390 Mr. E. S. Carmichael and Dr. F. H. A. Marshall. [Apr. 10, 



capillaries, however, could be still seen in the stroma. The muscle fibres 

 were much broken up. The cervix had not undergone the same amount of 

 degeneration, but some of the epithelial cells appeared vacuolated. 



In the following two experiments very young immature rabbits were 

 used : — 



Experiment 1. — The ovaries were removed on May 29. The rabbit 

 weighed 660 grammes. On August 8 it weighed 1640 grammes. On 

 March 20 the rabbit was killed after first being weighed. The weight was 

 3450 grammes, the animal being fully grown and in perfect health. The 

 uterus was found to be absolutely infantile, being no bigger than a rat's. 

 Sections showed that the muscular wall was almost totally undeveloped. 

 The mucosa was somewhat thicker, but fibrous throughout. The lining 

 epithelium was, however, present. 



Experiment 2. — The ovaries were removed from a very small rabbit on 

 June 5. The animal weighed 740 grammes. On August 8 it weighed 

 1450 grammes. On March 20 it was killed after being first weighed. The 

 weight at that time was 2080 grammes. The rabbit was quite fully grown 

 and very fat. The uterus, as in the preceding experiment, was very small, 

 being not so large as an adult uterus after the removal of the ovaries some 

 months previously, as shown by our first series of observations. 



These experiments show that the removal of the ovaries at an early 

 period of life, while arresting the development of the other generative 

 organs, has no effect on the growth and general health. The weights, as 

 given above, compare favourably with those of unoperated rabbits and with 

 those of animals in which the uterus had been removed (see below). 



Influence of the Uterus upon the Ovaries. 



Although the bulk of evidence brought forward clinically seems to show 

 that the uterine functions fall into abeyance after removal of the ovaries, 

 a considerable number of cases have been reported in which menstruation 

 has persisted after oophorectomy. Pozzi (1905) has recently recorded 

 several such cases, but the uterus in the majority contained a uterine fibroid 

 or other pathological condition. 



The explanation of such cases has always been a difficult one, but it has 

 probably led to the ideas now held by some surgeons that the uterus is 

 capable of performing its functions independently of the ovaries, and even 

 that the functions of the ovaries themselves depend largely on the presence 

 of the uterus and its secretions. 



Zweifel and Abel, in a communication to the German Gynaecological 

 Congress (1899) in tracing the after-histories of cases of hysterectomy, found 



