468 Proceedings of Philosophical Societies. [JuNE, 
ARTICLE X, 
Proceedings of Philosophical Societies. 
ROYAL SOCIETY. 
On Thursday, May 1, a paper by Sir Everard Home, on the 
passage of the ovum from the ovarium into the uterus, was read. 
Very little light has hitherto been thrown on this subject. Hervey, 
though supplied with deer by royal munificence, failed in his inves- 
tigations. John Hunter was equally unsuccessful with sheep. Acci- 
dent threw into the author’s way an observation which serves to cast 
a new light upon this obscure subject. A female servant, aged 23, 
was absent from home about four hours, and returned in high 
spirits. She fell ill in the evening, had an epileptic fit and fever, 
and died in a week. On examining the body after death, the uterus 
gave signs of having been impregnated. She had been impregnated 
a week before death. The ovum was in the uterus, enveloped in 
coagulated lymph; but Mr. Bower was able, by his skill in using 
the microscope, to examine it, and to determine its nature unequi- 
vocally. It had come from the ovarium on the left side, which was 
of a larger size than the other. Two corpora lutea were observable, 
and there were several cavities from which ova had previously made 
their escape. Sir Everard conceives that these ova make their 
escape occasionally, whenever any great excitement of the system 
takes place. ‘The semen of the male makes its way to the uterus, 
and the impregnation takes place there. He conceives that the 
ovum remains in contact with the male semen for several days to 
complete the impregnation. 
On Thursday, May 8, a paper by Sir Everard Home was read, 
ona method of rendering the use of the colchicum autumnale as a 
medicine for the gout much milder. The author related a set of 
experiments to show that the decoction of the colchicum acts pre- 
cisely in the same way as the eau medicinale; from which he con- 
cludes that they are the same medicine. When the infusion of col- 
chicum is kept, it lets fall a sediment, which Sir Everard found to 
act violently as a purgative. When this sediment is separated, the 
medicine acts much more mildly, though its specific effect on the 
gout is still the same. Hence he conceives that by removing this 
sediment the medicine is rendered much milder in its action without 
injuring its beneficial effects. 
At the same meeting a paper by Thomas A. Knight, Esq. was 
read, on the expansion of the wood of trees in different directions. 
The author had suggested in a former paper the probability that the 
ascent of the sap in trees was occasioned by the action of what is 
called the silver grain of the wood. The object of the present paper 
is to confirm that opinion. If a horizontal section of a new felled 
