ON THE FATE OF THE HUMAN EMBRYO IN TUBAL PREGNANCY. 



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oldest a fetus 96 mm. long. Table 5 is interesting mainly as regards the time of 

 implantation of tubal pregnancy containing normal embryos. The larger number 

 fall in the sixth week; that is, our surgeons usually make a diagnosis during the sixth 

 week of tubal pregnancy. No doubt many of those represented in the first part of 

 the table would not have continued as normal specimens; for instance, in the one 

 containing the embryo 4 mm. long there already were pathological changes within 

 the spinal cord. Others had ruptured and the embryo was found free within the 

 abdominal cavity. Thus we could not expect many of these to survive through the 

 full period of normal pregnancy. No doubt they would have succumbed in a variety 

 of ways, but what percentage it is impossible to determine. But of all those that 

 do survive only one-fifth remain normal; the rest become pathological or turn into 

 monsters, as shown by Von Winckel's studies. 



TABLE 5. List of normal embryos, giving size and age. 



It is interesting to note the fate of 13 specimens containing normal embryos 

 which were not examined before they were sent to me. No. 808 was unruptured 

 and contained what appeared to be a normal embryo; nevertheless, upon careful 

 examination, after it had been cut into serial sections, it was found that a small 

 portion of the spinal cord showed marked histolytic changes. These were limited 

 exactly to the part of the cord giving origin to the motor roots, the dorsal part of 

 the cord appearing to be normal throughout. No doubt had we examined all of 

 the embryos which appeared to be normal we should have found slight changes in 

 different parts of the body of some of them. 



It is seen by table 6 that only the larger specimens are unruptured, showing 

 that most of those containing younger embryos came to an end through rupture of 



