OVARY (ABNORMAL ANATOMY). 



a single ovarian cyst. And in the London 

 Medical and Physical Journal (Aug. 1815) 

 the particulars of a case are given in which 

 the right ovary weighed nearly 52 Ibs. But 

 these are moderate examples compared with 

 some of still larger growth. Camper* relates 

 a case in which about 80 Ibs. of serum were 

 contained in the left ovary ; and Douglas also 

 one in which the left ovary held 70 Ibs., besides 

 a considerable collection of fluid in the pleura 

 and pericardium.^ 



These enormous collections of fluid are ge- 

 nerally limited to the ovary of one side, though 

 both organs may be coincidently affected, as 

 in the example given by W. E. L. Miiller J, 

 who found in the body of a woman, aged 36, 

 in the two ovaries together 140 Ibs. of fluid. 

 In what proportion either or both of the ova- 

 ries are affected by ovarian dropsy may be 

 seen by reference to the tables of Safford Lee 

 and Chereau. The former shows the right 

 ovary affected 50 times, the left 35, and both 

 together 8 times. The latter gives 109 ex- 

 amples of the right, 78 of the left, and 28 of 

 both sides. 



Notwithstanding the large amount of fluid 

 which may collect within the distended ovary 

 as shown in the foregoing examples, these yet 

 serve to give but a feeble notion of the enor- 

 mous quantities which may be effused from the 

 walls of an ovarian cyst in the course of a 

 lifetime, or even of a few years, when the 

 contents are removed from time to time, and 

 are allowed to re-accumulate. Pagenstecher$ 

 removed, in 35 operations, 1132 Ibs. of fluid, 

 without reckoning what escaped by allowing 

 the canula to remain. Dr. Mead's patient 

 was tapped 67 times in five and a half years, 

 and lost 1920 pints. Ford jj punctured the 

 ovary 49 times, and removed in all 2786 pints 



583 



of fluid. Heidrich * in eight years punctured 

 299 times, and removed 328*9 Berlin quarts 

 (Berl. Maass), equal to 9867 med. pounds, the 

 death of the woman occurring at the age of 43. 

 And in the celebrated case of Mr. Martineau, 

 of Norwich, in the course of twenty-five years 

 the patient lost by tapping, in 80 operations, 

 6631 pints, equal to 13 hogsheads of fluid. 



Composition of the Fluids contained in Ovarian 

 Cysts. Although these fluids usually coagu- 

 late freely in a greater or less degree on the 

 addition of heat or nitric acid, the proportion 

 of free ajbumen which they contain is usually 

 considerably less than is found in the serum of 

 blood; they contain, however, a larger quantity 

 in combination with soda than is found in that 

 fluid. According to the analysis of Dr. Owen 

 Rees, who has examined several specimens of 

 ovarian fluids, their chief characteristics are, 

 a considerable excess of water and of extrac- 

 tives, and a deficiency of albumen as compared 

 with the serum of blood. To the presence of 

 a large quantity of extractives, particularly the 

 albumen combined with soda, Dr. Rees attri- 

 butes that peculiar tenacious mucoid character 

 which these fluids so commonly possess. This 

 is always in relation to the nature of the solid 

 ingredients, and is quite independent of any 

 peculiar proportions of water, to which at first 

 it might be supposed to be due. Again, the 

 alkaline salts obtained from ovarian fluids dif- 

 fer from those of blood in not containing any 

 phosphate which can be recognised even as a 

 trace, unless experiments be made upon large 

 quantities for the express purpose of detect- 

 ing that substance. 



The following table f, by Dr. O. Rees, gives 

 the results of the analysis of four fluids drawn 

 from secondary cysts of an ovarian tumour, 

 compared with art analysis of the serum of blood. 



* Sammlung, bd. xvi. s. 562. 



t Those who are curious in these cases will find 

 instances referred to by Meissner (Die Frauenzim- 

 merkrankheiten, Band ii.), in which a single ovary 

 is said to have weighed 100, 120, and 150 Ibs. re- 

 spectively. 



% B. v. Siebold's Sammlung, 1812, iii. Bd. 



V. Siebold's Journ. fur Geburtsh,b.vii. St. i.s. 93. 



|| Medical Communications, vol. ii. 1790. 



* Dissert, sistens Casuua Memorabilem, Berol. 

 1825. 



f From a valuable paper on Tumours of the Ovary, 

 by Dr. Bright, in the Guy's Hospital Reports, vol. 

 iii. p. 204. 



J The whole of the Alkaline Salts are estimated 

 together in the analysis of serum as indicated by 

 the line. 



p P 4 



