Apbil 13, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



591 



The localities where these rocks are best 

 exposed are the Caballos Mountains, the Hills- 

 Bbro and Kingston mining districts on the 

 east side of the Black Range, in the vicinity 

 of Cooks Peak and the Florida Mountains. 

 In these places the Cambrian, Ordovician and 

 Devonian are found. At Lake Valley and 

 west of Silver City, near the mines of Chloride 

 Flat, in addition to the foregoing formations, 

 true Silurian limestone separates the Devonian 

 and Ordovician strata. 



A more extfended account of these forma- 

 tions will appear in a forthcoming number of 

 the American Journal of Science. 



C. H. Gordon, 

 L. C. Graton. 



A NEW METHOD FOR THE HOMOPLASTIC TRANS- 

 PLANTATION OF THE OVARY. 



The transplantation of the ovaries has been 

 performed by Knauer, GregoriefF, Arendt, 

 Eibbert, Schultz, Herlitzka, Foa, Guthrie, etc. 

 These experiments showed that young ovaries 

 are often able to ' prendre ' (or grow success- 

 fully), while the transplantation of adult 

 ovaries is practically unsuccessful. These 

 negative results are probably due mainly to 

 the defective technic employed, the usual 

 method being to sew the transplanted ovary 

 to the peritoneum, and leaving to nature the 

 reestablishing of the circulation. In order to 

 obtain constant results, it is necessary to use 

 a much -mtfre precise method. Therefore, we 

 attempted to transplant an ovary by modify- 

 ing as slightly as possible its circulation, its 

 innervation and its connections with the 

 Fallopian tube. 



We used our method of transplantation in 

 mass, which permits the transplantation of 

 ovaries of cat, with their vessels, and preserves 

 a part of the nervous apparatus of the organ. 



The abdomen of a cat A being open, a large 

 peritoneal flap, extending from the right ovary 

 to the portion of the aorta corresponding to 

 the mouth of the ovarian artery, is cut by 

 proper incisions. The Fallopian tube is sev- 

 ered near its fimbriated extremity. The pos- 

 terior surface of the peritoneal flap is care- 

 fully separated from all the posterior tissues 



excepting the ovarian vessels, which are per- 

 mitted to retain their connection with it. 

 Then the segments of the aorta and vena cava, 

 from which the ovarian vessels originate, are 

 extirpated. The specimen consisting of the 

 ovary and a part of the Fallopian tube united 

 to the segments of the aorta and vena cava 

 by a cellulo-peritoneal ribbon and the ovarian 

 vessels, is then placed in a glass of isotonic 

 sodium chloride solution. 



The abdomen of a cat B is then opened by 

 performing a right half circular transversal 

 laparotomy. The right ovary and the ex- 

 ternal part of the Fallopian tube are resected. 

 The aorta and vena cava are cut at the point 

 of the mouth of the ovarian vessels. The 

 anatomical specimen taken from cat A is re- 

 moved from the salt solution and put into the 

 abdominal cavity of cat B. The segments of 

 the aorta and vena cava of cat A are inter- 

 posed between the cut ends of the aorta and 

 vena cava of the cat B. The peritoneal flap 

 is stretched on the posterior abdominal wall in 

 such a manner that the transplanted ovary 

 takes the place of the normal ovary. The cir- 

 culation through the aorta and vena cava is 

 reestablished. The red blood flows through 

 the ovarian artery, the ovary becomes rosy, 

 and the dark circulation is slowly established 

 through the venous plexus and the ovarian 

 vein. After a few minutes the circulation 

 appears similar to that of the normal ovary. 

 The end of the transplanted Fallopian tube is 

 united to the end of the normal one. At last 

 the suture of the abdominal wall is performed. 

 This operation is not dangerous, for the 

 animals after a few hours appear to be in 

 normal condition. Our experiments were per- 

 formed on ordinary laboratory animals of 

 uncertain breeds. They are interesting, there- 

 fore, only from a technical point of view. 

 We intend to very soon perform a series of 

 similar operations on pure bred animals, pref- 

 erably dogs or pigs, with a view of studying 

 the problem of transmission of characters and 

 related problems. 



Alexis Carrel, 

 C. C. Guthrie. 

 The Hull Physiological Labobatoey, 

 University of Chicago. 



