718 



CORPUS LUTEUM. 



Fig. 237. 



CORPUS LUTEUM of pregnancy, at the end 

 of the second month ; from a woman dead from 

 induced abortion. 



Fig. 238. 



previously described, to a bright yellow ; and there is a deposit of fatty 

 matter in the form of microscopic globules. 



By the end of the second month, the corpus luteum has so increased 

 in size as to measure 22 millimetres in length by 12 or 13 millimetres 

 in depth (Fig. 23?). The central coagulurn has by this time become 

 almost entirely decolorized, and presents the appearance of a purely 



fibrinous deposit. Sometimes 

 it is found that a part of the 

 serum, during its separation 

 from the clot, has accumulated 

 in the centre of the mass, as 

 was the case in Fig. 237,forn> 

 ing a little cavity containing a 

 clear fluid and inclosed by a 

 fibrinous layer, the remains of 

 the solid portion of the clot. 

 The existence of such a cavit}^ 

 however, is only an occasional, 

 not a constant, phenomenon. 

 More frequently, the fibrinous 

 clot is solid throughout, the 

 serum being gradually ab- 

 sorbed, as it separates sponta- 

 neously from the coagulum. 



During the third and fourth 

 months, the enlargement of the 

 corpus luteum continues ; and 

 at the end of that time it 

 may measure 22 millimetres 

 in length by 18 or 19 milli- 

 metres in depth. Its flattened 

 form is very manifest, so that, 

 in a longitudinal section, it 

 may present a nearly circular 

 outline, as in Fig. 238, while in a transverse section it is a narrow oval. 

 The convoluted wall is still more highly developed than before, having 

 a thickness, at its deepest part, of nearly 5 millimetres, or double that 

 presented at the same point in the corpus luteum of menstruation, when 

 at its largest size. Its color, however, has already begun to fade, and is 

 of a dull yellowish tinge. The central coagulum, perfectly colorless and 

 fibrinous in appearance, is often so much flattened by the lateral com- 

 pression of its mass, that it is hardly 2 millimetres in thickness. The 

 other relations between the different parts remain the same. 



The corpus luteum has now attained its maximum of development, 

 and continues without any very perceptible alteration during the fifth 

 and sixth months. It then begins to retrograde, diminishing in size 

 during the seventh and eighth months. Its external wall fades still 



CORPUS LUTKUM of pregnancy, at the end of 

 the fourth month ; from a woman dead by poison. 



