71 



The right ovarium had a small torn orifice upon the most prominent 

 part of its external surface, which led to a cavity filled up with coagu- 

 lated blood, and surrounded by a yellowish organized structure. The 

 inner surface of the uterus was covered with coagulable lymph, among 

 the fibres of which, near the cervix, was the ovum. It was oval- 

 shape ; and though at first partly semitransparent, became opake from 

 the action of the spirit. It was immediately taken to Mr. Bauer, 

 who compared it to the egg of an insect, and succeeded in pointing 

 out the effects of impregnation in two projecting points, the rudi- 

 ments of the heart and brain. 



The corpus luteum has always been regarded as the effect of im- 

 pregnation, a notion which the present case has enabled the author 

 to disprove, by showing it to be a glandular structure in which the 

 ovum is formed ; and after its expulsion the blood which fills the 

 cavity is absorbed, leaving a small empty space as the former situa- 

 tion of the ovum. 



Sir Everard Home examined several ovaria, where it was impossible 

 that impregnation should ever have taken place, and found small ca- 

 vities round the edge of the ovarium, showing that during the state 

 of virginity ova had passed out. And it appears, that whenever a 

 female quadruped is in heat, one or more ova pass into the uterus, 

 whether she receives the male or not. 



In the drawings belonging to this paper, the changes which take 

 place in the ovarium, for the purpose of forming the ova, are shown, 

 and also the internal surface of the Fallopian tube at the time of the 

 passage of the ovum. The dilatation of this tube at a small distance 

 from the fimbrise, seems to be both for the reception of the ovum and 

 of the semen ; and it is probable that the ovum is retained there for 

 several days, so as to prolong the opportunity of its being impreg- 

 nated. 



The formation of ova in the ovaria, and their appearing in that 

 organ in succession, induces the author to entertain an opinion con- 

 trary to that commonly received respecting menstruation, which has 

 been considered as a necessary preparatory step for utero-gestation, 

 whereas the present case shows that surh periods are not connected 

 with the formation of the ovum, the process of its leaving the ova- 

 rium, or its impregnation. When, however, impregnation does not 

 take place, such a discharge seems necessary for the relief of parts to 

 which there had been so copious a determination of blood. 



The paper concludes with Mr. Bauer's account of the appear- 

 ance of the ovum, and of the drawings which are annexed to the 

 paper. 



Some farther Observations on the Use of the Colchicum autumnale in 

 Gout. By Sir Everard Home, Bart. V.P.R.S. Read May 8, 1817. 

 [Phil. Trans. 1817, p. 262.] 



When the infusion of colchicum is kept for some time, it throws 

 down a sediment, in which th purgative qualities of the root appear 



