The correlation of the ovarian and uterine functions / by E.S. Carmichael.

  • Carmichael, E. S.
Date:
[1907]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The correlation of the ovarian and uterine functions / by E.S. Carmichael. 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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    January 20 it was killed when quite full grown and in perfect condition. Weight, 3020 grammes. The ovaries were extremely well developed and contained numerous discharged follicles. Experiments mid b.—In each experiment the uterus was removed from a very young rabbit, excepting the cervix, and the rabbit killed after several months (in the one case after eight months and in the other after 10 months). CEstrus was noticed in both cases after the animals had reached maturity. The ovaries in both cases were normal, those of one animal containing large follicles, and those of the other (which had been with the buck) recently ruptured follicles. Experiment 6.—The uterus was removed entire from a very young rabbit on May 17. Weight, 470 grammes. In August the animal was observed to he ill and on August 28 was killed. The ovaries had undergone development since the operation and were normal in histological appearance. Experiment 7.—The uterus and Tallopian tubes were completely removed from a young rabbit on December 9. The rabbit was killed on April 3, when the ovaries were found to he normal and to contain many follicles. In four experiments on rats the uterus was removed entire in the month of July. Two of the rats were killed in January, when the ovaries show^ed no indications of degeneration. The other two were killed in April, the ovaries being large in size and containing many protruding follicles. On the other hand, marked uterine degeneration has been recorded in rats after the removal of the ovaries for shorter intervals of time (Marshall and Jolly, 1907). Further, in the case of a ferret in which the uterus was removed, the histological appearance of the ovaries was normal after three months, when the animal unfortunately died. The interval which had elapsed, however, was probably too short to admit of the deduction of definite conclusions. It may be concluded as a result of these experiments that the growth and development of the ovaries are in no way dependent upon the presence of the uterus. Such a conclusion is no doubt in opposition to some of the clinical evidence, hut it is one which on phylogenetic grounds might be expected, since the uterus is an organ which came into existence compara- tively recently in the course of vertebrate evolution, whereas the ovary is common to all Metazoa. It has been shown, further, that oestrus and coitus may occur after the complete removal of the uterus. Whether under such a condition the other generative organs undergo any of the changes which normally characterise the prooestrum was not determined, since such changes are in any case dilficult to detect in rabbits.