118 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [ANNO 1797. 



Exper. Having procured a full grown virgin rabbit, which had betrayed signs of 

 disposition for the male, I made an incision into the posterior part of each flank, 

 exactly on the part where the tubes are situated. By means of my finger and a 

 bent probe, I drew out a very small portion of the middle of the tube, and cut out 

 about -f of an inch. The 2 ends were returned into their former situation, and the 

 wound closed by what surgeons call the quill suture. The same operation was per- 

 formed on the opposite side, and in a few days both wounds were healed. As soon 

 as this rabbit appeared in health, it was admitted to the male, but the venereal ap- 

 petite seemed to be entirely lost. Thinking it possible that its health was not per- 

 fectly restored, I kept it a month longer in a state of high feeding, and admitted it 

 to the male a 2d time; but the same reluctance continued. I began now to suspect 

 that the venereal appetite was irrecoverably gone: but as the season was cold, and 

 of course unfavourable, it appeared proper to persevere in this plan till the genial 

 influence of returning spring had produced its effect; but instead of discovering 

 signs of restoration of the female character, it was evidently more averse. It was 

 now killed and examined, the tubes adhered firmly to the loins at the part where 

 they were divided, and at that part their canal was obliterated, so that neither quick- 

 silver nor air could be made to pass. The ovaries were much smaller than they 

 usually are in breeding rabbits; they appeared to have degenerated from their proper 

 character; a circumstance probably the consequence of that destruction of the 

 harmony of action in these parts, which subsists in the healthy state, which is es- 

 sential to the views and intentions of nature, and for want of which harmony, the 

 sexual indifference, approaching to aversion, was in this instance so remarkable. 



In the relation of this experiment, it must be remembered, that a small portion 

 of each tube was cut out, in order to obliterate the canal with greater certainty. 

 It is not altogether indifferent to the present subject to know, whether this apathy 

 depended on the removal of that portion, or whether it would have happened had 

 there been nothing more than a mere division. Nor is it extraneous to inquire, 

 whether a simple division of the tube is sufficient to obliterate it, because less 

 violence is offered to the part, and of course the connection will be less disturbed. 

 Exper. Being furnished with another rabbit, in high breeding condition, I re- 

 peated the experiment, by making only a division of the tubes; in other respects 

 every thing was conducted as before. The venereal appetite declined as evidently 

 in this as in the former, and notwithstanding many solicitations from a very ani- 

 mated male, during the space of 3 months, it could never be excited. On dis- 

 section, it appeared that the tubes were as completely obliterated in this experiment 

 as in the last, and the ovaries had equally degenerated. In the 2 preceding experi- 

 ments neither of the rabbits had given any active proofs of fecundity, though they 

 had marks of the venereal heat on them. I therefore changed my subject for one 

 that had had young ones. 



Exper. A healthy rabbit, which had lately been separated from her first litter, was 

 made the subject of a repetition of the experiment. I took the opportunity of 



