I02 INTRODUCTION TO SEXUAL PHYSIOLOGY 



the results of experiments on rabbits, in which the ovaries were 

 removed or the cor})ora lutea destroyed by the electric cautery, 

 and in each case ])regnancy was brought to an end. Control 

 experiments showed that the results were not simply post- 

 operative. It is, however, hardly justifiable to regard the 

 cor})us luteum as the responsible factor in the attachment or 

 nutrition of the ovum or early embryo in any other sense than 



Fig. 68. — Section thioiigh uterine mucosa of rabbit nine days after sterile 

 coition. The condition is one of pseudo-pregnancy, the glands being 

 very well developed. (From Hammond and Marshall.) 



that implied in stating that this organ, through the secretion 

 it produces, acts as a stimulus to the growth of the uterine 

 mucosa and the maintenance of the increased uterine nutrition 

 which are necessary for the occurrence of gestation. This latter 

 view as to the function of the corpus luteum was first placed 

 on a completely firm foundation by Ancel and Bouin who showed 

 that the organ exerts a comparable influence on the rabbit's 

 uterus in pseudo-pregnancy, a condition which occurs only after 

 sterile coition (as with a vasectomised buck). Since the rabbit does 



