FORMATION OF THE PLACENTA. 909 



derived from the inferior meseuteric plexus and the middle sacral nerves, 1 

 also undergo a great augmentation during pregnancy. Simultaneously with 

 the enlargement of the uterus, the Mammary gland and its appendages un- 

 dergo a fuller development; and from this a valuable, but not unequivocal, 

 indication of pregnancy may be drawn. Occasional shooting pains in the 

 Mamma? are not uufrequeutly experienced within a short period after con- 

 ception ; and more continued tenderness is also not unusual. A sense of dis- 

 tension is very commonly experienced at about the end of the second month ; 

 and from that time a d'istiuct "knottiness" usually begins to present itself, 

 increasing with the advance of pregnancy. In many instances, however, 

 these mammary sympathies are entirely absent; and they may be simulated 

 by changes that take place in consequence of various affections of the uterus. 

 A change of color in the areola is a very common, but not an invariable, 

 occurrence in the early months of pregnancy ; but another sign is afforded by 

 the areola and nipple, which is of more value because more constant, 

 namely, a puffy turgescence, and an increased development of the little 

 glandular follicles, or tubercles, which commonly secrete a dewy moisture. 

 Many other changes in the constitution occur during pregnancy ; indicated 

 by the buffiness of the blood, the irritability of the stomach, and the increased 

 excitability of the mind. All these however, are discussed with sufficient 

 amplification in works on Obstetric Medicine. 



759. The act of Conception, being one of a purely organic nature, is not 

 itself productive of any sensation on the part of the mother; but there are 

 some women in whom it is attended with certain sympathetic affections, such 

 as faintness, vertigo, etc., that enable them to fix upon the particular time 

 at which it has taken place. From that period, however, the mother has 

 no direct consciousness of the change going on in the uterus (save by the 

 effects of its increasing pressure on other parts), until the occurrence of what 

 is termed "quickening." This is generally described as a kind of fluttering 

 movement, attended with some degree of syncope or vertigo. After it has 

 once occurred, and has strongly excited attention, it is occasionally renewed 

 once or twice, and then gives place to the ordinary movements of the foetus. 

 Not unfrequently, however, no movement whatever is felt, until near the 

 end of the term of gestation, or even through the whole of it. As to the 

 cause of the sensation, Obstetricians are much divided ; and no satisfactory 

 account has been given of it. It has been vulgarly supposed to be due to 

 the first movement of the foetus, which was imagined then to become pos- 

 sessed of an independent life ; and the English law recognizes the truth of 

 this doctrine, in varying the punishment of an attempt to procure Abortion, 

 according to whether the woman be " quick with child " or not ; and in de- 

 laying execution when a woman can be proved to be so, though it is made 

 to proceed if she is not, even if she be unquestionably pregnant. Whether 

 or not the first sensible motions of the foetus are the cause of the peculiar 

 feeling in question, there can be no doubt that the embryo has as much in- 

 dependent vitality before, as after, the quickening. From the time that the 

 ovum quits the ovary, it ceases to be a part of the parent, and is dependent 

 on her only for a due supply of nourishment, which it converts by its own 

 inherent powers into its proper fabric. But this dependence cannot be said 

 to cease at the moment of quickening : for the connection must be prolonged 

 during several weeks, before the foetus becomes capable of sustaining life 



1 Korner, Heidenhain's Stud, des Physiol. Instit. zu Breslau, 1865, p. 109. For 

 the Histology of the Virgin Uterus, see'Kreitzen, in Landzert's Beitrage zur Anut. 

 and Phys /St. Petersburg, 1872, vol. i, p. 1, and Centralblutt, 1873, p. 117. 



