A treatise on the science and practice of midwifery / By W. S. Playfair.
- William Smoult Playfair
- Date:
- 1885
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 Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.
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![not developed in its stroma. These tnbular filaments disappear shortly after birth, but they have recently been detected by Slavyansky ^ in the ovaries of a woman thirty years of age. These observations have been modified by Dr. Fonlis.^ He recognizes the origin of the ovules from the germ-epithelium covering the surface of the ovary, which is itself derived from the WolflHan body. He believes all the ovules to be formed from the germ-epithelium corpuscles, which become imbedded in the stroma of the ovary, by the outgrowth of processes of vascular connective tissue, fresh germ-epithelial corpuscles being constantly pro- duced on the surface of the organ up to the age of two and a half years, to take the place of those already imbedded in its stroma. He believes the Graafian follicles to be formed by the growth of delicate processes of connective tissue between and around the ovules, but not from tubular inflections of the epithelium covering the gland, as described by Waldeyer (Fig. 37). This view is supported by the researches of Balfour,^ who arrives at the conclusion that the whole egg-containing Fig. 37. .r \TJ Vertical Section through the Ovary of the Hmiian Foetus. g g. Gerni-ppitlieliuiu, witli o o. Developiiig: ovules in it. s s. Ovarian stroma, containing c c c. Fusiform connective-tissue cciriiuscles. v v. Capillai'y blood-vessels. In the centre of tlie tigure an involution of the gcrni-epitlieliiini is sliown ; and at tlie left lower sitle a primordial ovule, with the connective-tissue corpuscles ranging tlieniselves round it. (After Foulis.) part of the ovary is really the thickened germinal epithelium, broken up into a kind of meshwork by growths of vascular stroma. According to this theory, Pfluger's tubular filaments are merely trabeculse of germinal epithelium, modified cells of which become developed into ovules. _ The greater portion of the Graafian follicles are only visible with the high ])owers of the microscope, but those which are approaching matur- ity are distinctly to be seen by the naked eye. The quantity of these follicles is iuimense. Foulis estimates that at birth each huiiian ovary contains not less than 80,000. jS^o fresh follicles appear to be formed after birth, aud as development goes on some only grow, and, by pres- ^ Annulex de Ch/iu'c, Feb., 1S71. 2 Prnreech'iu/s nf Ihe B<u/(tl Soc. of Erlhib., Aiiril, 1875, and Journ. of Anat. and Phys., vol. xiii., 1879. ^ F. M. Balfour, Structure and Development of Vertebrate Ovary, Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, vol. xviii., 1878.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2121072x_0084.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
