96 Diseases oj the Genital Organs 



ease greatly modify the position of the ovaries. Anything 

 which contributes a weight in excess of the physiologic, non- 

 gravid uterus, oviducts, or ovaries causes the latter to drop 

 downward and forward. The extent of the dislocation is 

 further influenced by the degree of pendulousness of the 

 abdomen. 



The ovary swings freely in its attachments, may be picked 

 up per rectum and ordinarily moved freely for a distance of 

 four to six inches or more. The healthy ovary sometimes 

 lies hidden in the ovarian pocket (mesosalpinx), or drops 

 over in front of, and down beneath, the broad ligament, so 

 that manipulation is required in order to free it and render 

 accurate palpation possible. Once it is disentangled from 

 the pocket or other accidental covering, the outline of the 

 gland is very free and the examiner may recognize clearly 

 ripe ovisacs, the crater following the recent rupture of an 

 ovisac, the corpus luteum in its varying stages of growth and 

 decline, its abnormalities and diseases, its adhesions with the 

 pavilion of the tube and diseases of the ovary, with concur- 

 rent diseases of both ovary and oviducts. 



The ripe ovisac of the cow is a thin-walled, yielding, and 

 readily ruptured cyst of three-eighths to one-half inch in 

 diameter, standing well above the ovarian surface, usually 

 upon the convex or greater border of the gland. The crater 

 resulting from the rupture of an ovisac is a deep pit with 

 somewhat irregular edges, three-eighths to one-fourth inch 

 across its mouth. The fresh, growing corpus luteum is very 

 soft to the touch. Its dome, which may project one-fourth 

 inch or more above the general ovarian surface, is about one- 

 fourth inch wide. Upon palpation, it feels like a small, 

 atonic granulations tumor. Gradually it increases in diame- 

 ter, becomes firm, and after about ten days has reached its 

 full size of three-quarters to seven-eighths of an inch. The 

 contiguous covering of the ovary grows over the corpus 

 luteum. The latter is usually spheroidal, sometimes ovoid, 

 with its base implanted in the body of the ovary. The yellow 

 body may be somewhat dumb-bell shaped owing apparently 

 to a constriction about its center, due to a narrow, firm open- 



