巴氏在文献中提到了一个“special case”
most of the smears which i examined up to february, 1925, were obtained from a single human case (special case). this was an ideal case to work with, because of perfect regularity in the menstrual periodicity and of a complete lack of any serious disturbance or of any bacterial contamination.
这个特殊病例就是巴氏的夫人,巴氏持续观察了20多年,巴氏夫人Mary也是巴氏研究第一例人体宫颈细胞的对象。