Graphic illustrations of abortion and the diseases of menstruation / Consisting of Twelve Plates from Drawings Engraved on Stone, and Coloured by Mr. J. Perry, and Two Copper-plates from the Philosophical Transactions, Coloured by the Same Artist. the Whole Representing Forty-five Specimens of Aborted Ova and Adventitious Productions of the Uterus, With Preliminary Observations, Explanations of the Figures and Remarks, Anatomical and Physiological.

by A. B. Granville

Fig. 8, and 9.

Are also examples of denuded or diaphanous Ova, to which the same remarks apply as to the preceding specimen. The enlargement of Ovum 8 is even greater than that of Ovum 9: yet the embryo of the latter is more advanced and more clearly delineated by nature than is the case with Embryo 8. We know that these two Ova and No. 7, are more than two months old from the length of the umbilical cord as compared to that of the fœtus: for from the second to the sixth month of pregnancy, the length of the cord is proportionately greater than that of the fœtus.—(See Meckel and others.)

In examining these denuded or diaphanous Ova, I have been struck with that small circular spot on their surface, generally of an opaque colour, which has been called the cicatricula, and is not unlike that which is found in some of the Ova of birds. This spot is well marked by the artist in the last three specimens, and in two of the figures of Plate 3. I take the cicatricula to be that part of the Ovulum which adhered to its ovarian nest (called the vesicula graafiana), before it burst from the Ovarium to pass into the womb consequently on fecondation. It is to be seen on all the ovula so situated in the Ovaria of women, and is considered to contain the rudiments of the embryo, which certainly begin from a little straight line that may be distinctly seen in the cicatricula.—(See Meckel, Adelon, Geoffroy St. Hilaire, Prevost, &c.)