Volume 1

A treatise on the science and practice of midwifery / by W.S. Playfair.

  • William Smoult Playfair
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on the science and practice of midwifery / by W.S. Playfair. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

    97/432 (page 73)
    UNiv!_K3ii Y OF Leeds, Chap. III.] OVULATION AND MENSTRUATION. M is abundant, evidence of this connection, for we know that when, at the change of life, the Graafian follicles cease to develop, menstruation is arrested; and when the ovaries are removed by operation, of which there are now numerous cases on record, or when they are congenitally absent, men- struation does not generally take place. A few cases, how- J^J^JJ^^a- ever, have been observed in which menstruation continued not occur after double ovariotomy, and these have been used as an '^'^^^^J'^^J'^ argument by those physiologists who doubt the ovular theory 0^^°^.- of menstruation. Slavyansky has particularly insisted on Excep- such cases, which, however, are probably susceptible of ex- iJj)^,^. planation. It may be that the habit of menstruation may continue for a time even after the removal of the ovaries; and it has not been shown that menstruation has continued permanently after double ovariotomy, although it certainly has occasionally, although quite exceptionally, done so for a time. It is possible, also, that in such cases a small portion of ovarian tissue may have been left unremoved, sufficient to carry on ovulation. Roberts, a traveller quoted by Depaul and Gueniot in their article on Menstruation in the ' Dic- tionnaire des Sciences Medicales,' relates that in certain parts of Central Asia it is the custom to remove both ovaries in young girls who act as guards to the harems. These women, known as ' hedjeras,' subsequently assume much of the virile type, and never menstruate. The same close con- Similarity nection between ovulation and the rut of animals is observed, ^'^t'^'^'' ' menstrua- and supports the conclusion that the rut and menstruation tion and are analogous. The chief difference between ovulation in ^herntof , • animals. man and the lower animals is that in the latter the process is not generally accompanied by a sanguineous flow. To this there are exceptions, for in monkeys there is certainly a discharge analogous to menstruation occurring at intervals. Another point of distinction is that in animals connection never takes place except during the rut, and that it is then only that the female is capable of conception; while in the human race conception only occurs in the interval between the periods. This is another argument brought against the ovular theory, because, it is said, if menstruation depend on the rupture of a Graafian follicle and the emission of an ovule, then impregnation should only take place during or immediately after menstruation. Coste explains this by