The human female ovary, with reference to corpora lutea, both true and false / by Frank Renaud.

  • Renaud, F. (Frank), 1819-1904.
Date:
[1845]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The human female ovary, with reference to corpora lutea, both true and false / by Frank Renaud. 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 ovary an appearance as if gashed with a knife. This is caused by the lateral contractions of the gland, which go on for some time, until an ovary once measuring seven lines across, will frequently be no more than two lines. The aptitude for child-bearing at puberty is associated with a rapid increase and development of the ovary and its specific I secretion. The first design in the animal economy appears to be a retardation of the generative or super-system of parts, so that time may be allowed for all the organic functions immediately affecting life, to be either fully constituted, or to be rapidly advan- | cing towards completion, in order that collision of action, with consequent blight to both, may be avoided:—for, as Dr Walker expresses the fact, in his work on intermarriage, “ a premature de- | velopment diminishes both strength of body and vigour of mind— deteriorates all moral qualities, and is extensively fatal to life, and its permanent enjoyment.” In like manner, the ovaria preside over the decline of the repro- ductive functions. This may be a part only of a general system of decay, manifested more particularly in the glandular system; or, it may be urged that the powers of absorption, at this exact period, predominate over those of secretion, and therefore, as the develop- ment of Graafian vesicles pre-supposes an action diametrically the reverse, they can no longer be protruded—whilst those already advanced will undergo gradual degeneration. Hence the small puckered cysts or ovisacs, of a white colour, so commonly found about this period. Moreover, as during the entire child-bearing period, the vital energies and functions of the female may be counted as in the ascendant, and indeed excessive, so, at the critical period it is that the balance is struck, and an equilibrium constituted, which shortly gives place to a gradual decline, the vital powers becoming more and more taxed to maintain the integrity of the organism. , Thus, as the reproduction of the species is a function altogether superimposed on the physiological organisation of the parent, when the parent organism shows signs of decreased vitality, the repro- ductive system may be inferred to be that most likely first to be- come inoperative, and to suffer decay. June 30, 1845. 10, Piccadilly, Manchester. ANDREW JACK, PRINTER, EDINBURGH.