Report on the progress of human anatomy and physiology in the year 1844-5 / [Sir James Paget].
- James Paget
- Date:
- 1846
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Report on the progress of human anatomy and physiology in the year 1844-5 / [Sir James Paget]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![weak, to which it gave milk, and which grew up healthy and strong. The young mother gave more than milk enough for its kid, grew up to full size and strength, and twice afterwards had kids. Processes following' the Discharge of Ova ; formation of Corpora La tea. Dr. Dubini* has carefully examined the ovaries in the bodies of many women, and has found—1. That in those who have never menstruated the ovaries have never shown any trace of cicatrices; but in those who have menstruated, cicatrices were never absent. 2. That in a few cases the ovaries of women who had been recently [but how recently?] delivered presented no corpus luteum. 3. That the number of the so-called old corpora lutea, i. e. of vesicles with thick opaque white walls, and deeply wrinkled, which are found in the ovaries of different women, bears no relation to the number of children they have borne M. Raciborskif states that in regard to the formation of these bodies, which he supposes to consist in the “ concentric hypertrophy” of the internal or granular membrane of the Graafian vesicle, there are characteristic differences between the females of the human species and of other mammalia. In the cow, ewTe, doe, &c., the corpora lutea begin to be formed directly after the expulsion of ova, and they are just the same, whether the ova are impregnated or not; they are always genuine true corpora lutea. But in women, if the ovum expelled at any men¬ strual period is not impregnated, the hypertrophy of the internal layer of the vesicle is soon arrested, and it remains a thin yellow membrane in contact with the more or less altered clot of blood. If it is impregnated, the consequent pro¬ cess is different, but in degree only, not in kind ; in this case the hypertrophy goes on, till very shortly the cavity of the vesicle is almost completely filled by the accumulated substance. And in this admission of the differences between the corpora lutea, according as the ova are impregnated or not, Berthold J agrees; holding, I think, that the purpose of the development of the true corpus luteum is that a process may be going on in the ovary which may exclude the ordinary maturation and discharge of ova during gestation. Some elucidation of what is thus roughly, though correctly, described as hypertrophy of the inner membrane of the Graafian vesicle, is afforded by the in¬ augural dissertation of Dr. Zwicky,§ who has minutely examined the formation of corpora lutea in cow’s and sows. The general results of his investigations may be thus briefly stated:—at the period of heat, when the ova are about to be dis¬ charged, the Graafian vesicle becomes more vascular and enlarges; serum is more abundantly secreted into it, and its membranes thicken. The cells also, part of which form the granular membrane of the Graafian vesicle, while part float in its fluid, are changed before the exit of the ovum. Flocculi appear in the fluid, and vascular folds and villi on the inner surface of the vesicle, which all consist of the altered cells. Some of the cells are changed by elongation into small narrow fibrous cells, which at last become fibres of imperfect fibro-cellular tissue ; and others are changed into larger round or ovate cells, which also, unless they burst, are ultimately changed into similar fibres. And again, some other cells become four, or five, or even ten times as large as they were, and very finely granular; their nuclei also become larger and clearer, and their nucleoli more evident. Their enlargement appears to depend on the accumulation of the little fat-gra¬ nules which the Graafian vesicles always contain. As they increase they pass from the round or ovate, into the oblong or acuminated form. The fat-granules and other fatty particles are those in which the yellow colour of the corpus luteum, when it exists, is contained. When the ovum is discharged through the ruptured Graafian vesicle, blood is * Annali Univ. di Medicina, Febbr., 1845, p.277* t Report from the Acad, des Sciences ; Gazette Medicale, 23 Nov. 1844. t Ueberdas Gesetz des Schwangerschaftsdauer; Gottingen, 1844, p. 17. § De Coporuin Luteorum origine atque transformatione ; Turici, 1844, 8vo.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30379593_0062.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
