I have already said that the ovum is contained in the Graafian vesicle, in which it grows and matures, as the fruit ripens on a tree, so the Graafian vesicle gradually ripens for the expulsion of the ovum, which gradually makes its way to the surface of the ovary. Within the Graafian vesicle the serous fluid accumulates, so that it ruptures and discharges its little ovum, which is taken up by the fringed extremity of the Fallopian tube, and carried along the oviduct into the womb, from which it escapes into the vagina, and is lost, provided conception has not taken place. Investigations have been made as to the number of ova certain mammalia discharge, and it has been found to correspond with the number of young that the animal produces at birth. Where a litter consists of from three to twenty, as in the bitch and the sow, a similar number of eggs ripen, and are discharged at the period of œstruation. In the cow or mare, and in the human female, as a rule, only one egg is discharged at each period of ovulation. The discharge of ripened ova does, however, occur in exceptional cases without any sign of the menstrual show, and the person may be susceptible to conception, so that we may reasonably infer, that ovulation constitutes the most important function of the menstrual period. MENSTRUAL DISORDERS. These are designated by different terms, not because each name signifies a particular disease, but simply an indefinite symptom of a diseased condition. In other cases menstrual disorder may produce symptoms that are common to widely different diseases. In other words, the phrase menstrual disorder, without being qualified as to its particular cause, means, from a practical standpoint nothing upon which a treatment can be intelligently based. Not any more than a cough which is simply an irritation of the bronchial nerves, and may be due to a bronchitis or pneumonia, or it may not be due to any pulmonary affection at all, as, for instance, in the case where an aneurismal tumor presses on the bronchial nerves, and excites severe paroxysms of coughing. A great many menstrual disorders are due, not to any disease of the generative organs, but to an affection of the nervous system. Menstruation may be precocious in some girls, and if the discharge is not accompanied with the usual symptoms of backache and some of the other symptoms that characterize the normal appearance of the menses, or if the girl is otherwise not fully developed, and has in this climate not reached her twelfth or fourteenth year, it constitutes a sign of a disease. If, however, the show recurs at certain intervals, it is not to be considered with the same degree of apprehension that it would be if it recurred at irregular intervals. The sanguineous discharge which shows itself at the genitals during an acute attack of an infectious disease, has no relation whatever with the menstrual function; this may take place in children at any early age.