to demonstration by spaying animals, an operation which consists in taking away the ovaries. When both these bodies are removed, the subject has no longer any desire for copulation, loses the characteristics of her sex, and assumes more or less those of the male. This is remarked in all animals, but is particularly observable in the feathered tribes. If the ovaries be removed from a common domestic hen, she soon becomes decked with somewhat of the cock's plumage, her voice becomes changed, and instead of her usual cackle, she utters an imperfect crow. In the female of the human subject long straggling hairs grow upon the chin, the breasts become flabby, being deprived of part both of their fat and glandular structure, the skin loses its soft smoothness, the voice becomes harsh and discordant, and the individual might easily be mistaken for a male. Nor are the moral less influenced than the physical properties: sexual feelings are destroyed, and the delicacy of the female character disappears. This change was strictly exemplified in Mr. Pott's celebrated case, where both ovaries were removed in an operation for hernia. Similar results, indeed, take place, as are observed after castration of the male: so that to the presence of these little bodies, the testes in the male, and ovaria in the female, are to be attributed the distinctive physical marks and moral attributes of the two sexes.

The ovarium, then, is the most essential part of the female organs, and is universally found in the sexual genera of animals. They are very liberally supplied with blood from the spermatic arteries.

In birds, the ovarium resembles a bunch of grapes; in snakes, a string of yellow beads.

In young hens, the ovarium is said to contain about 400 yolks, from the size of a pin's head to their largest magnitude. The ovarium in fishes encloses an almost incredible number of ova. In a perch, of one pound two ounces, there were found 69-216; in a mackerel, of one pound three ounces, there were 129-200; in a carp, of eighteen inches in length, Petit found 342,144; and in a sturgeon, of one hundred and sixty pounds, there were 1,467,500.

Fallopian Tubes.-Running along the upper edge of each broad ligament there is a pervious canal, having two open extremi ties-one end communicating with the uterine, the other with the peritoneal cavities: to these we give the name, after their first describer, of Fallopian tubes. They are about four inches in length; they are covered externally by the peritoneum; possess a middle coat of muscular fibres, which run longitudinally, transversely, and obliquely, and an internal mucous coat,

a continuation of the mucous membrane

lining the uterus. At the abdominal extremity they are fringed, as we may see in the specimens on the table, and float loose and unconnected;-to this part of the tube the name of fimbriated extremity is given; from its office it has been called the morsus diaboli-the devil's bite. The mucous membrane which lines the tube is continued to the fimbria, and it is the only instance in the body where a mucous and a serous membrane join by continuation of structure—the only example, then, of a mucous membrane terminating in a shut cavity.

It is through this tube that the ovum, after impregnation, passes into the uterine cavity; and the mode in which it is effected is supposed to be the following. By its own inherent muscular power, the fallopian tube under the astrum venereale, erects itself somewhat like a snake raising its crest. By the same inherent muscular power it directs itself to the ovarium, it widely spreads its fimbriæ, expands itself upon the external surface of the gland, closely embraces it, and squeezes from it the contents of one or more of the vesicles of De Graafe. Freighted with their precious cargo, the fimbriæ approximate each other, close the orifice, before wide spreading and patulous, and a motion somewhat like the peristaltic action of the intestinal canal is then set up in the tube, by which means the ovum, now impregnated, traverses the length of the canal until it drops into the uterine cavity. We have both negative and positive proof of the strongest kind, that the ovum passes through the fallopian tube before it arrives at the uterus-negative, because there is no other canal through which it can be conveyed, there being no direct communication between the ovarium and the uterus; negative also, because, if we follow the experiments of Blundell, and cut away a portion of the fallopian tube from each side, so as to destroy the continuity of the canal, we prevent conception, although we do not take away the desire for copulation ;-but further, we have positive proof, because an impregnated ovum has been frequently found within the tube; it has been arrested in its transit, formed a bed for itself within the dilated canal, and there grown; constituting a species of that disease termed extra-uterine conception. Thus we cannot for a moment doubt that the ovum travels along the fallopian tube to gain the uterine cavity. The sensation commuicated to the finger by squeezing the tube, is very much like that of the spermatic cord. It is hard, firm, and wiry. In its office it is analogous to the vas deferens of the male.

the broad ligaments until they arrive at the sides of the pelvis. They then leave the broad ligaments, and, turning forwards, take their course round just below the brim, eventually pass out at the ring of the external oblique muscle, and are lost in the groin and parts adjacent. They consist of a congeries of blood-vessels, nerves, and absorbents; and by them a direct communication is kept up between the uterus within the pelvis, and the groin on the outside. It is through this direct communication that, in some of the malignant diseases of the uterus, the glands in the groin take upon themselves unhealthy action, and become enlarged, indurated, and occasionally ulcerated.

external in man, and internal in woman. Sir E. Home seems, in some respect, to follow the same idea in the singular hypothesis he framed. He suggests that the sex is not determined at the first formation of the individual, but that the parts of generation are originally so situated, and of such a structure, that they are capable of being perfected into either male or female organs when the sex is subsequently stamped. It cannot be denied that there is considerable resemblance between the ovaries and testes-the fallopian tubes and vasa deferentia-the penis and clitoris ;-but surely the speculation is too finely spun.

