62 
DR. LETHEBY ON THE EXTRUSION OF OVULES 
whether there be access of the male or no. But admitting that this law is in great 
part the expression of truth, we have yet to determine whether in human females, 
as in the females of other animals, the maturation and escape of ovules take place 
only at the fixed periods mentioned, or whether the discharge of these bodies is 
always occurring, thus rendering the human female susceptible of impregnation at 
all times. The final solution of these questions, together with that of the problem 
concerning the length of time that the ovule retains its faculty of being fecundated 
after it has quitted the ovary, is of great interest to the physiologist, the obstetric 
physician, and the medical jurist; for it would not only enable them to pronounce 
with certainty at what time conception usually takes place, but it would also furnish 
a starting-point for the determination of other equally important problems, viz. the 
ordinary, and the most extended periods of human gestation. It must, however, be 
evident that a great number of independent observations have yet to be made, before 
any hypothesis relating to this part of the subject can take its place amongst the 
well-recognised doctrines of science; and, believing that each observation must have 
some weight and value, I have been led to record the results of my own inquiries, 
in order that they may be placed in juxtaposition with the facts already elicited 
by more able investigators. Here, perhaps, I may be allowed to remark, that in 
addition to the experiments and observations so admirably reviewed by Drs. Baly 
and Kirkes in their Supplement to the second volume of Professor Muller’s Physio- 
logy, two cases have been published, in which the phenomena witnessed are in many 
respects very similar to those noticed by myself. In one of these cases, the girl died 
shortly after menstruation ; and the reporter, M. Janzer, states that, in making an 
examination of her body, he found on the surface of the left ovary a dark red spot, 
which had a fissure in its centre. Judging from all the circumstances of the case, 
Janzer was led to conclude that the spot in question was a recently ruptured Graafian 
follicle gorged with blood. He instituted a diligent search for the liberated ovule, 
but he failed to discover it*. The second case is recorded by M. Locatelli'|' ; and 
he informs us that the woman who was the subject of his investigations died from 
the effects of an operation made for the relief of an imperforate hymen. He noticed 
that on one of the ovaries there was a livid spot, in the centre of which there was an 
aperture. The pa'rts were carefully examined, and the author believes that the spot 
seen in the ovary was a recently ruptured follicle filled with blood. As in the last 
case, however, the liberated ovule escaped detection. 
* Heidelberger Annalen, Bd. xiii. p. 601-604. 
t Frorieps Neue Notizen, Bd. vii. p. 348-350. 
