Ovogenesis during sexual maturity as elucidated by experimental methods.

It has been repeatedly claimed that ovogenesis continues during sexual maturity but the evidence so far has not been considered entirely conclusive. On this account the more popular view among morphologists today is that ovogenesis in mammals ceases before puberty. The primary ovocytes contained in the mature ovary are not thought to be newly formed but simply stored there for later use.The chief reason that a demonstration of post-pubertal ovogenesis has been so difficult is on account of the fact that the process in normal mature ovaries is much retarded and easily overlooked.Recently my attention to this problem has been attracted by studying a series of ovaries from guinea pigs, in which the thyroids have been treated with radium emanation. Some of these ovaries had their germinal epithelium so much activated that all stages in post-pubertal ovogenesis could be seen and demonstrated almost as well as in young immature ovaries. By concentrating attention on this point I was later able to observe the ac...