540 



DISSECTION OF THE PELVIS. 



Fig. 188. 



with that membrane by its anterior margin, where the vessels enter the 

 stroma. Its outer end ((/) is rounded and is connected with one of the 

 fimbrise at the mouth of the Fallopian tube. The inner extremity is nar- 

 rowed, and is attached to the side of the uterus by a fibrous cord (7) the 

 ligament of the ovary, below the level of the Fallopian tube and round 

 ligament. 



Structure. The ovary consists of a stroma of areolar tissue containing 

 small sacs named Graafian, and the whole is inclosed within a fibrous tunic. 

 The peritoneum surrounds it except at the attached margin. 



The fibrous coat is adherent to the contained stroma. Along the at- 

 tached margin of the ovary is a slit, by which the vessels and nerves enter. 

 Sometimes a yellow spot (corpus luteum), or some cicatrices, may be seen 

 in this covering. 



Stroma (fig. 188). The substance of the ovary is spongy, vascular, 

 and fibrous. At the centre the fibres radiate from the hilum towards the 

 circumference. But at the exterior is a granular material (cortical layer) 

 which contains very many small cells, about j^thof an inch in size the 

 nascent Graafian vesicles. 



The Graafian vesicles or ovisacs (fig. 188) are round and transparent 

 cells, scattered through the stroma of the ovary below the cortical layer. 

 During the child-bearing period some are larger than the rest (a) ; and of 

 this larger set ten to thirty, or more, may be counted at the same time ; 



these vary in size from a pin's head to a 

 pea. The largest are situate at the circum- 

 ference of the organ, and sometimes they 

 may be seen projecting through the fibrous 

 coat. 



Each consists of a transparent coat with 

 a fluid inside. The coat of the vesicle 

 named ovi-capsule (tunica fibrosa), is formed 

 of fine areolar tissue, and is united to the 

 stroma of the ovary by bloodvessels, which 

 ramify in the wall. Lining it is a layer of 

 nucleated granular cells the membrana 

 granulosa, which is thickened at one spot, 

 and surrounds the ovum at the discus pro- 

 ligerus (Von Baer), fixing it to the wall. 

 Ths fluid in the interior is transparent and 

 albuminous ; it contains the minute ovum, 

 together with molecular granules. 



When the Graafian vesicle is matured it 

 bursts on the surface of the ovary, and the contained ovum escapes into 

 the Fallopian tube. After the shedding of the ovum the ruptured vesicle 

 gives origin to a yellow substance, corpus luteum, which finally changes 

 into a cicatrix (b). 



Bloodvessels and nerves. The ovarian artery pierces the ovary at the 

 anterior or attached border, and its branches run in zigzag lines through 

 the stroma, to which and the Graafian vesicles they are distributed. The 

 veins begin in the vesicles and the texture of the ovary, and after escaping 

 from its substance, form a plexus (pam-piniform) within the fold of the 

 broad ligament. The nerves are derived from the sympathetic on the 

 ovarian and uterine vessels. 



Appendage to the ovary (fig. 187, k) (Parovarium, Organ of Rosen- 



OVARY DURING THE CHILD-BEARING 



PERIOD LAID OPEN. 

 a. Graafian vesicles in different 



stages of growth. 

 6. Plicated body remaining after 



the escape of the ovum (Farre) . 



