The article Uterus and its appendages from the Cyclopaedia of anatomy and physiology : comprising the normal and abnormal anatomy, physiology and development of the uterus, ovary, parovarium, Fallopian tube, vagina, vulva and placenta / by Arthur Farre.

  • Farre, Arthur, 1811-1887.
Date:
[1858]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The article Uterus and its appendages from the Cyclopaedia of anatomy and physiology : comprising the normal and abnormal anatomy, physiology and development of the uterus, ovary, parovarium, Fallopian tube, vagina, vulva and placenta / by Arthur Farre. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    in infancy, or wiiicii may continue to form during life, undoubtedly perish. No sexual influence is needful to the production of any of these changes. The whole occur sponta- neously, whatever may be the condition of the female. How far the influence of the male may assist in hurrying on to maturity any of these |)ro- cesses is a question which will be considered hereafter, when the proofs of the statements now made as to the independence of these processes will also be investifjated. But it is sufficient here to refer to the fact of the spon- taneity of these occurrences, in order to place under one category all the changes which the ovary suffers, up to a certain point, independ- ently of any sexual influence. Two circumstances here also may be more especially noticed : the one is, that the yel- low colour which the proper ovisac or inner coat of the follicle exhibits towards the term of its ripening is distinctly recognisable for some time anterior to the occurrence of the rupture. It occurs in all follicles at this stage alike, both in Man and animals, and under all circumstances, whether coitus be permitted or not; but even when coitus is permitted, it is found at a period long anterior to that at which the act of coition could by any possibility be influential in its production. The other circumstance which it may be important here to notice is, that the yellow structure is no new nor superadded part, but is the ovisac itself, altered by the gradual de- posit in its texture of a yellow oil, which at length accumulates to such a degree as to con- vert this previously translucent wall of the follicle into an opaque yellow membrane or coat. But neither in any of these stages, nor in any subsequent ones, is there interposed either between the walls of the follicle or be- tween these latter and the surrounding ova- rian stroma, any new substance or body of any kind. The yellow colour is confined to the inner coat of the follicle, nor have I ever seen it in any one instance penetrating to the outer coat or covering of the ovisac. There is only one new coat formed, which will be hereafter described ; and that coat, often of considerable thickness, is a part entirely superadded, which, after a certain stage in the metamorphosis of the follicle, is applied in the inner side again of the yellow coat, to which it forms a lining. This, although a new forma- tion, is also, as will be presently shown, con- .structed out of materials existing in the fol- licle before its rupture. The final purpose of the Graafian follicle being now accomplished, it may seem a matter of comparatively little interest or importance, in a physiological point of view, to trace its ultimate conditions ; for the changes which this structure next undergoes have for their object solely its obliteration. But the process of obliteration or retrogression does not, like the process of development, take place under all circumstances alike. Here the influence of impregnation is exhibited in a degree so remarkable as to have given rise to a general Siipp. belief that the changes experienced by the follicle, when impregnation has accompanied or followed its rupture, are essentially dilierent in their nature iuid character from those which ensue when impregnation has not taken place ; whereas these differences, it will be shown, are differences chiefly of degree; and yet they are so considerable as to have called forth almost as great a share of attention as has been given, perhaps, to any structure in the human body. But great as is the interest attached to this structure on account of the evidence which it may aflTord of the previous occurrence or non- occurrence of impregnation, yet, so various are the views and statements of those who have specially directed their attention to the subject, that neither among physiologists, pa- thologists, nor medical jurists, can it be said that there is at present any concord of opinion or common ground of understanding. Admitting, however, for the present that there is a marked diff^erence observable in the changes which the Graafian follicle undergoes, according as impregnation has or has not ac- companied or followed the escape of the ovum, we thereby obtain a starting-point, or rather a point of divergence, from which we may follow out these changes in two dif- ferent series : the one series will include the alterations in the follicle which ensue when impregnation fails, or does not oc- cur; the other, those which it experiences in consequence of impregnation having taken place. Fourth Stage. Period of Decline and Obli- teration of the Graafian Follicles. A. Without Impregnation.—This constitutes the first degree of the descending scale in the history of development of the follicle. Im- mediately after the escape of the ovum, the inherent contractility of the tunica albugi- nea of the ovary occasions a diminution in the prominence of the lacerated vesicle. The margins of the opening become approxi- mated in consequence of the collapsing of the walls, and from the edges of the laceration there occurs a slight fibrinous exudation which cau ses them to become agglutinated. If the aper- ture has been of considerable size, and no cot remains in the cavity to keep its walls from collapsing, the ])rocess of obliteration may proceed rapidly; but if a clot remains, and especially if it is of considerable size, it will serve to support the walls, and prevent them from quickly shrinking. These different conditions will for a time affect the new disposition which the inner membrane of the follicle takes soon alter the rupture is complete. In proportion as the cavity is empty, the elasticity of the outer fibrous coat will, by its retraction, occasion a diminution of the cavity; but the inner coat, having already increased during the growth of the follicle in a greater degree than its outer covering, will now, in this collapsed and nearly empty condition of the sac, suffer the same change that would result from en- closing a large bladder within a smaller one.