Note G — Chapter VIII · THE FUNCTIONS OF THE FEMALE GENITAL ORGANS
Reading edition
According to Pflüger (Veit’s Handb. der Gyn. 1908, Vol. 3, p. 25) the pressure of the periodically growing Graafian follicle causes a continual irritation of the ovarian nerves, which, by reflex action, is the cause of the great congestion of the genitals. When the stimulus has reached a certain height, the congestion leads, on the one side, to the rupture of the follicle, on the other hand, to the menstrual change of the uterine mucosa. This theory has been abandoned, and the modern trend of opinion is to attribute the general congestion to chemical substances, thus returning to Brown-Sequard teachings that the periodical congestion is caused by a chemical substance which, produced within the ovary, enters the blood circulation.
According to L. Meyer, under the influence of ovulation, a continual production of substances, oophorines, necessary for the growth of the foetus, takes place. These substances circulate in the blood, and, when they are present in large amounts, cause a stimulation of the entire nervous system. This explains the nervous irritation and other phenomena of this period. During menstruation these substances are excreted.
G. Klein (Münch. med. Wochenschr. 1911, p. 997) thinks that the oophorines cause a chemical change of the uterine mucosa and of the blood circulating in the latter, and are themselves chemically changed. They then leave the body simultaneously with the menstrual blood. Hence menstruation is a real catharsis, in the sense of Hypokrates, a freeing of the body from the toxic effects of the oophorines. The presence of the oophorines during this period accounts for the different smell of menstrual blood from ordinary blood. The peculiar smell from the mouths of some menstruating women may also be attributed to the presence of the oophorines in the body.
When pregnancy has once been established, menstruation ceases for the entire period the mother is nursing her offspring, be the nursing within the uterus during gestation or later on during lactation, with the breast. Both periods comprise the time when the mother has to give her vital fluids for the nutrition of her offspring.