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February 19, 1857. 



Dr. W. A. MILLER, V.P., in the Chair. 

 The following communications were read : 



I. " History of two Cases of Hernia of the Ovaries, in one of 

 which there was a periodical Enlargement of one or other 

 of these Organs." By HENRY OLD HAM, M.D., Member of 

 the Royal College of Physicians, and Obstetric Physician 

 to Guy's Hospital. Communicated by ARTHUR FARRE, 

 M.D., F.R.S. Received January 10, 1857. 



The two cases which I beg to present to the Royal Society, are 

 examples of a rare conformation of the female sexual organs, in which 

 the two ovaria have descended through the inguinal canals and have 

 become permanently lodged in the upper part of the external labia ; 

 and in both of them the most careful and repeated physical examina- 

 tion has failed to detect either uterus or vagina. I should hardly, 

 however, have ventured to bring them before the Society simply as 

 examples of faulty conformation because, although rare, yet they 

 have been observed* had not the first of the two cases presented 

 the interesting physiological peculiarity of a spontaneous periodical 

 increase of one or other of the ovaria, followed by its gradual reduc- 

 tion, thus supplying direct evidence of an ovarian menstrual act. 



The subject of the first case applied to me in September 1851 for 

 advice on account of never having menstruated. She was nineteen 

 years of age, of a tall figure, symmetrical frame, well-expanded pelvis, 

 and womanly aspect, bearing all the marks of a full completion of the 

 physical changes of puberty; and her general health, thoagh not 

 robust, was fairly good. She was one of a family of five children, 

 and her sisters had menstruated between fifteen and sixteen years of 



* Vide Deneux, " Recherches sur la Hernie de 1'Ovaire," 1813. 



