492 URO-GENITAL APPARATUS. 



its rupture. It is a most wonderful fact that, if the ovum 

 does undergo fecundation, arrives in the uterus, and gestation 

 occurs, there is produced in the ovary, by some mysterious 

 and sympathetic reflex action, a hypertrophied evolution 

 of the ruptured ovisac; to this hypertrophy an atrophy ulti- 

 mately succeeds (at the close of pregnancy), which gives 

 rise to a cicatrix analogous to the preceding, but much larger 

 and more enduring. These cicatrices are called corpora 

 lutea (corpus luteurn, a yellow body) : the first are called 

 yellow bodies of menstruation, or false yellow bodies / the 

 others are called yellow bodies of fecundation (of pregnancy), 

 or true yellow bodies. 



B. Fallopian tube, womb, and menstruation. 



The ovum expelled from the ovary then falls outside that 

 organ ; it may fall into the peritoneum and there disappear, 

 and, in case of fecundation, may there undergo a development 

 ((peritoneal pregnancy); 1 but this is not the normal course: 

 in the physiological conditions, ovulation is accompanied with 

 particular phenomena which cause the ovum to fill into the 

 fimbriated extremity of the Fallopian tube or oviduct. The 

 Fallopian tube is a movable, contractile, and erectile organ. 

 The contractility of this tube and that of the smooth muscu- 

 lar fibres which are found in the broad and ovarian liga- 

 ments, must favor the application of the orifices of the 

 Fallopian tubes to the ovary (Ch. Rouget) ; yet, its erection 

 has also some influence in this act, since there is sufficient 

 erectile tissue arranged in such a manner that when in a state 

 of turgescence the fimbriated extremity of the Fallopian tube 

 would be made to embrace in its cavity the whole ovary. 

 The ovum thus falls into the end of the Fallopian tube, 

 whence, by means of the movements of the ciliated epithelium, 

 and on account of the peristaltic contractions of this oviduct, 

 it is passed along into the womb ; at this latter place it sets 

 in action certain phenomena if the ovum has been fecundated, 

 or if it is non-fertilized it is thrown off with the eatamenial 

 or menstrual flow. 



It has been recognized, in fact, that the fall of the ovum 

 coincides almost exactly with the menstrual period 2 (every 



1 See Th. Keller, " Des grossesses Extra-uterines (avec deux 

 observations de Koeberle). These de Paris, 1872, No. 157. 



2 See Pouchet, " Ovulation Spoutanee et Fecondation." Paris, 

 1847. 



