522 ON PARTURITION. 



fold up their limbs in such a way as to form an oval or globu- 

 lar figure : so in like manner embryos, passing as they do the 

 greater part of their time in sleep, dispose their limbs in the 

 position in which they are formed, as being most natural and 

 best adapted for their state of rest. So too the infant in utero 

 is generally found disposed after this manner : the knees are 

 drawn up towards the abdomen, the legs flexed, the feet crossed, 

 and the hands directed to the head, one of them usually 

 resting on the temples or ears, the other on the chin, in which 

 situation white spots are discernible on the skin as the result 

 of friction; the spine, moreover, is curved into a circle, and 

 the neck being bowed, the head falls upon the knees. In 

 such a position is the embryo usually found, as that which 

 we naturally take in sleep ; the head being situated supe- 

 riorly, and the face usually turned towards the back of 

 the mother. A short time, however, before birth the head 

 is bent downwards towards the orifice of the uterus, and 

 the foetus, as it were, in search of an outlet, dives to the bot- 

 tom. Thus Aristotle: 1 "All animals naturally come forth 

 with the head foremost ; but cross and foot presentations are 

 unnatural." This, however, does not hold universally ; but as 

 the position in utero varies, so too does the mode of exit ; this 

 may be observed in the case of dogs, swine, and other multi- 

 parous animals. The human foetus even has not always the 

 same position ; and this is well known to pregnant women, 

 who feel its movements in very different parts of the uterus, 

 sometimes in the upper part, sometimes in the lower, or on 

 either side. 



In like manner the uterus, when the term of gestation is 

 completed, descends lower (in the pelvis), the whole organ 

 becomes softer, and its orifice patent. The " waters" also, as 

 they are vulgarly called, " gather ;" that is, a portion of the 

 chorion, in which the watery matter is contained, gets in front 

 of the foetus, and falls from the uterus into the vagina ; at the 

 same time the neighbouring parts become relaxed and dilat- 

 able; in addition to which the cartilaginous attachments of 

 the pelvic bones so lose their rigidity that the bones themselves 

 yield readily to the passage of the foetus, and thus greatly in- 



1 Hist. Anirn. lib. vii, cap. 7. 



