' 

 THE .MUCOUS MEMBRANE ELEVATION. 41 



and no statement to the contrary is made) the menses should 

 have reappeared. They did not, however, return at the ex- 

 pected time, and the woman, fearing pregnancy, committed sui- 

 cide on October 1st. This would be 3 to 4 days after the ex- 

 pected appearance of the menses. Or, if we assume from certain 

 observations that the ovule escapes from the matured follicle 

 about two days before menstruation, the suicide was committed 

 five to six days after the expulsion of the ovum from the follicle 

 and the impregnated ovule presumably would then be five to 

 six days old. Probably it is only a lapsus calami when Peters 

 on page 16 states, that the woman was about to menstruate on 

 the day of the suicide ; he should have said that her death oc- 

 curred about three to four days after the expected menstruation, 

 which for the first time had failed to appear. 



Whether or not this ovum be four or six days old does, how- 

 ever, not in the least diminish the value of this specimen, for 

 by its examination Peters has certainly succeeded in throwing 

 new light on the embedding theory of the human ovum. 



An accurate idea of the respective age of such ova we shall 

 have only after more such small ova have been described, of cases 

 in which absolutely reliable histories have been obtained. At 

 present one seems justified in associating his specimen with the 

 first missing menstruation. 



The same surely holds true of my specimen, even without a 

 history, since there is not even a suggestion of a embryonic 

 rudiment, of an amnion, etc., present, as was found .in 'Peters' 

 ovum. 



I am, however, willing to refrain from making any estimate of 

 the age of my ovum. Later investigators who may have the 

 good fortune to work with reliable specimens of cases in which 

 accurate histories are obtainable, may then determine the age of 

 my specimen. 



Of a very similar character is also the ovum demonstrated by 

 Graf von Spec in Kiel in 1905. It also comes from a woman 

 who committed suicide by taking oxalic acid. "The mucosa of 

 the uterine body, as is characteristic for pregnancy, was divided 

 into irregular areas by deep furrows. One field immediately in 

 front of the right tubal opening, on the anterior wall, was more 

 prominent and had an umbilication with a marked discoloration. 

 This aroused the suspicion of being the nidus of the ovum. His- 

 tologic sections made of this portion of the mucosa proved to be 

 very satisfactory for examination and on demonstration through 

 the epidiascope showed the following condition : Taking 

 up about two-thirds of the free surface of this prom- 



