CHAPTER XI. 

 PATHOLOGY OF THE OVARIES. 



FUNCTIONS OF THE OVARIES. 



The conception of an internal secretion of the ovary 

 believed by Brown-Sequard to be the only way to explain 

 the results of ovarian castration, has been definitely 

 established in France by de Prenant and his students and 

 Simon, Ancel and Bouin. 



The external secretion of the ovary is represented by 

 ovulation. Its internal secretion is due to two types of 

 glands: the corpus luteum and the interstitial gland. 



(a) The corpus luteum is a special tissue, which fills 

 the cavity left by the ovule. It is due directly to the 

 transformation of the follicular epithelium. That it is a 

 glandular structure is not questionable; it is made up of 

 large cells filled with fats, pigments and cytoplasmic for- 

 mations, characteristic of cellular elements. 



(6) The interstitial gland or more correctly the inter- 

 stitial cells develop from the false yellow bodies. These 

 false yellow bodies develop from the atresic follicules from 

 which the ovule has not been liberated and which has 

 been resorbed and is changed into strands of cells which 

 Regaud, Bouin and Limon have shown to be of a glandular 

 nature. These are filled with fats, but do not contain any 

 lutein. They are homologous to the interstitial glands of 

 the testicle. 



The interstitial gland secretion is, therefore, obtained 

 from the resorption of non liberated ovules. 



The development of this gland varies in different species 

 of animals; in the woman it is rudimentary. 



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