720 



COKPUS LUTEUM. 



After lactation has come to an end, the ovaries resume their ordinary 

 function. The Graafian follicles mature and rupture in succession, as 

 before, and new corpora lutea follow each other in alternate develop- 

 ment and disappearance. 



The corpus luteuin of menstruation, therefore, differs from that of 

 pregnancy in the extent of its development and the duration of its 

 existence. While the former passes through all the important phases 

 of its growth and decline in a period of two months, the latter lasts 

 from nine to ten months, and presents, during a great portion of the 

 time, a larger size and a more solid organization. Even in the corpus 

 luteum of pregnancy, the bright yellow color, which is so important a 

 characteristic, is only temporary in duration; not making its appearance 

 till about the end of the fourth week, and again disappearing after the 

 sixth month. 



The following table contains, in a condensed form, the characters of 

 the corpus luteum, as belonging to the two different conditions of men- 

 struation and pregnancy, corresponding with different periods of its 

 development. 



CORPUS LUTEUM OF MENSTRUATION. CORPUS LUTEUM OF PREGNANCY. 



At the end of 

 three iveeks. 

 One month. 



Two months. 



Four months. 



Six months. 



Nine months. 



Twelve by nineteen millimetres in diameter; central clot reddish; 



convoluted wall pale. 

 Smaller ; convoluted wall bright 



yellow ; clot still reddish. 

 Reduced to the condition of an 



insignificant cicatrix. 



Absent or unnoticeable. 



Absent. 



Absent. 



Larger; convoluted wall bright 

 yellow; clot still reddish. 



Twelve by twenty-two milli- 

 metres in diameter ; convo- 

 luted wall bright yellow ; clot 

 perfectly decolorized. 



Eighteen by twenty-two millime- 

 tres in diameter ; clot pale and 

 fibrinous; convoluted wall dull 

 yellow. 



Still as large as at the end of 

 the second month. Clot fibri- 

 nous. Convoluted wall paler. 



Ten by thirteen millimetres in 

 diameter; central clot con- 

 verted into a radiating cica- 

 trix ; external wall tolerably 

 thick and convoluted, but 

 without any bright yellow 

 color. 



