On the Results of Heteroplastic Ovarian Transplantation 119 



Literature. 



An account of the literature of ovarian grafting down to the beginning 

 of 1907 is given in our previous paper. Since its publication a few further 

 cases have been placed on record. Guthrie in a preliminary note has de- 

 scribed certain experiments on heteroplastic transplantation of ovaries in 

 fowls. The ovaries are stated to have become successfully attached, and in 

 some instances to have afterwards given rise to ova which were fei-tilised in 

 the ordinary way. Moreover, the chickens so produced are supposed to have 

 inherited some of their characteristics from their " foster mothers " — that is 

 to say, from the hens into which the ovaries were grafted. 



Some experiments on ovarian transplantation are reported in the 

 " Mlinchener medizinische Wochenschrift," but very few details are given. 

 Foges records a case of ovarian grafting into the spleen of a hare, which 

 appears to have been partially successful; and Bucura, in commenting on 

 Foges' results, states that he successfully transplanted ovaries and testes 

 from guinea-pigs into a castrated female rabbit. 



Pankow reports nine cases of ovarian transplantation in the human 

 subject, seven of them being homoplasts and two heteroplasts. In the 

 former the menstrual periods are said to have started again at intervals of 

 from three to six months after the respective operations, but there was no 

 evidence that the heteroplastic transplantations were successful. 



The following case recorded by Kronig was omitted from our previous 

 account of the literature: — In a woman suffering from osteomalacia the 

 ovaries were removed from the normal position and transplanted on to the 

 peritoneum. The result was beneficial, but with the return of menstruation, 

 which occurred about two months afterwards, the symptoms of the disease 

 reasserted themselves. The inference is, therefore, that the grafts were 

 successful, but there was no direct evidence of the fact. 



The expenses of tliis investigation were defrayed by grants from the 

 Moray Research Fund for the University of Edinburgh, and the Carnegie 

 Trust for the Universities of Scotland. 



REFERENCES. 



Edges, " Ovarientransplaiitiition in die Milz," Wieu. med. Gosell., Miinehenev 

 med. Wochenschr., May 28, 1907. 



Guthrie, "Successful Ovarian Ti-ansplantation iu Fowls," International 

 Congress of Physiology, Heidelberg, 1907. Abstract in Zentr. f. Phys., vol. xxi., 

 1907. 



