Ovary

Ovary. The ovaries in the human female subject are two oval bodies which lie on either side of the uterus, enclosed in the broad ligament, of that organ. Each ovary measures about an inch and a half by three-quarters of an inch, and is nearly half an'inch in thickness; it is attached by what is called the ligament of the ovary to the uterus, and is also attached to the Fallopian tube, which receives the ovum discharged from the ovary at the time of ovulation (i.e. at or about the period of menstruation), and transmits it to the uterus. The ovum is enveloped by a dense capsule (tunica albuginea), and is composed of a, peculiar connective tissue stroma, with interspersed follicles, the Graafian vesicles. In each of these vesicles there is developed an ovum, and when the vesicle matures it increases in size, its periphery approximates to the surface of the ovary, and rupture of the vesicle ultimately occurs with discharge of the contained ovum. Diseases of the ovary.' The ovary is sometimes affected by inflammation, and may be the seat of a new growth. The huge cysts which develop in connection with the ovary, and which if left to pursue their natural course attain a very great size, have in recent years been successfully treated by operation. At one time the merely palliative method of tapping such ovarian cysts was resorted to; in the first half of the present century removal of the cyst was attempted in several instances, but the results were not very encouraging, there being a large percentage of deaths. Modern operators have, however, demonstrated that orariotomy, as it is called, is a procedure which in competent hands is only attended with a very small degree of risk to life, and they have thus rendered amenable to treatment what was in former days a horrible and usually fatal disease.