422 ESSAYS axv OBSERVATIONS 
Tuo’ the contrivance of the blood re- 
turning from the foetus being poured into 
- finufes, is a very good precaution again{t hae- 
morrhagies; yet the veins of the womb that 
communicate with thofe /nu/es, being fo 
large as they are, one would think, that 
more frequent haemorrhagies might happen. 
at delivery, was it not for the oblique man- 
ner in which the moft internal coats of the 
womb are placed by way of valves over the 
orifices of thefe /ixufes; fo that whenever the 
womb collapfes or contracts, thefe orifices 
are almoft intirely covered by thefe mem- 
branes. 
Tue oblique fituation of the focrus, the 
erect, or what is generally called the natural 
one, in the two I {aw formerly, the tranf- 
verfe one of Nortwyk and Cowper, perfuade. 
me, there is no determined fituation for a 
foetus, as iscommonly thought; but that it 
may change places in its ftirrings, as women 
generally feel. 
Ir has long been the received opinion, that 
foctufes are moftly placed in the womb, in 
what is called the erect or natural fituation, 
that is, with the child’s forepart towards the 
mother’s belly; “its head uppermoft, and re- 
clined 
