concerning Animal Impregnation. 173 
to follow, as a consequence, that if, from any cause, both these 
tubes be obliterated, the animal so affected would be barren ? 
or if the animal be multiparous, would not an obliteration on 
one side prevent conception in the corresponding ovary ? 
Now I had some distant apprehensions, even before I made 
this experiment, that dividing both tubes would produce effects 
equivalent to an extirpation of both ovaries, which experience 
has since proved to be well founded ; for it not only destroys 
the power of conception, but even the disposition for using the 
means. 
EXPERIMENT. 
Having procured a full grown virgin rabbit, which had be- 
trayed signs of disposition for the male, I made an incision 
into the posterior part of each flank, exactly upon the part 
where the tubes are situated. By means of my finger and a 
bent probe, I drew out a very small portion of the middle of 
the tube, and cut out about of an inch. The two ends were 
returned into their former situation, and the wound closed by 
what surgeons call the quill suture. The same operation was 
performed on the opposite side, and in a few days both wounds 
were healed. 
As soon as this rabbit appeared in health, it was admitted to 
the male, but the venereal appetite seemed to be entirely lost. 
Thinking it possible that its health was not perfectly restored, 
I kept it a month longer in a state of high feeding, and admitted 
it to the male a second time, but the same reluctance continued. 
I began now to suspect that the venereal appetite was irreco- 
verably gone : but as the season was cold, and of course unfa- 
vourable, it appeared proper to persevere in this plan until the 
