IV. An account of two cases, in which ovules, or their remains, were discovered in the fallopian tubes of unimpregnated women who had died during the period of menstruation

The observations that have been made at various times, during the last thirty years, by Messrs. Power, Lee, Barry, Wharton Jones, Girdwood, and others in this country, together with the experimental researches of MM. Valentin, Gendrin, Wagner, Bischoff, Pouchet and Raciborski on the Continent, have, I think, clearly proved that the phenomena manifested during the period of the catamenia in women, are closely connected with those observed during the time of heat or rut in quadrupeds; and that both of these phenomena are dependent on one cause, namely, the maturation of ovules. But while this hypothesis has been very generally admitted, there is, I believe, a tendency in the minds of many physiologists of the present day, to doubt whether the ovules so matured are ever extruded from the ovary and carried into the Fallopian tubes, without the stimulus of impregnation, or, at any rate, without the congress of the male. In support of this view, or rather of these doubts, an appeal is often made to the fact, that an ovule has never yet been detected in either of the Fallopian tubes of a virgin, who has died during the period of the catamenia, notwithstanding that many subjects have been examined, that most careful search has been instituted, and that appearances have frequently been noticed indicating the recent rupture of a Graafian follicle. In point of fact, it is imagined by those who entertain such doubts, that the fecundation of the germ takes place while it is within the Graafian follicle, and consequently, that if the ovule fails to be the subject of impregnation it never quits the ovary, but perishes within its formative vesicle. On the other hand, the researches of Bischoff have led him to enunciate a law, the purport of which is the very reverse of the preceding; for he says, that “the ovules formed in the ovaries of females of the human species and of mammiferous animals, undergo a periodical maturation, quite independently of the male seminal fluid. At these periods, known as those of heat or the rut in animals, and menstruation in the human female, the ovules which have become mature, disengage themselves from the ovary and are extruded. If the union of the sexes takes place, the ovule is fecundated by the direct action of the semen upon it. If no union of the sexes occurs, the ovule is nevertheless extruded from the ovary, and enters the Fallopian tube, but there perishes.” The law, as thus expressed, is in conformity with the opinions entertained by Drs. Robert Lee, Paterson, Girdwood, Gendrin, Pouchet, Raciborski, Mr. Wharton Jones, and many other authorities of the present time. It is also in accordance with the more ancient doctrines of Malpighi, Sir Everard Home, and Dr. Power. Nevertheless, as the truth of this law, in its application to the human female, appears to be still open to the evidence of positive proof, I have thought it desirable to publish a report of the two following cases.