenty-nine days before her 

 death. 



An examination of the body showed that the pelvic viscera were 

 much congested ; that the uterus was considerably enlarged ; that 

 the vagina contained a sero-sanguineous fluid ; and that the hymen 

 was unruptured. The ovaries were covered with stellate fissures, 

 or cicatrices ; and at one part of the left organ there was a purple 

 spot having a ragged hole in its centre. By means of an incision 

 into the gland through this spot, it was found that the opening led 

 into a small cavity which was surrounded at its lower part by a 

 dense tissue, infiltrated with dark coagulated blood (reference was 

 here made to the preparation which shows the cavity and its coa- 

 guluni). After macerating in spirit for a short time, it was noticed 

 that the clot consisted of four parts, which the author described. 



In other parts of the ovary several false corpora lutea, in different 

 stages of decline, were found. The Fallopian tubes were highly con- 

 gested, and the cavities of the tubes were filled with a bloody mucus. 

 The left one contained at about one inch from its fimbriated end, a 

 small vesicular body, which was, in the author's opinion, an ovule; 

 for it consisted of nucleated cells and oil-globules. The fluid 



mil Mag. S. 4. Vol. 3. No. 11. Oct. 1851. Z 



