THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CORPUS LUTEUM. 189 
The Development of the Corpus Luteum: 
a Review. 
By 
Francis H. A. Marshall, M.A., D.Sc., 
Carnegie Fellow, University of Edinburgh. 
(From the Physiological Laboratory of the University of Edinburgh.) 
THe present paper is the result of an attempt to collect 
together and give an account of the literature of the for- 
mation of the corpus luteum, during the last ten years, that 
is, since the publication of Sobotta’s first paper on the corpus 
luteum of the mouse. 
Of the three original hypotheses put forward to explain the 
mode of formation of the corpus luteum, and the origin of the 
lutein cells, that of Paterson, who regarded the structure as 
derived from the blood coagulum left in the cavity of the 
Graafian follicle after its discharge, gained few or no ad- 
herents among subsequent investigators. The other two 
theories, those of von Baer and Bischoff, on the other hand, 
have each received a considerable amount of support. Von 
Baer supposed the corpus luteum to be a connective-tissue 
structure, in the formation of which the membrana granulosa 
or follicular epithelium had no share; while Bischoff con- 
cluded that the lutein cells were formed by the hypertrophy 
of the epithelial cells of the undischarged follicle. Among 
the principal supporters of von Baer’s view appear the names 
of Leuckart, His, Kolliker, Slavjansky, Gegenbaur, Benckiser, 
Schottlander, and Minot. Those who have adopted the 
alternative theory of Bischoff include Pfliiger, Waldeyer, Call 
and Exner, Beigel, and Schulin. 
