Parovarium 399 



The Graafian follicles are lined by the cellular membrana grami- 

 losa and contain fluid and an ovum ; as they ripen and approach the 

 surface of the ovary the fluid increases. During menstruation a follicle 

 bursts, the ovum escaping through the peritoneal coat and into the 

 Fallopian tube, through which it reaches the uterus. The burst follicle 

 is then filled with a yellowish substance, the corpus htteum, which 

 quickly shrivels up if conception have not taken place, but which grows 

 into an important mass if pregnancy have occurred ; the latter mass 

 is a true corpus luteinn, the former a false one. 



Abscess in a follicle (suppuratii>e ovaritis] may burst into the peri- 

 toneum and involve it in a fatal inflammation. 



Cysts of material 'like skin' (dermoid cysts) are often found in the 

 ovary, containing hair, fat, epithelium, teeth, and such like ; their origin 

 is congenital, and is probably due to an island of the external blasto- 

 dermic layer having become entangled in the middle layer, from which 

 the ovary is produced. 



From a fetus of three 

 months : 



a, uterus. 



b, round ligaments. 



c, Fallopian tubes. 



d, ovaries. 



e, remains of Wolffian 

 bodies. (See p. 390.) 



The parovarium, or organ of Rosenmiiller, may be seen between 

 the ovary and the Fallopian tube by holding a fresh broad ligament 

 up to the light. It is about an inch wide and consists of a series of 

 tortuous tubes opening by one end into a slender canal, the duct of 

 Gaertner, whilst the other end is connected with the ovary. Doran has 

 counted as many as twenty-four of these tubes in the parovarium. They 

 are lined with cylindrical epithelium and contain a small amount of fluid, 

 which, increasing in amount, may form a ' cyst of the broad ligament.' 



The parovarium is a remnant of the Wolffian body. The tubes of 

 the parovarium correspond to the vasa efferentia and coni vasculosi, 

 whilst the ovary represents the body of the testis. 



Supply. The ovarian arteries come from the aorta (spermatic) ; 

 in the broad ligament they anastomose freely with the uterine of the 

 internal iliac. As in the case of the testis, the veins form a pam- 

 piniform plexus, which ends in the caval or left renal vein. 



The nerves come from the aortic plexus with the ovarian artery, 

 whilst others are derived from the pelvic plexus, and accompany 

 branches of the uterine artery. 



Though malignant disease may attack the ovary, the common 

 form of ovarian tumour is due to a collection of fluid in dilated 

 Graafian follicles ; thus an enormous dropsy may be produced which 



