GENERATION. 



ul\i:illy have. The Fallopian tubes, iaJependent of their 

 hl.ick colour, were twilled like wreathing worms, the peri- 

 Italtic motion ftill remaining very vivid ; the fimbrix were 

 a'fo black and embraced tlie ovaria (like fingers laying hold 

 of an objecl,) fo cluL-ly and fo firmly, as to require fomc 

 force, and even laceration, to difengago them. Haller and 

 other obforvers f jpport this ftatement of the erection of the 

 t'ube, and its clofe application to the furface of the ovarium. 

 But Dr. Haighton feems not to have found it fo until a 

 later period. He examined a female rabbit in high feafon 

 a few minutes after coition, and found the fimbrii in their 

 natural fitualion. He fo-iud, moreover, from a regular 

 feries of obfervations made on different rabbits, at every hour 

 between tlie flrft and the ninth, that the fimbrire remained 

 nearly in their ufual fituation ; and the only difference he 

 noticed in the lafl hours was a greater turgefcency of veffels, 

 ts :f preparatorytoromeimportantaftion. That the prominent 

 veficles or calyces of the ovaria, already mentioned, burll, 

 and allow fomething to efcape into the Fallopian tube, which 

 conveys it into the uterus, is what all obfervers ieem to agree 

 in : and thev concur, moreover, in reprefenting the corpora 

 lutea as produced by a particular procefs carried on in the 

 «mpty ovarian calyces, and confequently, as exhibiting in- 

 contellible proofs of impregnation having been effedted. 

 Tliefe ciicumllances have all been afcertained by the ob- 

 fervations of rnimal bodies, and transferred by analogy to 

 the human fubjecl ; in which, indeed, the formation of a 

 corpus luteum is very evident, although the earlier flages of 

 the procefs have not been traced. Obfervers by no means 

 agree as to the time at which thefe changes are efFedlcd. Mr. 

 Cruikfhank reprefents the hurtling of the calyces as follow- 

 ing a fruitful coition very fpeedily. " I opened," fays he, 

 •' a female rabbit two hours after fhe had received the male : 

 the black bloody fpots jull mentioned now projected much 

 above the furfaces of the ovaria, fome of the ruptured orifices 

 'were jujl •vifible ; but in many of thefe fpots there was not 

 the lealt veilige of an oriRce ; whence I conclude that they 

 heal very quickly in general." The narrative of Dr. 

 Haighton' s experiments would lead us to conclude that 

 this efcape of the germs from the ovarian calyces does not 

 take place till a much later period. In twelve hours after 

 coition " feveral of the velicles evidently projedted ; they 

 had loft their tranfparcncy, and were become opaque and 

 red. When punttured a fluid cf the fame colour efcaped. 

 The corpora lutea, which are formed by the thickening of 

 the parietes of the veficles, were not very evident." At 24 

 hours after coition the fluid in the veficles was fimilar to that 

 of the lafl experiment. They projefled more evidently, 

 and their thickened parietes, manifcfling the commencement of 

 corpora lutea, were becom.e more apparent. At 48 hours pail 

 coition, the vejicles Jeemed to he In the very acl of burjlin^, and 

 a femi-tranfparent fubftance of a mucus-like confillence was 

 beginning to protrude from fome of them ; others, indeed, 

 ivere lefs advanced. The fimbriated extremities of the 

 I'allopian tubes were preparing to receive their contents, as 

 appeared by their having quitted their ufual pofition, and 

 embraced the ovaries in fuch a degree, that only a fmall 

 portion cou'd be feen until the tubes were taken away. 

