168 OVARY AND PAROVARIUM, BY W. WALDEYER. 



holds for the mature ovary, since both in regard to form and 

 histological structure no organ varies to a greater extent during 

 its development and period of sexual activity than the ovary. 

 We shall hereafter describe its various phases of development, 

 and at present shall confine ourselves to the consideration of 

 its characters when mature. 



The greater part of the stroma of the ovaries, both in Man 

 and Mammals, consists of pure connective tissue. The con- 

 nective tissue of the vascular zone consists of long fibres, and 

 is of loose texture, fibres of elastic tissue not unfrequently 

 winding around its fasciculi. That of the parenchymatous 

 zone of the adult female is divisible into a dense external 

 layer, composed of short fibres decussating in various direc- 

 tions, and an internal layer, containing numerous cells, amongst 

 which are the ovisacs, the larger ones projecting into the 

 vascular zone. 



The presence of a tunica albuginea, as a special tunic investing the 

 ovary, is now admitted rather in accordance with custom than upon 

 any real anatomical or histological evidence ; certainly no true con- 

 nective-tissue investment can be demonstrated by the aid of the 

 scalpel. In Man, as has been accurately stated by Henle (50), a 

 layer, consisting usually of three laminae, may be demonstrated under 

 the microscope upon the external surface of the organ, composed of 

 rather short dense connective-tissue fibres, with a few fusiform cells 

 distributed amongst them. These three laminae, of which the first 

 and third commonly run in the direction of the long axis of the ovary, 

 whilst the middle one is transverse, may together perhaps be regarded 

 as representing the albuginea. It is to be remarked however, that in 

 the new-born infant, and even as far on as to the third year of life, it 

 is impossible to distinguish a continuous fibrous investment, since 

 ovarial tubes and Graafian follicles lie immediately beneath the 

 epithelium, whilst, as age advances, the number of these dense strata, 

 poor in cells, increases, so that at this period as many as five or six 

 such layers may be discriminated ; ultimately the so-called albuginea 

 is no longer separable from the subjacent fibrous tissue passing into 

 it without any distinct line of demarcation. 



Immediately subjacent to the just-mentioned layer of parallel 

 fibrous bands belonging to the so-called albuginea, is a layer 

 of dense connective tissue, containing but few cells, the fibres 



