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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    refuted in these particular instances, by the fact, that the ova, in con- sequence of the impediment to that material contact, were not endued with the capacity of development, and aborted. Had the extrusion of the ova, the development of the corpora lutea, &c. in these instances been conditionate on the semen and coition, the ova would have become fecun- dated also, and have advanced in their development. I consider, therefore, that notwithstanding the intercurrence of copulation, these experiments prove the independent progress of development of the ova. Another observation which I was so fortunate as to make, shows, how- ever, still more decidedly, how independent the maturation and extrusion of the ova are of coition. With a view to ascertain the point to which the seminal fluid penetrated in the bitch immediately in the act of coition, I obtained a strong and vigorous young one, which had never borne young. In order that I might know with perfect certainty when the first act of copulation took place, I kept the animal about me in my house, and watched it closely. At the beginning of June, 1843, I remarked that it was about to be “in heat,” for the dogs began to follow her about, and a flow of blood took place from the vagina. On Friday, June 9th, however, the animal would on no account permit coitus to take place. It was therefore chained up, and kept strictly isolated until mid-day on Sunday. At three-quarters past 1 o’clock on that day I again brought a dog to her, and she then for the first time received the male. Immediately afterwards I cut out the left uterus, ovary, and fallopian tube, closing the wound by suture. I first examined the uterus, and found it quite filled, even up to its extreme point, with lively-moving spermatozoa. My next object was to examine the tube, in order to see whether the semen had already penetrated into it also : as I was preparing this, and laying bare the ovary, I saw to my surprise that the ova, which I had confidently expected to be yet in the Graafian vesicles, must have already left the ovary. I observed upon the ovary five small red openings, from one of which a small red mass grew forth, and saw that five Graafian vesicles had already opened there. The formation of the corpora lutea proceeding from the bottom and walls of the follicle was already far ad- vanced ; at the same time, they still contained a considerable cavity filled with limpid serum, which however no longer held an ovum. This afforded me additional evidence of the probability that such a condition of parts had led previous observers, who were unacquainted with the ovum itself, to think that the follicles were not as yet opened. I forthwith, however, became fully convinced that the opening had taken place, for I found the five ova close together, already advanced nearly two inches in the tube. The examination of them yielded nothing novel. Their condition was altogether that which I have always seen in the ova at the same stage, and