TRANSACTIONS OP THE SECTIONS. 135 



Some Observations on the Chemistry of Fcetal Life. By Professor Schloss- 

 BERGER, of Tubingen. Communicated by Professor Allen Thomson. 



Having lately made some observations on the chemistry of the foetus, hitherto a 

 terra incognita, the author has obtained some remarkable results, of which the fol- 

 lowing is an abstract. 



1st. I have analysed the milk of the uterus of Ruminantia, which is the best ex- 

 ample of a foetal food. I found microscopic corpuscles in it, resembling the first 

 stages of the corpuscles of true milk. The secretion is acid (volatile fatty acid). 

 It contains no sugar, little fat, and is very rich in proteine compounds. Therefore it 

 seems that the foetus in which the respiratory process is going on more slowly has a 

 food in which the plastic nourishment prevails, the necessity for purely respiratory 

 material being less than in the adult. The quantitative analysis gave in 100 parts 

 the following proportions in the foetus of a calf of six weeks : — 



Water 88-07 



Fixed solids 11-93, viz. 



Fat 1-59 



Ashes 0-71 



Albumen and cells, &c. ... 9"6 



100-00 

 A comparison with the colostrum and the true milk of the cow is suggested by 

 this. 



2nd. The stomach of the foetal calf contains true mucine, described by Scherer. 

 The viscous fluid contained in the stomach is precipitated by acetic acid, and the 

 precipitate is not soluble in excess of acid, 



I found quite marked differences between the contents of the stomach and amnio- 

 tic fluid, so that both must be regarded as independent secretions. Nevertheless 

 I will not deny that the foetus occasionally swallows the amniotic fluid. As a proof 

 of this I give the following analysis : — 



Contents of the stomach of a foetal calf twenty weeks old. 



Water 98-6 



Solids 1-4, viz. 



Mucine 044 



Salts 0-96 



Organic substance precipitated by tannic acid 0- 1 



100-00 

 The amniotic fluid of the same foetus contained in 100 parts — 



Water 96-03 



Organic substance 2-93 



(no mucine.) 

 3rd. The fourth stomach of the foetal calf possesses in a high degree the coagula- 

 ting action on milk. 



4th. The amount of water contained in the foetal organs is as follows : — 



Foetus of 4 weeks. F. of 6 weeks. F. of 20 weeks. 



Brain 91 per cent. — percent. — percent. 



Heart 88 „ — „ — 



Lungs 90 „ 90 „ 86 



Muscles 91 „ 92 „ 87 



Liver — „ 83 „ 83 



Blood — „ 82 „ 80 



The general result of a considerable number of experiments has been, that many 

 tissues of the foetus are richer in water than the blood of the foetus, and that the 

 organs which contain the greatest amount of blood have the least water. 



On the Use of the Round Ligament of the Head of the Femur. 

 By Dr. John Stbuthers. 



