On a mal-conformation of the uterine system in women : and on some physiological conclusions to be derived from it : in a letter to Sir E. Home, bart. V.P.R.S. / by A.B. Granville.

  • Granville, A. B. (Augustus Bozzi), 1783-1872.
Date:
1818
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On a mal-conformation of the uterine system in women : and on some physiological conclusions to be derived from it : in a letter to Sir E. Home, bart. V.P.R.S. / by A.B. Granville. 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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    the cause that has been supposed to influence the procreation of the two sexes: and to answer effectually, if an answer to such a proposition can be thought necessary, the arguments adduced by some systematic writers on the subject, but more particularly by Mons. Millot, in a recent work, “ on the art of procreating the two sexes at pleasure;” in which he lays down distinct precepts for ensuring to parents either a male, or a female succession. Most of these systems, and that of the latter physiologist more especially, are founded on the ovarium and the other uterine appendages being always double; and it is curious to reflect, that however gratuitous such an idea might seem, no proof to the contrary has ever been brought forward before, to my knowledge. The case I have now recorded; however, expunges of course for ever from our books of physiology such an hypothesis, and leaves us to discover a moi’e plausible reason for this peculiar and very interesting feature in the process of generation. It moreover puts to rest our* doubts respecting a pheno- menon of even greater importance, the existence of which, every physiologist, who has treated on the subject, with the exception of yourself, seems to have been disposed to deny. I allude to the fact of the ova of twins, and those of different sexes too, coming from the same ovarium; when, as in the pre- sent case, the fimbriated part of the Fallopian tube must ne- cessarily remain attached for a considerable length of time to the ovarium, so as to allow both ova to pass into the uterus, without any union taking place between their membranes at any period of their progress through the tube, and afterwards coming in contact with a different part of the womb, to which they adhere. These circumstances necessarily suppose a dis-