The placenta fninis a perfectly closed uirdle, situated about llio 

 middle of the foetal sac, or, with regard to the uterus, in the 

 curve of that oruan. 



The uterine surface presents a lohated structure, the various irre- 

 gular lobes being separated bv ])i'elly wide fissui-es, and as moreover, 

 the placenta is comparatively thin, it is not very compact. 



The circumference, measured at the surface of the uterus, is 66 

 cm., the width, which is the same all over, 32 cm. The edges are 

 not stumpy and thick : rather thin. Several thicdv bloodvessels emei'ge 

 from the sides of the placenta, branching oil" into the chorion so 

 abundantly as to leave not a single part of it without a suj)ply of 

 vessels. On splitting the chorion and the placenta along the comex 

 curve of the foetal sac, the anmion becomes visible. This is <pute 

 discoiuiected. There was no direct contact between the two tissues 

 anywhere, nor with the placenta, the anuiion not covering the foetal 

 surface of the placenta, but branching oif at the placentary end of 

 the und)ilical cord. The amnion, like a l)ag with thin walls, invests 

 the foetus pretty closely, especially along the back. Only behind 

 the tail-end of the foetus, which is turned towards the fundus uteri, 

 we tind another part of the amnion that is not taken up by the 

 foetus, but tilled with a suitstance that is soft to the touch. The 

 amnion is j)artly \ascuiarized, j)artly dexoid of any vessels ; especi- 

 ally in the immediate vicinity of the umbilical cord a vascular part 

 is noticeable. Here the amnion membrane seems also to be somewhat 

 thicker and to consist of two layers, which are mo\ cable one over 

 the other. Here we tind the umbilical sac, in the shape of an 

 elongated organ,- connected with the anmion riuht along, lying against 

 this membrane. 



As the amnion has not coalesced with the foetal surface of the 

 placenta, the latter can be at once examined after opening the 

 chorion. Of an insertion proper of the umbilical cord into the 

 placenta there can hardly be any question, the vessels di\iding and 

 branching off long before they i-each the ))lacenta. 



These ramifications enter the placenta at a rather consideraiile 

 distance from each other. Slips of the allantois, which lines the 

 placenta, cover these vessels, which therefore are found in (lu|)li- 

 catures in this membrane as sooii as they leave the cord. The 

 main canals of each of the two nndiilical arteries bi-anch off 

 into a girdle-shaped half of the ))lacejita, and with fairly large 

 ramiticatiojis spread further into the chorion. When the convex 

 surface of the anmion is slit open \ery little foetal fluid runs out. 

 The foetus is found to be lying with its muzzle towards the ostium 



