CHAPTEK XIX. 



FCETAL LIFE DEVELOPMENT AFTER BIKTH DEATH. 



Enlargement of the uterus in pregnancy Duration of pregnancy Size, weight, 

 and position of the foetus The foetus at different stages of intra-uterine 

 life Multiple pregnancy Cause of the first contractions of the uterus in 

 normal parturition Involution of the uterus Meconium Dextral pre- 

 eminence Development after birth Ages Death Cadaveric rigidity 

 Putrefaction. 



As the development of the ovum advances, the uterus is 

 enlarged and its walls are thickened. The form of the organ, 

 also, gradually changes, as well as its position. Immediately 

 after birth, its weight is about a pound and a half, while the 

 virgin uterus weighs less than two ounces. It is a remark- 

 able fact, demonstrated upon the living subject, by Prof. I. 

 E. Taylor, of New York, that the neck of the uterus, while 

 it becomes softer and more patulous during pregnancy, does 

 not change its length, even in the very latest stages of utero- 

 gestation. 1 This fact is in opposition to the statements of 



1 TAYLOR, On the Non-shortening of the Supra and Infra - Vaginal Portion 

 of the Cervix Uteri up to the End of Pregnancy. American Medical Times, 

 New York, 1862, vol. iv., p. 342, et seq. 



The opinions of obstetricians with regard to the condition of the cervix 

 uteri at the later periods of pregnancy, anterior to the observations of Prof. 

 Taylor, were based chiefly upon digital examinations, which are very deceptive. 

 Dr. Taylor's observations, which are entirely conclusive, were made both with 

 the touch and the speculum. In 1860, Prof. Dalton stated, as the result of post- 

 mortem examinations, " that neither the os internum nor os externum disap- 

 peared at all, even up to the end of the ninth month." (Proceedings of the 

 New York Pathological Society. New York Journal of Medicine, 1860, Third 

 Series, vol. viii., p. 253.) A very elaborate historical review of the subject, re- 

 ferring particularly to the views advanced by Stoltz, about the year 1826, and to 

 the opinions of the older writers, is given by Dr. Matthews Duncan, in his Re- 

 searches in Obstetrics, New York, 1868, p. 243, et seq. 



