II. FEMALE ORGANS OF GENERATION.

THESE organs of generation are composed of a gland (ovary), and excretory canals (Fallopian tube, womb, vagina, &c.), whose points of interest are represented, on one hand, as organs for copulation (vagina and its appendages), and on the other hand, as a place (womb) where the product of fecundation may be developed.

1. The ovary arises from that germ which, as we have learned, was placed on the inner border of the Wolffian body and remains unchanged until the close of the second month of embryonic life. We have also learned how this germ is developed into a testicle. When, however, it is destined to develop into an ovary, the peritoneal epithelium, which envelops the germ, sends offshoots or vegetations in form of culs de sac or pouches, which penetrate into the deeper portions of the organ (Fig. 133); these form true tubular glands

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(Fig. 133, 1, 2, 3); but soon the orifice of these tubular glands is obliterated (id., 4, 5), and there remains only a little cavity (id., 6) which is lined with epithelium and is completely closed. These very numerous cavities constitute the Graafian vesicles (Fig. 134); their epithelium is thus an offshoot from the peritoneal epithelium.

fian vesicle.*

2. The excretory canals are formed by the development of the Müllerian ducts (p. 478). The upper portion of these two ducts forms the Fallopian tube, which is free and ununited on either side; the lower portion unites with the corresponding portion of the opposite side to form the uterus, and an incomplete fusion of the two sides forms, in animals, the bifid uterus or double and independent wombs, as in the rodents. Thus is seen, as the opposite of what occurs in the development of the male organs of generation, that the Müllerian ducts develop into the female organs of generation, and the Wolffian body becomes atrophied; sometimes, and always in the cow, the excretory canal of the Wolffian body

*00, Surface of the ovary, and its epithelium, which at 1 forms a deep pouch, a sort of tubular glandular structure: this gland is gradually more and more isolated at 2, 3, 4, 5; at 6 it is completely separated, and forms a cavity lined with epithelium, which is hypertrophied at one point (d, Proligerous disc), wherein one of the cells has become the ovary (o).

persists in a rudimentary state, and is known by the name of Gärtner's canal.1

The vagina alone has not its homologue in man; it seems to be a sort of intermediate territory between the internal and external organs of generation.2

The external organs of generation originate, as in the case of man, from a perineal cleft which is in connection with the mucous surface of the deep-seated organs; only, whilst this cleft or fissure is closed in man, and so forms a canal (membranous and spongy portion of the urethra) which opens only at its anterior and superior extremity (meatus urinarius); in woman this fissure remains open, its boundary being formed by two cutaneous folds (labia majora), which do not join together, but circumscribe what is called the vulvar opening. Thus it may be seen that generally all the genital parts in women have their homologue in man. The ure

thral canal of the woman corresponds to that part of the urethra of the man, which extends from the neck of the bladder to the verumontanum or caput gallinaginis (crista urethra), upon the summit of which, and in front, opens the prostatic utricle or male uterus.3

A. Ovary and ovulation.1

To sum up, the ovary is an organ formed, in a physiological sense, of culs de sac, which become isolated and closed vesicles, and are lined with globular or spheroid epithelium. We shall find that there are three distinct kinds of epithelium in three grand divisions of the female organs of generation; viz., the globular form in the ovary, the vibratile columnar in the uterus, and, lastly, the tessellated pavement in the vagina.

The physiology of these organs shows that the epitheliums are the most important of their elements; with scarcely any activity in infancy and youth, at the period of puberty the

1 See Follin, "Recherches sur les Corps de Wolff." Thèse Inaugurale. Paris, 1850.

2 See A. Courty," Maladies de l'Utérus, des Ovaires, et des Trompes. Notions Préliminaires." Second edition, 1870, p. 74. 3 Kölliker, Entwickelungsgeschichte des Menschen und der

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höheren Thiere." Leipzig, 1861.

4 The importance of the ovarian function and its anomalies may be found by reference to Albert Puech, "Des Ovaires, de leurs Anomalies," in "Montpellier Médical." 1872 and 1873.

function of these epitheliums is suddenly developed; the ovarian epithelium gives the signal and ovulation ensues; the epithelium of the uterus, next, becomes very active either in the form of simple menstruation, or of gestation; lastly, the vaginal epithelium as well as its appendages (external genital organs) does not remain quiescent.

As the ovary is the seat of origin for most reflex and pathological phenomena we will commence our study with that organ.

The ovisacs or Graafian vesicles are formed of a little pouch of connective tissue, on whose inner surface a thick

layer of small globules are found (membrana granulosa, Fig. 134); at one point this layer is a little thicker aud forms the so called proligerous disc (G). One of these globules (E) of the proligerous disc becomes developed to a considerable size, being summoned to a higher destiny than its companions, and forms the ovum, the most perfect type of the cellular condition (Fig. 135); the ovum attains a size of or of a millimetre, and may be visible to the naked eye.

