UTERUS (FUNCTIONS). 



lion, the latter phenomenon ought to be re- 

 peated whenever the former event occurs ; and 

 consequently in the case now under conside- 

 ration M. Coste suggests that the same cause 

 which provokes the discharge of the ovum in 

 this case, also occasions fecundation, which 

 arrests the menstrual flux before this has time 

 to manifest itself. 



Thus, if even the foregoing explanation 

 could be deemed satisfactory, it appears ne- 

 cessary occasionally to fall back upon the old 

 doctrine of the detachment of ova coincidently 

 with fecundation, in order to supply the de- 

 ficiencies of the newer theory of their sponta- 

 neous emission independently of it. It must 

 however be confessed, that every view yet 

 offered of the direct dependence of each sepa- 

 rate act of menstruation upon a corresponding 

 act of ovulation, disappoints expectation by 

 leaving some condition relating to conception 

 unexplained, or explainable only by raising an 

 additional hypothesis ; while many circum- 

 stances of common occurrence, such as the 

 sudden reappearance of menstruation under 

 mental emotion and the like, are left unac- 

 counted for upon any hypothesis of ovarian 

 dominance. 



If next the ovular view of menstruation be 

 tested by the evidence derived from anatomy, 

 although many facts will be found in proof of 

 the statement that ova are often emitted at 

 the menstrual period, these cases have not 

 been yet sufficiently collated to form a series 

 capable of affording unquestionable conclusions 

 as to the precise relation which the emission 

 of ova bears to each menstrual act. That 

 ova may pass spontaneously from the ovary 

 during the menstrual flow is proved by cases 

 already given at p. 567. and 605. M. Pouchet, 

 however, supposes that it is the maturation of 

 the ova which takes place during menstruation, 

 and that their emission follows immediately 

 or within four days after the cessation of the 

 flow. M. Coste found the period of rupture 

 of the Graafian follicle to be very variable. In 

 one case the follicle was already burst on the 

 first day of menstruation. In a second in- 

 stance, although jive days had passed from 

 the cessation of the flux, the follicle was still 

 entire, though the slightest pressure sufficed 

 to cause its rupture. In a third casefifteen 

 days had elapsed, and yet rupture had not 

 taken place. In the example represented by 

 fig. 380. ten days had passed since the last men- 

 struation began, and the follicle was entire, 

 though perfectly ripe, and apparently upon 

 the point of rupture. 



These examples, in the same degree that 

 they favour a belief in the occurrence of im- 

 pregnation at indefinite periods of the men- 

 strual intervals, by showing how conception is 

 then possible, discourage the view that the 

 emission of ova is necessarily limited to the 

 precise times of the menstrual flow. But 

 until a larger number of examples than yet 

 exists, showing the condition of the follicles 

 during both the menstrual periods and inter- 

 vals, has been collected and carefully com- 

 pared, no definite conclusions as to the exact 



669 



relation which the emission of ova bears to 

 each act of menstruation can be arrived at, 

 so far as anatomical evidence is concerned. 

 For the attention of observers having been 

 directed more to the condition of the ovaries 

 at the time of menstruation than in the inter- 

 val, much more has been ascertained of their 

 state at the former than at the latter periods. 

 Yet it is during the intervals of menstruation 

 that conception in man normally takes place, 

 while mammals become impregnated only 

 during the oestrus. 



It is important, therefore, to determine, 

 thirdly, how far the oestrus or rut in the mam- 

 malia may be regarded as comparable with the 

 act of menstruation in the human female; for if, 

 as is commonly supposed, these two functions 

 are identical, or nearly so, then the facts to be 

 derived from comparative anatomy may assist 

 further in determining the nature and extent 

 of the relation between menstruation and ovu- 

 lation in man. But if the phenomena atten- 

 dant upon the rut do not, in all respects, coin- 

 cide with those accompanying menstruation, 

 the conclusions which are legitimately de- 

 ducible from observation of the former func- 

 tion must not be too strictly applied to the 

 latter. 



In the mammalia the periods of emission of 

 the ova from the ovary, and of their passage 

 down the Fallopian tube, are undoubtedly 

 coincident with the oestrus. It is only on these 

 occasions that the female manifests an instinc- 

 tive desire for copulation. She is then said 

 to be in heat. The vulva is congested, swollen, 

 and bedewed with an increased secretion, 

 which is generally odorous, and is sometimes 

 tinged with blood. This condition is of brief 

 duration. At the longest it continues for a 

 few days. But whatever be its duration it is 

 the only period during which the female can 

 be impregnated. 



In the human subject the periodical return 

 of congestion of the reproductive organs, the 

 menstrual flow, and the corresponding spon- 

 taneous emission of ova, so far as this point 

 has yet been ascertained by post-mortem ex- 

 amination, accord with the phenomena dis- 

 played by the mammalia during the oestrus. It 

 is also believed that in some instances concep- 

 tion has taken place during menstruation*, a 

 circumstance which is clearly reconcilable with 

 the anatomical evidences already produced, 

 and is so far in accordance with what nor- 

 mally occurs in the mammalia during oestrua- 

 tion. 



But here the analogy ceases. And from 

 this point onwards the more closely the two 

 functions are compared, the more plainly does 

 it appear that although the oestrus and men- 

 struation possess many circumstances in com- 

 mon, yet the resemblance endures only for a 

 certain period, more or less brief, while, after 

 this is past, there follows in man an inter- 

 mediate condition which is not only not com- 

 parable with the corresponding intermediate 



* Some of the few authorities for this fact extant 

 are quoted in the works of Pouchet and Coste, foe. 

 cit. 



