of the Human Uterus. 69 



ganization ! What ! is the menstrual fluid retained with 

 the mother, constituting a source on which we may ad- 

 vantageously draw with the lancet, and moreover is 

 transformed into foetal organization? This is a species 

 of logic, to my understanding, neither forcible nor clear. 



The doctrine is wholly wrong, both in its premises 

 and conclusion ; and, of all hypotheses within the reach 

 of a sprightly fancy, the most unhappy in its deductions 

 for the general rule of blood-letting, with which it was 

 proposed to quadrate. 



Still further to illustrate his favourite doctrine ol 

 blood-letting during utero- gestation, this gentleman re- 

 fers us to the concentration of excitement in the gravid 

 uterus, and the extra- vitality of impregnation ; to the 

 tenacity of pregnant females for life, and the surviving 

 existence of the foetus in utero, after the death of the 

 mother. I am not prepared to determine, whether an 

 impregnated female is more vivacious than an unim- 

 pregnated one. There are not sufficient documents be- 

 fore the public, for us to enter on this disquisition. 

 That a foetus in utero survives five minutes, or even 

 two, the death of the mother, is what the facts hitherto 

 furnished by faithful obstetric record directly oppose. 

 The child ceases to live, immediately after it ceases to re- 

 ceive, through the mediation of the placenta, oxigen 

 from the mother's blood. The chick may have its 

 blood oxidated through the shell with which it is en- 

 cased, but the human foetus cannot have this necessary- 

 supply through the Malls of the abdomen. 



