34 



ON THE FATE OF THE HUMAN EMBRYO IN TUBAL PREGNANCY. 



PATHOLOGICAL EMBRYOS IN TUBAL PREGNANCY. 



It is probable that a number of the normal embryos, in the specimens just 

 described, are slightly deformed and at the beginning of pathological changes. 

 Since the standard of normality had not been fully established, it is practically 

 impossible at present to decide as to what is a slight abnormality. It is only when 

 the change is very pronounced that we recognize embryos as pathological, and for 

 this reason the two groups now under discussion are probably inaccurate. When 

 we understand this subject better, no doubt a larger percentage of the normal group 

 will be transferred to the pathological group, and the same is true regarding the 

 group said to contain no embryos. The method of examination I employed is 

 partly responsible for this. To cut a large number of greatly distended tubes into 

 serial sections in order to determine this point is practically out of the question. 

 However, when the pregnant tube is hardened in toto and cut into slabs about 5 mm. 

 in thickness, it is quite easy to detect the remnant of an embryo in case it is lodged 

 within a free amniotic cavity. If, however, the cavity of the chorion is filled with 

 blood, the embryo may be so obscured as to be overlooked, and in several specimens 

 falling under this group the embryo was found accidentally in the sections after it 

 had been overlooked with the naked eye. Nevertheless, speaking from a somewhat 

 wide experience, I think it unlikely that as large a percentage of specimens will have 

 to be transferred from the group containing no embryos to that containing patholog- 

 ical embryos as from the group containing normal embryos. 



TABLE 4. Group containing pathological embryos arranged chronologically. 



'Dissociated completely. 



As it can readily be seen that specimens can be picked out of this group and 

 arranged according to the length of the embryos, we shall discuss them in this 

 order, considering only those in which the material has been cut or in which the 

 specimens have been worked up with a great deal of care. It follows, then, that the 

 higher numbers are to receive more consideration than the lower numbers. 



Four specimens contain embryos less than 5 mm. long. The'first of these (No. 

 324) contains a deformed embryo, 3.5 mm. long. The amniotic cavity is some- 

 what distended, the umbilical cord is short or lacking entirely, and the chorionic 



