Volume 2

Manual of descriptive and pathological anatomy ... / Translated from the German into French, with additions and notes, by A.J.L. Jourdan ... and G. Breschet ... Translated from the French, with notes, by A.S. Doane, and others.

  • Meckel, J. F. (Johann Friedrich), 1781-1833
Date:
1839
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Manual of descriptive and pathological anatomy ... / Translated from the German into French, with additions and notes, by A.J.L. Jourdan ... and G. Breschet ... Translated from the French, with notes, by A.S. Doane, and others. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    609/662 (page 601)
    Aboul ihe mTddle of gestation their weight nearly equals that of le foctus. i From this period they gradually diminish, so that even when the 3tus is delivered without breaking the membranes, they do not jeigh morethana pound, and in common parturition not more than :ght ounces. Their absolute like their relative quantity increases at first, but Uerwards diminishes. Thus, for instance, we find only thirty-six r.nces from the third to the fourth month. lln regard to Chemical composition it is to be regretted that the ters of the amnios in the female have not yet been aualyzed, nor mparative experiments made, wKich however are not difiicult, in imals at different periods of gestation. All those we possess were ade on the waters received at the moment of parturition, that is, in ee latter periods of pregnancy. • According to Scheel the waters of the amnios contain free oxygen; i t the analyses of it made since* have not confirmed this asser- r>n.f We find in it no traces of loose alkali. IThe fluid portion is composed of a considerable quantity of water, ittle albumen, a still smaller proportion of gelatine, of the hydro- 'iorates of ammonia and soda, and of phosphate of lime. Heat, :ohol, and acids do not change it, or but very slightly. IThe flocculae are very similar to the mucus of the mucous mem- ■ines.J I ''ome think that the waters of the amnios are formed by the foetus 1 others by the mother. The first represent it as an excretion, 1 the second as a nutritious substance. A\mong the first some think it comes from the urine of the fcetus, i 1 others that it is exhaled by the skin. Many§ suppose that its composition is mixed, especially in the ' ter periods of pregnancy, that it is formed partly of the excretion trhe foetus, partly also by a nutritious substance. The most probable opinion is, that the waters of the amnios are rreted at least in great part by the vessels of the mother, although the end of pregnancy they are furnished partly by the fa'tus. We /c been led to this opinion because it seems infinitely probable :t this liquid serves for the nutrition of the foetus. In fact: • st. As it seems to contain more nutritious substance than during first periods, because more coagulum is produced by heat and I LnsSciigne (5wr l’exiilence d'un gaz rcspirable dans Int caux de Vamniot; in . Archiv, gin. de MM., vol. ii. p. 308.) lias found in the aniniotic fluid of the 4.130ths. of a ifas similar to the atinospheric alr, as it was composed of azote . and of oxygen 21.7. p. x. 'Van Doeveren, Obt. acnd., c. vii. p. 103. i Emniert, ioc. eil., p. 1 IC. IKminert, p. 121. OL. II. FFF