480 THE OVARIES. 



Phil. Trans.. 1838 and 1839; Allen Thomson, Article "Ovum." in Cyclop, of 

 Aniit. and Phjs. ; Farre, " Utems and Appendages," in the same ; KoUiker's 

 E:itwiGkelungs-geschichte ; Pfliiger, Die Eierstocke, Leipzig, 1863 : Schron, in 

 Zeitsch. f. Wissensch. Zoologie, vol. xii. p. 409 ; Grohe, in Vii-chow"s Archiv. 

 vol. xsvi. p. 271, and vol. xxix. p. 4.50 ; Bischoff "s Works ; Henle, in his Hand- 

 buch, vol. ii. ; W. His, Die erste Entwick. des Hiilmchens, &c., 1868 ; Ed. Van 

 Beneden, in Mem. Cour.. &c., de TAcad. Roy. de Belgique, 1870 ; Foster and 

 Balfour, Elements of Embryology, 1874. 



The ovum of mammals appears to have been seen by IMessrs. Prevost and 

 Dumas as early as 1824. but imperfectly recogiiiseil. Von Baer was undoubtedly 

 the first clearly to point out its nature and seat within the Graafian follicle. (De 

 ovi Mammp.l. et hom. genesi, Lipsia3, 1827.) The discovery of the germinal vesicle 

 in the ovarian ovum of birds was made by J. E. Purkinje in 182.5. That of the 

 mammiferous ovum was announced by Coste in 1833. and T. W. Jones had inde- 

 pendently observed it. The macula was by discovered Rud. Wagner in 1834. 



Vessels and nerves of the ovaries and Fallopian tubes. — The ovaries are 

 most directly supplied by the ovarian arfct-irs, analogous to the spermatic in the 

 male, which anastomose freely by an internal branch with the termination 

 of the uterine arteries. Sometimes this anastomotic branch is so large that the 

 ovary seems to be supplied almost entirely by the uterine artery. The ovarian 

 artery always sends numerous branches to the Fallopian tube. The smaller 

 arteries penetrate the ovary along its attached border, pierce the proper coat, 

 and run in flexuous parallel lines through its sul)stance. The rt'in.f correspond, 

 forming a plexus near the ovary named the iiami^iniform i^lexus. The iicri-es 

 are derived from the spermatic or ovarian plexus : and also from one of the 

 uterine nerves, which invariably send an offset to the Fallcpian tube. 



Parovarium. — The organ so named by Kobelt, or the Organ of Rosen- 

 miiller, its first describer, is a structure which can usually be brought 

 plainly into view by holding against the light the fold of peritoneum 

 between the ovary and Fallopian tube (see lig. 333). It consists of a 

 group of scattered tubules lying transversely between the Fallopian 

 tube and ovary, lined with epithelium, but having no external open- 

 ings. The tubules converge, but remain separate at their ovarian end, 

 and at the other are more or less distinctly united by a longitudinal 

 tube. The duct which unites them is sometimes of considerable size, 

 and is prolonged for some distance downwards, in the broad ligament. 

 Its more developed form in some animals, as the cow and pig, consti- 

 tutes the duct of Gaertner, afterwards referred to as arising from a 

 persistent condition of the AYolffian duct. 



The origin of this vestige of a I'oetal structure will be more fully 

 referred to under Development. Here it is sufficient to state that it 

 corresponds essentially to the epididymis of the male, and is in the 

 female, therefore, due to the persistence of the upper or sexual division 

 of the Wolffian body, which has been distinguished by Banks, Dursy, 

 and others from the lower or primordial-kidney part of that organ. The 

 remains of the latter part of the Wolffian body, in the male sex, consti- 

 tuting the organ of Giraldes, have been already referred to in the de- 

 scription of the testicle. From the observations of His in birds, and of 

 Yv'aldeyer in Mammals, it appears that vestiges of this structure are 

 also sometimes to be detected in the adult female, in the shape of 

 obscure or imperfect tubular remains, situated in the broad ligament 

 nearer to the uterus than the parovarium, and more obvious remains 

 of these are very apparent in the early stages of foetal life in man and 

 most animals. 



