348 THE PHYSIOLOGY OF REPRODUCTION 



degenerative process was carried was roughly proportional to the 

 time which had elapsed between the operation and the killing of 

 the animal. After an interval of six and a half months the uterus 

 was found to Le in a condition of pronounced fibrosis and to contain 

 no glands. The epithelium was much attenuated, and the muscle 

 fibres were broken up. A few small capillaries, however, could still 

 be seen in the stroma. The Fallopian tubes also underwent atrophy. 

 In other experiments in which the ovaries were removed from very 

 young immature rabbits, which were killed after they had grown up, 

 it was found that the uteri, although they had undergone slight 

 development, were quite infantile, being no larger than those of rats. 

 The Fallopian tubes were affected similarly. In all these experi- 

 ments great care was taken to avoid interference with the blood 

 supply to the uterus, the uterine branches of the pelvic vessels and 

 the anastomotic branch of the ovarian artery being left uninjured. 

 Furthermore, in certain other cases in which hysterectomy was 

 performed instead of ovariotomy, and which, therefore, may be 

 regarded as controls to the first series of experiments, the extirpation 

 of the uterus had no arresting influence on the growth and nutrition 

 of the ovaries (see p. 379). 



Other and more conclusive evidence in support of the theory that 

 the ovary is an organ of internal secretion is supplied by the results 

 of various attempts to transplant ovaries in Mammals. The cases of 

 Morris, Glass, Dudley, and Cramer, who transplanted ovaries from 

 one woman to another, are described below in discussing the causes 

 of the menstrual function (p. 360). 



Knauer 1 has described experiments upon rabbits in which he 

 removed the ovaries from the normal position and grafted them upon 

 the mesometrium or between the fascia and the muscle of the 

 abdominal wall. He found that they could be successfully implanted 

 on both peritoneum and muscle, but that some portion of the grafted 

 ovary invariably died. The rest, however, remained functionally 

 active, and continued to produce ova which were capable of being 

 fertilised. Knauer states that whereas castration in female rabbits 

 produced a premature menopause, the uterus undergoing atrophy, 

 this result was prevented by a successfully transplanted ovary. 

 Knauer also experimented upon dogs and obtained similar results. 



Grigorieff, 2 Eibbert, 3 and Rubinstein 4 carried out experiments 



1 Knauer, "Die Ovarien-Transplantation," Arch. f. Gynak., vol. lx., 1900. 

 See also Cent. f. Gyncik., vol. xx., 1896. 



2 Grigorieff, "Die Schwangerschaft bei Transplantation der Eierstocke," 

 Central, f. Gyniik., vol. xxi., 1897. 



3 Kibberit, " Uber Transplantation von Ovarien, Hoden, und Mamma," Arch, 

 f. Enttrick.-Mechanik, vol. vii., 1898. 



4 Rubinstein, "Extirpation beiden Ovarien," St. Petersburg Mediz. Wochenschr., 

 1899. 



