716 



CORPUS LUTEUM. 



Fig. 235. 



HUMAN OVARY, show- 

 ing a corpus luteum, four 

 weeks after menstruation; 

 from a woman dead of apo- 

 plexy. 



lum comes in contact with the peritoneal surface. There is still no 

 organic connection between the central coagulum and the convoluted 

 wall ; but the partial condensation of the clot 

 and the continued folding of the wall prevent 

 the separation of the two being so easily accom- 

 plished as before. The entire corpus luteum 

 may still be extracted from its bed in the ova- 

 rian tissue. 



The color of the convoluted wall, during this 

 stage, instead of fading, like that of the fibrinous 

 coagulum, becomes more strongly marked. From 

 having a dull yellowish or rosy hue, as at first, 

 it gradually assumes a more decided yellow. 

 This change of color is produced simultane- 

 ously with a kind of fatty degeneration which 

 takes place in its texture ; a large quantity of 

 oil-globules being deposited in it at this time, 

 which are recognizable under the microscope. 

 At the end of the fourth week, the alteration in 

 hue is complete ; and the outer wall of the cor- 

 pus luteum is then of a clear chrome yellow color, by which it is readily 

 distinguished from the neighboring tissues. 



After this period, the process of degeneration goes on rapidly. The 

 clot becomes more dense and shrivelled, and is converted into a minute, 



stellate, white, or reddish-white cicatrix. The 

 yellow wall becomes softer and more friable, 

 and shows less distinctly the marking of its 

 convolutions. At the same time its surface 

 becomes confounded with the central coagu- 

 lum on the one hand, and with the neighbor- 

 ing parts on the other, so that it is no longer 

 possible to separate them fairly from each 

 other. At the end of eight or nine weeks 

 (Fig. 236) the whole mass is reduced to the 

 condition of an insignificant, yellowish, cica- 

 trix-like spot, measuring about 6 millimetres 

 in its longest diameter, in which the original 

 texture of the corpus luteum can be recog- 

 nized only by the peculiar folding and color- 

 ing of its constituent parts. Subsequently 

 its atrophy goes on less rapidly, and a period of seven or eight months 

 sometimes elapses before its complete disappearance. 



The corpus luteum, accordingly, is a formation which results from 

 the obliteration of a ruptured Graafian follicle. Under ordinary con- 

 ditions, a corpus luteum is produced at every menstrual period ; and 

 notwithstanding the rapidity of its retrogression and atrophy, a new 

 one is always formed before its predecessor has entirely disappeared. 



Fig. 236. 



HUMAN OVARY, showing a 

 corpus luteum, nine weeks after 

 menstruation ; from a girl dead 

 of tubercular meningitis. 



