568 



UTERUS AND ITS APPENDAGES. 



taneous ovipont in mammals is exceedingly 

 small. 



It will suffice for illustration to observe the 

 manner in which this question has been han- 

 dled in the celebrated works of Bischoff*, 

 Raciborskif, Costef ,and Pouchet. The first 

 only of these authors has given in detail the 

 observations and experiments upon which he 

 has endeavoured to found a law of spontaneous 

 ovulation in the Mammalia. In several of 

 these the coitus was permitted ; and although 

 it is rendered highly probable, from the cir- 

 cumstances narrated, that in some this had no 

 effect in producing the discharge of ova, yet 

 the introduction in any form of the only con- 

 dition that could vitiate the experiments de- 

 tracts certainly from their value. In five, 

 however, of Btschoff's experiments it was 

 known that coitus had not occurred, and in 

 three of these ova were found discharged, ac- 

 companied by the usual appearances in* the 

 ovaries indicative of the recent rupture of the 

 follicle. || In a fourth case, the state of the 

 ovaries left no doubt that the ova, which could 

 not be found, had escaped; while a fifth case 

 was examined before the ova had escaped. To 

 these Bischoff adds an example of the ovipont 

 in an animal, in which it was only probable 

 that no coitus had occurred. 



The work of Raciborski contains a single 

 example, which has also just been quoted. 



The works of Coste and Pouchet contain 

 no examples of a spontaneous ovipont in ani- 

 mals, but the observations of each of these 

 authors are given in the form of results. Each 

 work contains a minute description of the 

 process of ovulation, drawn apparently from 

 separate observations ; but these descriptions 

 are not accompanied by any detailed ex- 

 amples, nor any statement of the means used 

 to render these observations proofs of an ovi- 

 pont, independent of coitus. 



But all these authors agree in stating that 

 ovulation occurs independently of sexual 

 union, whilst they differ as to the decree of 

 strictness with which the universality of this 

 law is enforced. Pouchet demands that the 

 law should be received without any excep- 

 tion, and observes with surprise the " unac- 

 countable vacillations" of those among his 

 predecessors who yield to it only a partial 

 assent. 



But in the absence of any extensive series 

 of well-recorded observations, whose numeri- 

 cal force shall be such as to compel a uni- 

 versal acceptance of the law, it is not sur- 

 prising that some who regard it as having been 

 too hastily framed, and as too rigid in its ex- 

 clusiveness, should withhold their full assent 

 to it. For let it be conceded that the ova, 

 when they have attained their complete deve- 

 lopment, escape naturally from the ovary, the 

 rupture of the follicle not necessarily requiring 



* Beweis der von der Begattung unabhilngigen 

 periodischen Keifung und Loslbsung der Eier, &c. 

 1844. 



t De la Puberte, et de la Ponte periodique. 1844. 



t Histoire du Developpement. 1847. 



Theorie positive de TOvulation spontanee. 1847. 



j| One of these cases is given above. 



the intervention of the male, should it there- 

 fore be inferred that the latter is completely 

 inoperative when exercised on opportune oc- 

 casions ? 



In this form the question is put by Coste, 

 who maintains that although the coitus may 

 not be the essential cause of the rupture of 

 the follicle, yet it undoubtedly has the power 

 to precipitate that event, and even to prevent 

 its failure. He further considers that there is 

 this difference between the fecundated female 

 and one in whom impregnation does not take 

 place ; that in the former the rupture of the 

 follicle is prompt, whilst in the latter it is 

 tardy, or even in certain cases fails to occur. 



In order to support this view, Coste cites 

 two observations upon the rabbit. In the first 

 of these, the animal was in heat, and mani- 

 fested great ardour for the male, but coitus 

 was not permitted. It was kept for forty- 

 eight hours, and then killed. The genital or- 

 gans were highly congested. Six follicles in 

 one ovary, and two in the other, were appa- 

 rently ready to burst, but no rupture had yet 

 taken place. In the second experiment, the 

 animal remained in heat for three days ; on 

 the fourth day the heat ceased, and on the 

 fifth it was killed. The organs were in the 

 same condition as in the last case, but no 

 follicles had burst. Coste attributes the ab- 

 sence of rupture in these cases to the preven- 

 tion of the coitus at a time when, if permitted, 

 it would in his view have determined that 

 event. 



In whatever light these observations may be 

 viewed, they are important as showing that an 

 animal may sometimes advance far in the pe- 

 riod of heat, and even pass through it without 

 any ova escaping from the ovary ; but it would 

 require a very much greater number of parallel 

 observations to prove by such negative results 

 the effects of the sexual congress in determin- 

 ing the act of the ovipont. And it is matter 

 for regret that this point has not been more 

 clearly determined ; for whilst no satisfactory 

 results can be looked for from any observa- 

 tions upon this part of the subject in Man, this 

 is eminently a question capable of being deter- 

 mined by experiments on animals. All the 

 earlier observers who directed their attention 

 to the condition of the ovaries in relation to 

 reproduction bear unconscious testimony to 

 the fact that the time at which the ova quit 

 the ovaries bears no strict relation to the act 

 of coition. Barry states that, taking the coi- 

 tus as the starting-point of his reckoning, he 

 was obliged to sacrifice a score of rabbits be- 

 fore he succeeded in meeting with one instance 

 of the ovum at a particular time after its es- 

 cape, and he had almost given up the attempt 

 in despair. 



If means be used to prevent the contact of 

 the seminal fluid with the ova after their dis- 

 charge from the ovary, or to prevent its arrival 

 at the latter organ before rupture of the fol- 

 licle, this does not affect the immediate condi- 

 tion of the follicle. The number of ruptured 

 Graafian vesicles which have been found, after 

 experiments made by placing ligatures upon 