* A, B, Fibrous layers of the vesicle. C, Membrana granulosa. G, Tunica granulosa or proligerous disc, with the ovum. 1, Vitelline membrane. 2, Vitellus or yelk. 3, Germinal vesicle of Purkinje.

fA, Nucleolus, or germinal spot. B, Nucleus, or germinal vesicle. C, Yelk. D, Vitelline membrane, or zona pellucida.

Sometimes two ova are found in a Graafian vesicle (Bischoff,1 Davaine 2). This ovum is composed of a cellular envelope or vitelline membrane (or chorion, D), having protoplasmic contents or yelk (vitellus) (Fig. 135, C); we must not, however, confound this yelk with the entire yellow part of a bird's egg; the latter contains the egg of mammalia, as its tread or cicatricula, and, in addition, a great mass of nutrient material, the yellow, properly so called; a nucleus or germinal vesicle (B), which contains inside a nucleolus or germinal spot (A), is always found in the vitellus.

Not all the Graafian vesicles of an ovary arrive simultaneously at this degree of development, nor do they contain all their ova in a state of maturity.

It is only at the commencement of the period of puberty, or, more correctly, at each menstrual period, that one or two ovisacs (Graafian vesicles) are perfectly developed. At this time one of the Graafian vesicles, usually that next the surface of the ovary, is swollen, its contents augment, and it becomes more marked; that portion of its wall nearest the surface of the ovary presses against this surface; at this point occurs an arrest of nutrition, and consumption of its own walls; this condition, assisted by an increasing swelling of the central portion of the ovary (stroma or spongy portion of the ovary) readily induces a rupture of such a nature that the contents of the ovisac escape, bringing out the ovum with the debris of the proligerous disc. Usually this is the most favorable moment for fecundation of the ovum by the arrival of the spermatozoids, if, perchance, these latter have been introduced into the female genital organs; but whether the ovum is, or is not fecundated, the appendages of the uterus act, in a mechanical point of view, almost in the same man

ner.

After the expulsion of the largest part of its contents, the Graafian vesicle closes again and undergoes a cicatricial healing of its ruptured envelope, leaving but a slight trace of its rupture; it has also a yellow color received from the blood pigment, arising from a slight hemorrhage which accompanies

Bischoff, "Traité du Développement de l'Homme et des Mammifères," suivi de l'histoire du développement de l'oeuf du lapin. Translated from the German by A. J. L. Jourdan. Paris, 1843.

2 Davaine," Mémoires sur les Anomalies de l'Euf." Paris, 1861, 8vo, with illustrations.

its rupture. It is a most wonderful fact that, if the ovum does undergo fecundation, arrives in the uterus, and gestation occurs, there is produced in the ovary, by some mysterious and sympathetic reflex action, a hypertrophied evolution of the ruptured ovisac; to this hypertrophy an atrophy ultimately succeeds (at the close of pregnancy), which gives rise to a cicatrix analogous to the preceding, but much larger and more enduring. These cicatrices are called corpora lutea (corpus luteum, a yellow body): the first are called yellow bodies of menstruation, or false yellow bodies; the others are called yellow bodies of fecundation (of pregnancy), or true yellow bodies.

B. Fallopian tube, womb, and menstruation.

The ovum expelled from the ovary then falls outside that organ; it may fall into the peritoneum and there disappear, and, in case of fecundation, may there undergo a development (peritoneal pregnancy); but this is not the normal course: in the physiological conditions, ovulation is accompanied with particular phenomena which cause the ovum to fall into the fimbriated extremity of the Fallopian tube or oviduct. The Fallopian tube is a movable, contractile, and erectile organ. The contractility of this tube and that of the smooth muscular fibres which are found in the broad and ovarian ligaments, must favor the application of the orifices of the Fallopian tubes to the ovary (Ch. Rouget); yet, its erection has also some influence in this act, since there is sufficient erectile tissue arranged in such a manner that when in a state of turgescence the fimbriated extremity of the Fallopian tube would be made to embrace in its cavity the whole ovary. The ovum thus falls into the end of the Fallopian tube, whence, by means of the movements of the ciliated epithelium, and on account of the peristaltic contractions of this oviduct, it is passed along into the womb; at this latter place it sets in action certain phenomena if the ovum has been fecundated, or if it is non-fertilized it is thrown off with the catamenial or menstrual flow.

It has been recognized, in fact, that the fall of the ovum coincides almost exactly with the menstrual period (every

See Th. Keller, "Des grossesses Extra-utérines (avec deux observations de Koeberlé). Thèse de Paris, 1872, No. 157. 2 See Pouchet, "Ovulation Spontanée et Fécondation.’

Paris,,