Anatomy.—The ovaries vary a good deal in size, within the limits of health, in different individuals. It is unusual to find the two ovaries in the same person exactly alike in size, shape, and appearance.
Fig. 158.—Uterus, tube, and ovary of a child one month old (Sutton).
The size, shape, and appearance of the ovary change at the different periods of life. In the new-born child the ovary is elongated and lies parallel to the Fallopian tube ([Fig. 158]). In rare cases this infantile shape of the ovary may persist throughout life.
The general shape of the mature ovary is oval. The average measurements are—long axis, 3 to 5 centimeters; breadth, 2 to 3 centimeters; thickness, 12 millimeters; weight, 100 grains. These measurements are subject to great variations. Henning’s table of measurements shows that the ovary of the multipara is no larger than that of the virgin.
After the menopause the ovaries shrink a great deal in size, sharing in the general atrophy of all the reproductive organs. The ovary of an old woman may weigh but 15 grains.
The healthy ovary is of a pinkish pearly color. On its surface are seen small bluish areas that mark the position of unruptured or of recently ruptured ovarian follicles. The ripening follicles project somewhat from the surface of the ovary, and the old ruptured follicles are marked by scars which in time cover and render irregular the whole surface of the ovary ([Fig. 159]).
The surface of the ovary becomes more irregular and wrinkled after the menopause. The follicles disappear, until finally nothing is left but a mass of fibrous tissue and a few blood-vessels.
The ovary lies in the posterior layer of the broad ligament. It is attached by this connection with the broad ligament and by the ovarian and infundibulo-pelvic ligaments.