 Sections being made into the thickened ve.leles, the form- 

 ation of corpora lutea appeared to liave made further ad- 

 vances. From the appeant-jce of an incipient rupture of 

 the vefscle? in this experiment, it was but reafonable to ex- 

 pect that their co;;tents would foon have efcaped. In two 

 days and'twelve hours after coition the fcctal rudiments had 

 efcaped ; but the cavity cf the ovarian vel';cles liad fuffered 

 but little diminution. Briilles were eafily introduced by 

 the raptured orifices. In this experiment the advances to- 



wards the formatio.i of a pcrfeiEl corpus luteum were fuch 

 as the period of examination would naturally lead us to cx- 

 peft. The contents of the veficles having efcaped, it was 

 but reafonable now to look forwards to a fpeedy oblitera- 

 tion of the carity. I therefore examined thefe parts, under 

 fimilar circumftances, on the 3d, 4th, and 5th days. In 

 the lall experiment there was but httle vellige of cavity, 

 confequently the corpora lutea might be confidered as per- 

 fectly formed." 



That a fomething^ which is the germ of the future animal, 

 and is fuppofed to be of a veficular figure, efcapes from 

 the ovarium after conception, is received into the Fallopian 

 tube, and conveyed by it into the uterus, is rendered highly 

 probable by the fadts jufl related : and various additional 

 proofs may be adduced on this fubjcft. Almofl the whole 

 animal kingdom poffefs ovaries, in which the rudiments of 

 tlie future being are obvioufly contained previoufly to im- 

 pregnation ; and it is the development of thefe rudimenis 

 after impregnation that forms the future animal. The 

 formation of tlie germ in the ovary, and its paffage into the 

 oviduft, are particularly clear in birds and reptiles ; and 

 analogy flrongly leads us to affign to the ovaries of the 

 mammalia the fame funftion of producing thefe germ>. 

 The removal of thefe bodies renders the woman completelv 

 flerile ; and Mr. Hunter has fhewn that the extirpation of 

 one has a very marked cffeft on the fecundity of the animall 

 In the Philofophical Tranfaclions for 1787 he has detailed 

 the refult of " an experiment to determine the effeifl of ex- 

 tirpating one ovarium on the number of young produced.'" 

 He felecled two fows of the fame colour and fize, and one 

 boar from the fame farrow, and removed one ovarium 

 from one of the fows. About the beginning of the year 

 1779, they both took the boar; but the one which had 

 been fpayed earlier than the perfeft female. The diftance 

 of time, however, was not great, and they continued breeding 

 at nearly the fame times. The fpayed animal continued to 

 breed till Sept. 1783. when fhe was fix years old, which was 

 a fpuce of more than four years. In that time fhe had eight 

 farrows, confilling of 76 pigs ; but did not take the boar 

 afterwards. The perfect animal continued breeding till 

 December 1785, when fhe was about eight years old, a 

 period of almoll fix years, in which tim.e file had thirteen 

 farrows, conlllling of 162 pigs " From this experiment,'* 

 fays Mr. Hunter, " it feems mofl probable, that the ovaria 

 are from the beginning dellined to produce a fixed number, 

 beyond which they ca;;not go, though circumftances may 

 tend to diminifh that number ; that the conilitution at 

 large has no power of giving to one ovarium the power of 

 propagating equal to two; for, in the prefent experiment, 

 the animal with one ovarium produced ten pigs lefs than 

 half the number brought forth by the pig with both ovaria. 

 But that the conftitution has fo far the power of influencing 

 one ovarium., as tc make it produce its number in a U fs time 

 tlian would probably have been the cafe, if both ovaria had, 

 been preferved, is evident fromthe above recited experiment. " 

 Certain irregularities in the procefs throw much light oa 

 the fubjecl, and tend to llrcngthen the argument jufl ad- 

 duced. Fcctufes maybe detained in the ovarium, and deve- 

 loped there to a certain point. Or, the germ may efcape 

 from the ovary, and not be admitted into the Fallopiao 

 tube ; in which cafe it has often become attached to fon e 

 part of the abdominal cavity, inftead of the uterus, conill- 

 tuting what is termed a ventral extra-uterine foetus. Alter 

 it has attained a certain degree of developement, lab*>i'r 

 pains come on, but parturition cannot be effefted ; and th" 

 bones of the child are, perhaps, difch.irged throne h an 

 abfcefs, or gain admifTion into the alimentary c4na!, and. ar » 

 I 2 voidci 



