Structure of uterine mucosa and its bearing on changes in menstruation and pregnancy: Mode of action of foetal structures and opening-up of maternal vessels; Imbedding of human ovum with account of very early specimen; Function of the decidua

Abstract

The following thesis embodies the results of investigations conducted over a period of aboi.it one year and a half. A great part of the work was carried out in the Royal College of Physicians Laboratory, Edinburgh.

The investigations originated in the discovery of a distinct resemblance between the modes of production of the oedematous and haemorrhsgic infiltration of the tissues in the menstruating uterine mucosa and in the wall of the pregnant Fallopian Tube. This discovery led, on the one hand, to a study of the structure of the uterine mucous membrane, and, on the other hand, to an extension of the investigations on the mode of action of the foetal elements. By this means I hoped to arrive at an explanation of the menstrual changes and of the alterations which the mucosa exhibits during pregnancy. That this hope has been realised I shall endeavour to prove in the course of the thesis.