PUBERTY AND MENSTRUATION. 299 



tubes ; and it is possible that the fimbriated extremity may 

 be drawn toward the ovarian surface, though we can hardly 

 understand how it can be closely applied to the ovary and 

 exert any considerable pressure upon the distended follicle. 

 It is proper to note, also, that the conditions dependent upon 

 the currents of liquid directed by the movements of cilia 

 are constant, and could influence the passage of an ovum at 

 whatever time it might be discharged, while a muscular action 

 would be more or less intermittent. 



It is somewhat difficult to understand the exact mechan- 

 ism of the passage of an ovurn discharged from an ovary 

 into the Fallopian tube upon the opposite side, although it 

 cannot be doubted that this sometimes occurs. Schroeder 

 has collected, from various authors, the reports of several 

 cases, in which an ovum has been discharged, has found its 

 way into the uterus, and has undergone development, one 

 tube being closed and the corpus luteum existing upon 

 the side on which the tube was impervious. In some in- 

 stances in which the corpus luteum has been found on the 

 side on which the tube w r as closed, tubal pregnancy has oc- 

 curred upon the opposite side. 1 In these cases, the ovum 

 must have passed across the uterus. It is possible that, the 

 subject lying upon one side, a current of liquid may have 

 taken a direction from the ovary to the opposite tube, but 

 this can be only a mere supposition. 



Puberty and Menstruation. 



At a certain period of life, usually between the age of 

 thirteen and of fifteen years, the human female undergoes a 

 remarkable change and arrives at what is termed the age of 

 puberty. At this time, there is a marked increase in the 

 general development of the body ; the limbs become fuller 

 and more rounded ; a growth of hair makes its appearance 

 upon the mons veneris ; the mammary glands increase in size 



1 SCHROEDER, Lehrbuch der Geburtshulfe, Bonn, 1871, S. 19. 



