Manual of antenatal pathology and hygiene : the foetus / by J.W. Ballantyne.

  • Ballantyne, J. W. (John William), 1861-1923.
Date:
1902
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Manual of antenatal pathology and hygiene : the foetus / by J.W. Ballantyne. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    and many others have got a place in medical terminology. Sometimes the word is nascentium, as in trismus nascentium, but the meaning is the same. That peculiarities exist is not questioned, but attempts to explain them have not been altogether satisfactory; possibly this failure has been due, in part at least, to the want of recognition of the antenatal element in their origin. It will be well to consider the various possible influences which may determine the characters of the maladies of the new-born infants, and among them the antenatal influence. The Neonatal Period. In every period of life physiology largely dominates patho- logy; the diseases of the child or of the aged reflect in their characters the physiology of childhood or of old age. The age peculiarities of disease are in great measure the expression of the age peculiarities of health. The greater the difference between the physiological conditions of two epochs of life, the greater will be the differences between their pathological manifestations. The physio- logy of the new-born stands out very prominently from that of all other periods of extrauterine life, and in like manner its pathology differs markedly from that of childhood, adult life, and age. Physiology of Neonatal Life. The period of life which has been termed that of the new-born infant may be regarded as beginning with the first maternal labour pain, and ending about the close of the first month of infantile life. It includes, therefore, a period of time which may be called intranatal, that during which the infant is passing through the birth canal; and another, truly neonatal, during which the infant's body is adapt- ing itself to its new environment. These two periods of the infant's life correspond in time to the periods of labour and the puerperium in the mother's life; it is for this reason that sepsis of the new- born infant has, somewhat unfortunately, been termed by some writers puerperal sepsis of the infant, sepsis neonatorum being a name in every way preferable. The intranatal period is of varying length (from a few hours to two or three days), but is always much shorter than the truly neonatal period. Theoretically, it may be objected that the intranatal and neonatal periods ought not to be put together under the one heading of neonatal, as they are separated by the momentous occurrence of the commencement of extrauterine life ; but, practically, there is no sharp line of demarcation, for the infant, during his passage through the birth canals, may use his lungs in breathing, may pass meconium and urine, and may even cry before he is quite free of the vagina. Further, the two epochs are very closely connected, the neonatal being the complement and continuation of the intranatal; the infant during his neonatal life is occupied in recovering from the effects of his birth, or, we may say, in learning to utilise the possibilities thrust upon him by his birth.