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XVIII. On the passage of the ovum from the ovarium to the 
uterus in women. By Sir Everard Home, Bart. V. P. R. S. 
Read May 1, 1817. 
No subject connected with physiology has more employed 
the attention of the anatomist and philosopher than the first 
formation of the embryo in the class mammalia, and yet even 
at this day, when the same subject has been completely inves- 
tigated in oviparous animals, and it is known that an ovum is 
formed in the ovarium of the quadruped, the circumstances 
respecting its impregnation have not been ascertained. 
The great Harvey, although supplied by the munificence 
of his king with deer in all the different stages after being fit 
for the male, was unsuccessful. John Hunter, who prose- 
cuted the same enquiry in the ewe, also failed. His brother. 
Dr. William Hunter, in his splendid work on the Gravid 
Uterus, has given the most correct representations of the 
human embryo from the end of the third week till the time 
of birth, but has not said any thing upon the subject of im- 
pregnation. 
Haighton a'nd Cruikshank, by experiments on rabbits,, 
confirmed the opinion of De Graaf,* that an ovum is carried 
from the ovarium into the uterus, but by mistaking the corpus 
* De Graaf’s observations are mentioned in the 7th Volume of the Phil. Trans, 
p. 4052. In the same volume, p. 4018, Dr. Kerkringius’s observations concern- 
ing eggs to be found in all sorts of females are noticed. 
