378 THE PHYSIOLOGY OF REPRODUCTION 



the ovaries. Bond's view, therefore, is diametrically opposed to that 

 formerly held by Blair Bell. 



Bond records two experiments on the results of hysterectomy in 

 rabbits. In one the entire uterus was removed and the animal killed 

 after five months. Both ovaries were found to be normal. In the 

 other experiment the left uterine cornu only was extirpated, and the 

 rabbit was killed after five months. In this case also the ovaries 

 showed no signs of degeneration. As a result of these experiments 

 Bond affirms that the prevention of the saline secretion of the uterine 

 mucosa by previous hysterectomy favours the overgrowth of luteal 

 tissue in the ovary. 



Stress has been laid by various writers upon the well-known fact 

 that whereas the corpora lutea of the ovary continue to grow for a 

 considerable period of time if pregnancy supervenes after ovulation, 

 this hypertrophy soon ceases in the absence of pregnancy. Bond 

 records an experiment upon a rabbit in which one of the ovaries, 

 after transplantation in an abnormal position, was found to contain a 

 somewhat aberrant " corpus luteuin of pregnancy " in association with 

 a gravid uterus. Such observations are regarded by him as supplying 

 evidence of an internal uterine secretion acting on the ovaries and so 

 exciting a growth of luteal tis3ue. This secretion is supposed by 

 Bond to be quite different from the saline fluid elaborated by the 

 anoestrous uterus. 1 It must be remembered, however, that pregnancy 

 produces a profound influence over the entire organism, and not 

 merely over the ovaries ; also that, as recorded above, corpora lutea 

 are formed habitually in the rabbit's ovaries after sterile coition and 

 develop during a pseudo-pregnant period. 



Certain other authors, such as Loewenthal, 2 have suggested 

 theories which imply a dependence on the part of the ovaries upon 

 some function of the uterus ; but, excepting for the two experiments 

 of Bond referred to above, and a series of experiments undertaken 

 by the author in collaboration with Mr. Carmichael, 3 no systematic 

 investigation ever appears to have been attempted until very 

 recently upon the effects of hysterectomy. 



In our experiments we removed the uterus, either entirely or 

 leaving only the cervix, from a number of very young immature 

 rabbits. The animals were killed after they had become fully grown 

 in some cases not until ten months after the operation. In every 

 experiment the ovaries were found to have developed normally. In 

 some cases, also, copulation was observed on the rabbits being put 



1 Bond, "Certain Undescribed Features in the Secretory Activity of the 

 Uterus and Fallopian Tubes," Jour. Physiol., vol. xxii., 1898. 



2 Loewenthal, "Eine neue Deutung des Menstruation process," Arch. f. 

 nal:, vol. xxiv., 1884. 



3 Carmichael and Marshall, Proa. Rot/. <SV-., loc. cit. 



