Gatenby — Notes on the Human Ovary, 77 



v.— Personal Observations. 



The material herein described consisted only of one corpus liitenm 

 preserved by several methods as already mentioned. It is because these 

 methods have succeeded so well, and the material is so clear, that I decided 

 to bring forward my views on the human corpus luteum of menstruation. 



In PI. Ill, fig. 1, is a drawing of the cross section of the entire corpus 

 luteum ; this is the typical three weeks' menstrual corpus figured in the text- 

 books on human embryology and menstruation. The centre of the corpus 

 luteum is occupied by a fibrous plug of connective tissue which gives off 

 processes ramifying into the substance of the organ. On the left of this plug 

 the original granulosa wall has remained partly open to form a space occupied 

 by a semi-coagulable fluid, into which many white blood corpuscles and 

 fibroblasts have penetrated. All around the connective tissue tunica (theca 

 externa), one finds ingrowing trabeculae carrying large blood-vessels. In 

 PI. Ill, fig. 1, below, is a fragment of the ovary showing how the corpus luteum 

 protrudes above the surface as a round nodule. 



The more intimate structure of the human corpus luteum is shown in 

 PI. Ill, fig. 3.. Here one of the ingrown trabeculae formed of theca externa 

 elements is shown, and the various cellular structures are also to be noted. 

 This drawing has been made from a section of Da Fano material, toned, and 

 then stained in safranin and light green. In all the sections of human 

 corpus luteum, there appear the extraordinary stellate elements which are 

 drawn in PI. 1 11 , figs. 2 and 3 at AS. These elements lie among the true luteal 

 cells. Heavy staining methods such as those of silver reduction, iron hae- 

 matoxylin, prolonged immersion in Mann's methyl blue eosin, etc., demonstrate 

 these cells in a remarkable manner. So far as I can ascertain no other 

 observer has noted these cells in human beings ; but Corner, in the sow, has 

 described what are probably the same elements. These cells are remarkable 

 for their chromophility and their excentric nucleus. I will return below to a 

 further treatment of these cells. 



Apart from these stellate cells the other elements which at once attract 

 attention are the ordinary luteal cells. These are splendid large cells, 

 polygonal, with a fairly smooth nucleus containing one or two nucleoli, and a 

 cytoplasm with a huge Golgi apparatus. My Da Fano preparations were 

 particularly successful, and beautiful objects for study, In PI. Ill, fig. 3, these 

 luteal cells are marked L. 



Another category of cells may easily be noted in the corpus luteum — 

 these are the small cells lying in between the large luteal cells, and forming 

 canals, vessels, spaces, and general supporting tissue (PI. Ill, fig. 2, T, and 



