542 GENCHO FUJIMURA 



at this period experience the rise of embryonal pressure (the inner 

 pressure of the uterus) as the time of pregnancy elapses, in conse- 

 quence of which they are remarkably flattened and afterwards 

 present the appearance of flattened epithelium. And, as regards 

 the destiny of decidual cells, it seems that it has been argued 

 in the past that they retrograde and perish by fatty degenera- 

 tion or coagulative necrosis (Klein); however, as a matter of 

 fact, I have not as yet discovered such a change. All kinds of 

 decidual cells perfect their growth comparatively rapidly early 

 in the beginning of pregnancy, viz., in about three weeks after 

 pregnancy, and after that only a quantitative increase or 

 decrease of the various cells occurs. Consequently, the degree 

 of growth of the cells cannot be the sole measure of the time of 

 pregnancy. However, judging from their quantitative rela- 

 tions, it is not difficult to arrive by way of inference at the 

 approximate period of pregnancy; that is to say, the small type 

 cells appear from about the second week of pregnancy to the end 

 of the first month, and the intermediate-type cells from above 

 the seventeenth or eighteenth day to the end of the second month, 

 in both cases in exceedingly large numbers, while the large 

 type cells appear throughout the whole remaining period begin- 

 ning about the twenty-second or twenty-third day of pregnancy, 

 and yet it will be noted that these large cells are at the height 

 of their activity during the period from the end of the first month 

 to the end of the third month of pregnancy, and while in the 

 fourth month the functions are still pretty high, they consider- 

 ably decline in the months to follow, and in the seventh month 

 and after it is very seldom that such functions are clearly 

 noticeable. 



The phenomena of secretion of cells in the decidua serotina 

 in the first half of pregnancy are nearly the same as in the 

 decidua vera as described above. In the second half, especially 

 after the eighth month, giant-cells grow in large numbers, and 

 somewhat remarkable changes take place, even histologically 

 in the ordinary sense of the term, and, therefore, I have examined 

 the subject with an especially keen interest; however, the 

 absence of good materials, coupled with the difficulty in stain- 

 ing them has hindered me in making excellent preparations, 



