DISCHARGE OF THE OVUM. 295 



rupture of ripe Graafian follicles ; but, on the other hand, it 

 is equally true that follicles rupture independently of the 

 sexual act. Bischoff, who first entertained the view that the 

 contact of the spermatozoids with the ovary was necessary 

 for the rupture of a follicle, 1 afterward actually discovered 

 ova in the Fallopian tubes in sheep, bitches, sows, etc., during 

 the rutting period, when copulation had been prevented. 3 



To return to the phenomena which attend ovulation in 

 the human subject, there is every reason to suppose, at least 

 from analogy, that the excitement of the genital organs 

 during sexual intercourse may determine the rupture of a 

 ripe Graafian follicle. At stated periods, marked by the phe- 

 nomena of menstruation, one, and sometimes more Graafian 

 follicles become distended and usually rupture and discharge 

 their contents into the Fallopian tubes. This discharge of 

 an ovum or ova may occur at the beginning, at the end, or at 

 any time during the continuance of the menstrual flow. 

 Upon this point, the observations of Coste, although they 

 were made many years ago, seem entirely conclusive. In a 

 woman who died on the first day of menstruation, he found 

 a recently-ruptured follicle ; in other instances, at a more ad- 

 vanced period and toward the decline of the menstrual flow, 

 he found evidences that the rupture had occurred later ; in 

 the case of a female who drowned herself four or five days 

 after the cessation of the menses, a follicle was found in the 

 right ovary, so distended that it was ruptured by very slight 

 pressure ; and other instances were observed in which folli- 

 cles were not ruptured during the menstrual period. The 

 most striking case of this kind was of a young girl, nineteen 

 years of age, who committed suicide fifteen days after the 

 menstrual period. The ovaries were examined with the 



1 BISCHOFF, Traite du developpement de Vhomme et des mammiferes. Ency- 

 clopedic anatomique, Paris, 1863, tome viii., p. 21. 



2 BISCHOFF, Sur la maturation et la chute periodique de V&uf de Vhomme et 

 des mammiferes, independamment de la fecondation. Annales des sciences natu- 

 relles, Zoologie, Paris, 1844, 3me s6rie, tome ii., p. 124, et seq. 



