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 the ovary remain, and no new ones are superadded, there will still be more than sufficient for all the purposes of reproduction. But as the functional activity of the ovary, so far as relates to the emission of ova in a state fit for impregnation, is restrained on the one side until the arrival of a certain stage of development of the parent, so on the other a period equally arrives, after which this povyer of producing and emitting ova altogether fails; and it is plain that both these restrictions con- tribute to one and the same end, the limita- tion, namely, of the office of reproduction to that period of life in which the vital energies of the producing body, having attained to full perfection, remain still unimpaired, so that the qualities of health and vigour in the parent may be transmitted undiminished to the oft- spring. From this it results that the ovary in Man, as well as in the Mammalia generally, has three noticeable periods : the first, of prepara- tion; the second, of activity; and the third, of decay : and these correspond respectively with the periods of infancy and childhood, of youth and prime, and of decline and old age. The condition of the ovary at each of these epochs will be traced ; hut the middle period is obviously that to which the chief interest attaches. During certain portions of this epoch, and in some instances through more or less of its whole extent, the ovary is employed in ripen- ing and emitting ova. In this respect, how- ever, greater variation is perceptible in dif- ferent species than in any other particular. But in all alike this one circumstance is ob- servable, namely, that the emission of ova is a periodic occurrence. Now the periods of emission of ova may so occur as to make the times of parturition co- incident with the returns of those seasons which are most favourable for the rearing of the young. In such cases the capacity for impregnation may be limited to one period of the 3ear, the ova being ripened and emitted only at that time. The roe affords an inter- esting example of this. The doubts which have been sometimes entertained as to the precise time at which the roe becomes impreg- nated have now been settled by the recent very careful researches of Bischoft*, who has proved that this occurs at the end of July and during the month of August, and that it is only then that the ovaries of the female con- tain ripe ova, and the testes of the male ripe semen. At other times these are not to be found ; hence it follows that in this animal im- pregnation is impossible at all other seasons. But in many animals the periods of ripening and discharge of the ova recur with much greater frequency ; and probably climate, food, domestic care and the like, exercise a certain degree of influence in modifying the returns of these periods. In the human female the same periodicity is observable; and it is now rendered in the high- * Kiitwick. lies Rchcs, I8u'l. OVARY — (Functions). 553 est degree probable that in her case the times of ripening and generally of the discharge of the ova are coincident with the times of menstruation*, just as it has been proved beyond dispute that in other Mammalia the same process accompanies that more obvious condition of aptitude and desire for sexual intercourse to which the terms oestrus and rut are applied. A periodical maturation, therefore, of ova, accompanied by dehiscence of the ovicapsules and discharge of their contents, may be said to constitute the principal offices of the ovary during the prime of life. But notwithstanding that these processes are periodically performed, the ovary cannot at any time be said to be in a condition of perfect rest, except under cir- cumstances which will be presently noted; for whilst some ovisacs may be observed to he advancing and preparing to emit ova, others may be seen receding or becoming obliterated. The cHmax, however, of each serial process is the dehiscence or rupture of one or more follicles. Upon this the whole force of the ovary is, as it were, for the time concentrated. This event being terminated, the activity of the ovary passes away as regards that parti- cular follicle. Enough, however, of vital energy remains in the now useless part to suf- fice for the healing of the wound, and the closing and obliteration of the cavity left after the escape of the ovum. But the blood gra- dually deserts the walls of the previously congested ovisac, the distended vessels in its neighbourhooil shrink and become obliterated, and the action is transferred to another set of follicles, one or more of which pass through a similar order of changes. Two circumstances, however, arrest for a time this process. The one is the occurrence of utero-gestation, the other the performance of lactation ; and although occasional excep- tions may be observed, yet so far as this ques- tion has been examined, the evidence collected favours the belief, that in pregnant women and in those who suckle, no ova are emitted during the coritinuance of either of these processes.-j- This view also, so far as relates to lactation, receives support from the well-known circum- stance that a considerable degree of immunity from impregnation occurs during the conti- nuance of lactation, a circumstance easily ex- plained upon the supjjosition that at that time usually no ova are matured or emitted. It will now he necessary to trace in detail the [)rocess of ovulation, so far as regards the structures concerned in that process which properly belong to the ovary. A general account of the (jraafian follicle in its mature state having been already given at p. 550., the changes which this important structure undergoes at different periods of its development and decay will now be examined. * Tlie question of the connection between iiien- striiatioii and liio niiitiiialion anil discharge of ovii from tlin ovary, is con.sidereil under the head Men- sli uation at ])uge OCG. t Nt'grier, Itcchcrchca sur Ics Ovaires, chap. ii. iii.