50 EVOLUTION OF LIFE. 



sation had existed ; its condition would be one 

 of indigency and want, while destitute of tire 

 means by which its necessities could be sup- 

 plied ; and the foetal system would resemble the 

 adult, without the power of arriving at that 

 state. It is far otherwise ; it appears to me 

 that the foetal constitutes a medium condition, 

 forming, on the one hand, a connected part of 

 the maternal constitution; and, on the other, 

 separated from it by its own individual exist- 

 ence. That there subsists an individual exist- 

 ence in both, separate and distinct from each, 

 is evident from many facts which we see, in 

 which the life of the foetus terminates while 

 that of the mother continues ; and, on the con- 

 trary, in which the foetus survives the death of 

 the mother. The true end which nature has 

 in view, during the foetal state, is evidently to 

 organise those parts which constitute the means 

 by which the animal is able to provide for its 

 necessary wants, when the adult state begins : 

 hence it is, that the organs designed to accom- 

 plish these ends, are especially distinguished 

 in the foetal state, by the rapidity of their 

 growth, and the magnitude which they have 

 attained, when the adult state has begun. I 

 may enumerate, as thejirst in order, the head, 

 with the organs of sense, and the nerves which 

 are connected with them ; secondly, the mouth, 

 trachea, and lungs ; thirdly, the heart and arte- 



