ON GENERATION. 435 



abundance of a watery fluid, which in our history of the egg 

 we have spoken of as the colliquament, this fluid modern 

 authorities regard as the sweat and excrement of the fetus, and 

 ascribe as its principal use the protection of the uterus against 

 injury from the fcetus during any violent motion of the mother 

 in running or leaping ; and, on the other hand, the defence of 

 the foetus from injury through contact with neighbouring 

 bones, or an external cause, particularly during the period 

 when its limbs are still delicate and weak. 



Fabricius 1 ascribes additional uses to this fluid, viz. "that it 

 may moisten and lubricate all the parts around, and dispose 

 the neck of the uterus to facile and speedy dilatation to the 

 utmost extent ; and all this is not less assisted by that thick, 

 white, excrementitious matter of the third digestion, neglected 

 by the ancients, which is unctuous and oily, and farther pre- 

 vents the sweat, which may occasionally be secreted sharp 

 and salt in quality, from excoriating the tender body of the 

 foetus." 



I readily acknowledge all the uses indicated, viz. that the 

 tender foetus may be secure against all sudden and violent 

 movements of the mother, that he may ride safe in the " bat's 

 wings," as they are called, and, surrounded with an abundance 

 of water, that he may escape coming into contact with his 

 mother's sides, being restrained by the retinacular fluid on 

 either hand : this circumambient fluid must certainly pro- 

 tect the body which floats in its middle from all external in- 

 jury. But, as in many other instances, my observations com- 

 pel me here to be of a different opinion from Fabricius. In 

 the first place, I am by no means satisfied that this fluid is the 

 sweat of the foetus. And then I do not believe that the fluid 

 serves those important purposes in parturition which he indi- 

 cates ; and much less that it is ever so sharp and saline that 

 an unctuous covering was requisite to protect the foetus 

 from its erosive effects, particularly in those cases where there 

 is already a thick covering of wool, or hair, or feathers. The 

 fluid, in fact, has a pleasant taste, like that of watery milk, so 

 that almost all viviparous animals lap it up, and cleanse their 

 new-born progeny by licking them with their tongues, greedily 



1 Op. cit. p. 137. 



