The periodical maturation and extrusion of ova, independently of coitus, in mammalia and man, proved to be the primary condition to their propagation / translated from the German of Th. L.W. Bischoff, by Henry Smith.

  • Bischoff, Theodore Ludwig Wilhelm, 1807-1882.
Date:
1845
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The periodical maturation and extrusion of ova, independently of coitus, in mammalia and man, proved to be the primary condition to their propagation / translated from the German of Th. L.W. Bischoff, by Henry Smith. 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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    soon recovered perfectly, and I therefore, on the 22d of June, placed it again with the male. The sexual desire of the doe was so strong, that it not only permitted coitus immediately, but during the intervals imitated the act upon the other does. Four days afterwards I killed it. I found on the left ovary three, and on the right five, recent corpora lutea, and in addition a Graafian vesicle filled with black coagulated blood. Satisfied with this result, I unfortunately only examined the tube with reference to ciliary motion, which it exhibited very strong and perfect. In the summer of 1841 I had excised the uterus of the right side from another rabbit, leaving the fallopian tube and ovary. This animal sub- sequently exhibited strong signs of being “ at heat,” drove the other does about, mounted on their backs, and so on. Notwithstanding this, so often as I placed it with the buck, it would not permit the act of copulation to be effected: such was the case on the 15th and 16th of May, 1842. I had quite forgotten the former operation upon it. I allowed it to remain with the male unnoticed from the 17th to the 21 st of May, and on the latter day made use of it for another experiment. I now found to my surprise the traces of the operation; and, in addition, that coitus had notwithstanding taken place. In the upper portion of the left uterus I found an ovum, which at- tracted notice from its slightly swollen and transparent condition. Tbe stage of its development corresponded to that usually observed in the ova of rabbits about the 9th day. The ovary exhibited a corpus luteum. The right uterus was wanting, and the lower end of the tube was adherent to the lower portion of the excised uterus, and both were closed. Between them was a thick cheesy mass, which, when examined under the micro- scope, exhibited pus globules, and within which the ligatures made use of in the operation were inclosed. The ovary presented four corpora lutea, just as perfectly developed as that of the left side. It occurred to me to examine the fallopian tube, and I unexpectedly found the four ova in the centre of it. They had manifestly advanced a certain extent in their development, had then remained stationary, and were now on the point of aborting. The discus proligerus had disappeared, and in its place a slight layer of albumen had formed around the zona; the latter was somewhat swollen. The vitellus did not completely fill the zona, and clearly showed signs of resorption. It was irregular, very pale, granular, and small. Some darker granules were remarkable in the yolk of one of the ova. On the 19th and 20th of January, 1843, 1 removed, in four portions, both the uteri (with the exception, as will afterwards appear, of a small portion at either end of each) from a Pomeranian bitch, which had copulated three weeks previously; they contained five ova. The animal bore the operation very well; and as it was my intention to let it five, I