66 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



begun to take place in the cells of an extirpated part of the body. Material 

 removed from a patient has therefore to be transferred rapidly to the fixing 

 fluids. 



In Dublin recently T was able, through the co-operation of the well-known 

 gynseeologist, Dr. Bethel Solomons, to obtain two human ovaries which were 

 fixed immediately after removal It is a pleasant duty for me to thank Dr. 

 Bethel Solomons for his interest in my work, and for his scientific co-operation, 

 which has enabled me to be the first person to obtain human ovaries fixed by 

 these special modern methods of micrology. 



Dr. -Bethel Solomons has kindly supplied me with the following facts 

 about the patient from whom the ovaries were procured : — 



" Miss , single, aged 41 years, was admitted to Mercer's 



Hospital at the end of the year 1923. Slight dragging pain in back, 

 fatigue on exertion, difficulty in mieturation, heavy menstruation, and 

 leucorrhoea. General appearance— red- faced, masculine growth of hair on 

 face, pronounced beard and moustache, evidently accustomed to shaving; 

 masculine arrangement of femoral and pubic hair. Large fibroid uterus 

 reaching to umbilicus, ovaries apparently normal. Operation carried out 

 for supravaginal hysterectomy with removal of uterus and ovaries. 

 Tumours filled whole pelvis, pressing on Douglas' pouch." 



On pathological examination the tumours were reported to be fibro- 

 myomata. The ovaries were carefully examined by me, and did not appear 

 to exhibit any abnormality. . . 



The ovaries contained at least thirty or forty oocytes. The above 

 description of the patient from whom the ovaries were obtained is given in 

 case such evidence may in some way be of future value. 



Medical jurists at one time paid great attention to the presence or absence 

 of the corpus luteum, as indicating whether or not pregnancy had occurred. 

 As Glaister has pointed out, the condition of the uterus is much more 

 important in this matter ; but neither the presence of the corpus lutuem, nor 

 the mere macroscopic dissection of the uterus, would reveal whether the 

 early stages of pregnancy had, or had not, occurred. Probably the corpus 

 luteum as a reliable medical index to pregnancy is completely ruled out. Dr. 

 Matthews Duncan states that he has dissected a case of pregnancy in which 

 there was complete absence of corpus luteum. This is a hard saying : minute 

 microscopical examination of both ovaries and retro-peritoneal region would 

 alone enable one to state definitely whether or not luteal tissue was 

 completely absent. It is an extremely difficult matter to remove all genital 

 tissue during such operations. When first discovered, the corpus luteum was 



