196 VESICULJE GRAAFIANJE. 



taken place, some of these vesicles are removed, and in their 

 place a cicatrix is found. 



It has been ascertained, that during the sexual intercourse 

 with males, one of these vesicles, which was protuberant on 

 the surface, is often ruptured, and a cavity is found. A cicatrix 

 is soon formed, where the membrane was ruptured ; and in the ' 

 place occupied by the vesicle there is a yellow substance denom- 

 inated Corpus Luteum. This.corpus luteum generally contin- 

 ues until the middle of pregnancy : it often remains during that 

 state, and for some time after delivery, but it gradually vanishes. 

 The cicatrization continues during life. 



In many cases these cicatrices correspond with the number of 

 conceptions which have taken place ; but they often exceed the 

 number of conceptions, and they have been found in cases where 

 conception has not been known to have taken place. 



In very old subjects, where conception has never taken place, 

 the vesicles are either entirely removed, or small dense tubercles 

 only remain in their place. 



These vesicles have been called the ova or vesicula Graafiana, 

 in honor of Regnier De Graaf, who described them with care, 

 though their existence had been previously pointed out by 

 .Vesalius and Fallopius. 



These vesicles, as they increase in size at the approach of pu-^ 

 berty, or from the effect of sexual excitation, make their way 

 gradually to the surface through the stroma, or parenchymatous 

 structure of the ovary. In two instances where death had occur- 

 red under peculiar circumstances, I have seen vesicles of the 

 largest size seated as it were, in a little cup-like depression of the 

 ovary, with the peritoneal lining raised in relief above them. A 

 slight blush of inflammation could be seen on the walls of the 

 vesicles, through the peritoneum, which corresponds with the 

 description given by De Graaf, of the first stages of conception in 

 the cow. One of these ovaries I steeped in boiling water, and 

 found the vesicles it contained, the largest of which was about 

 three lines in diameter, to consist of two membranes, separable 

 from each other, the inner one containing a limpid albuminous 

 fluid, which had been coagulated by the heat. The outer one of 

 these membranes is called the ovular capsule, or the tunica pro- 