Now the linings of the pelvis are worthy of consideration. On removing the peritoneum, we observe a broad fan-like, or rather funnel-shaped muscle, rising from the bones below the brim, perforated by the urethra and vagina, and inserted into the sphincter ani: it is called the levator ani. On dissecting away these fibres, we observe the obturator internus, another muscle taking its origin from a part of the internal surface of the obturator ligament, running round the ischium like a pulley, through the small sacro-sciatic foramen, to be inserted into the root of the trochanter major. We observe the pyriformis, which rises from the side of the sacrum

mities of the fallopian tubes. p, right round ligament: the dotted line crosses the fundus of the bladder. q, os uteri. r, point of coccyx. s, sphincter ani. t, sphincter vesicæ. u, vagina. v, urethra: the dotted line crosses the perineum. w, meatus urinarius.

and passes out of the pelvis through the large sacro-sciatic foramen to be inserted also at the root of the trochanter major, near to the obturator. These muscles rotate the thigh outwards, they are pressed on during labour, and they are sometimes the seat of the pain which is felt in moving the thighs after parturition. We are not to believe that every pain which a woman feels when she moves her legs is the consequence of inflammation; for it may be produced merely by the pressure these muscles have suffered during the passage of the child. There is another muscle rising from the spinous process of the ischium, and passing backwards to support

the coccyx-the coxygeus. This is sometimes strained when the child's head presses outwards, and it gives pain occasionally in evacuating the rectum after delivery. We see the psoas and iliacus internus running outside the brim of the pelvis over the horizontal ramus of the pubis, to be inserted into the trochanter minor.

The arteries and nerves are also worthy of our attention. The external iliac artery runs over the brim of the pelvis by the side of the psoas muscle, so that it is not liable to pressure under labour. The internal iliac runs along the inner edge of the sacro iliac symphysis, and this may probably be compressed in some degree during the birth; not, however, to such an extent as materially to impede the circulation, because it lies deeply imbedded and cushioned in the surrounding structures. The same remark applies also to the internal iliac veins.

The nerves run in four divisions. There are four or five branches of cutaneous nerves, which rise from the last dorsal and two or three first lumbar, traverse the iliac and psoas muscles, and are expended on the integuments of the pelvis and of the fore and outer part of the thigh. These nerves are too high to suffer under labour, but during the last few weeks of pregnancy they are liable to pressure, which produces numbness in the seat of their distribution. The anterior crural nerve, one of great magnitude, takes its origin from the second, third, and fourth lumbar, passes over the pelvic brim outside the femoral artery to be distributed principally to the rectus femoris and other extensors of the leg. It also is out of the way of pressure under labour, but, like the cutaneous branches, may suffer towards the close of utero gestation, to such an extent as to produce cramps on the inner and fore part of the thigh. Thirdly, we have the obturator nerve, which also rises from the second, third, and fourth lumbar, runs round below the brim of the pelvis, and passes out at the upper part of the obturator foramen. This is distributed to the adductor muscles of the thigh, and sometimes produces cramps on the inside of the thigh at the commencement of labour, while the child's head is entering the brim. Fourthly, we have the great sciatic nerve, rising from the fourth and fifth lumbar, and from the first, second, and third sacral nerves. It is the largest nerve in the body. It lies over the sacro-iliac symphysis, passes out by the side of the pyriform muscle, through the large sacro sciatic foramen, to be distributed to the posterior part of the thigh, and to supply the leg and foot. This nerve, situated at the back part of the pelvic cavity and passing entirely through,

is particularly exposed to pressure during child-birth, and it is not surprising that much inconvenience should result. Nothing is more common, especially under lingering labour, than for a woman, when the head is fully occupying the pelvis, to complain of violent cramps at the back of the thigh, and especially the calf and plantar sole, adding much to the agony she endures. The fourth sacral nerve is entirely distributed to the parts within the pelvis and about the anus. The fifth is sometimes wanting, and always very small.

Thus, when first the uterus subsides, preparatory to its taking on expulsive action, the cutaneous and crural nerves suffer, producing numbness and pain at the fore part of the thigh; when the head is passing through the brim, the obturator may suffer, producing cramps on the inside of the thigh. When the labour is well advanced, the sciatic nerve may be pressed on, and violent cramps at the back part of the thigh, the calf of the leg, and the sole of the foot, are the consequence; occasionally, indeed, lameness or partial paralysis continues for some time afterwards. The varicose state of the veins, and anasarcous swelling of the lower extremities, so common under pregnancy, also originate from pressure, and mostly disappear, or are much relieved, after the termination of the labour.

[The Doctor concluded by demonstrating Tiedemann's folio plates of the uterine arteries and nerves; in which, he stated, they were better marked than in any other which he knew.]

CASE OF PSOAS ABSCESS. (Communicated by Sir James Macgrigor.)

Cape of Good Hope, July 23, 1833.

SIR, In the beginning of May of this year, L. C. V. ætatis 40, appeared to all his numerous friends and acquaintances as likely to enjoy a long continuance of good health as any person in the garrison: he was naturally endowed with a strong constitution, and he was of very active and temperate habits. Many years ago he had suffered from remittent fever, while serving on the insalubrious west coast of Africa; and he had then, also, disease of the liver, which he stated to have been accompanied with uncommonly severe spasms of the diaphragm, from which, however, he quite recovered by going to England.