570 THE UMBILICAL CORD. 



before the completion of the fourth month, (in some animals 

 sooner,) in no obscure manner moves, rolls about, and kicks, 

 especially if it suffer from cold, heat, or any external source of 

 inconvenience. Moreover, the "punctum saliens" (whilst yet 

 the heart is not) moves to and fro, with an evident pulsation, and 

 distributes blood and spirits ; and this part, as I have before 

 stated, if languid and nearly extinct through cold, will, if warmth 

 be applied, again be restored and live. In the Csesarean section, 

 also, it is quite clear that the life of the embryo does not im- 

 mediately depend upon the mother, and that the spirits do not 

 proceed from her; for I have often seen the foetus extracted 

 alive from the uterus when the mother has been dead some 

 hours. I have also known the rabbit and hare survive when ex- 

 tracted from the uterus of the dead mother. Besides, in a 

 tedious labour we learn whether the infant is alive or not by 

 the pulsation of the umbilical arteries ; and it is certain that 

 these arteries receive their impulse from the heart of the foetus 

 and not of the mother, for the rhythm of the two differs : this 

 can be easily ascertained if one hand is applied to the wrist of 

 the mother and the other to the umbilical cord. Nay, in the 

 Csesarean section, when the embryo is still enveloped in the 

 chorion, I have often found the umbilical arteries pulsating, and 

 the foetus lively, even when the mother was dead and her limbs 

 stiffened. It is not, therefore, true that the " spirits " pass 

 from the mother to the foetus through the arteries; nor is it 

 more so that the umbilical or foetal vessels anastomose with 

 those of the uterus. The foetus has a proper life of its own, 

 and possesses pulsating arteries filled with blood and "spirits," 

 long before the " conception," in which it is formed and dwells, 

 is attached to the uterus ; just as it is with the chick in 

 the egg. 



In my treatise on the Circulation of the Blood I have shown 

 the uses of the arteries, both in the foetus and in the adult, to 

 be very different from what is generally supposed, and my 

 views receive confirmation from the subject now under con- 

 sideration. 



In truth, the " secundines" are part of the " conception/' 

 and depend upon it, borrowing thence their life and faculty of 

 growth. For, just as in the mesentery, the blood is propelled 

 to the intestines bv the branches of the coeliac and inesenteric 



