306 



He supposes this view of the nature of the corpus luteum to be 

 new, and gives a summary account of the discovery of the germinal 

 vesicle in the hen's egg, by Purkinje; in the mammiferous ovulum 

 by Van Baer; and also the detection of the macula germinativa by 

 Wagner. 



The writers just named, and also MM. J. Muller, Schwann, Henle, 

 and Huschke, take no such view of the case. The same is true as 

 to MM. Gendrin, Negrier, Lee, Jones, Raciborski, Ollivier d'Angers, 

 and Pouchet. Drs. Montgomery and Swan, Messrs. Flourens, VeU 

 peau, and Moreau, do not allude to it. BischofF and Bernhardt are 

 equally silent. 



Dr. M. refers the observation to the corrections of better observers. 



Dr. Meigs' memoir being ordered for publication in the 

 Transactions, we confine ourselves here to the resume of his 

 observations. 



1. Equal masses of yelk and corpus luteum are equally yellow. 



2. They alike fill the tube of the microscope, before the focus is 

 obtained, with a brilliant yellow light. 



3. They alike consist of a pellucid fluid, in which float granules, 

 corpuscles containing yellow liquid, oil globules, and punctiform 

 bodies. 



4. These bodies, placed in the same glass and diligently compared, 

 exhibit the same forms, size, tint and refraction. 



5. Yelk, boiled hard, is rendered granular and friable; it is coagu- 

 lated by heat. 



6. Corpus luteum boiled becomes hard, granular, and friable; it is 

 coagulated by heat. 



7. Both substances, raw or boiled, stain white paper yellow. 



8. There is this difference. The crushed mass of corpus luteum 

 contains patches and shreds of laminar tissue, detritus and blood 

 discs forced out by the compressor, which cannot occur in the yelk, 

 as it is confined only within a vitellary membrane. 



9. They refract light alike. 



10. Projected on a live coal, they each alike give out the odour of 

 roasted eggs. 



The function of the stroma of an ovary is to produce vitellary mat- 

 ter, which is the pabulum of the germ and the embryo; vitellary mat- 

 ter is germinal matter. Whether the germ be a cast-off acinus, or a 

 nucleated nucleole of the germinal vesicle, it is clear that it is a 

 stroma-force that produces it. 



