AND PREGNANCY. 355 



bladder, adheres in that part only which nearly corres- 

 ponds with the centre of the external flocculent surface 

 of the chorion. 



The remaining space between the chorion and amnion 

 is filled by a clear water, which may be called the liquor 

 chorii, of doubtful origin and short duration. 



For, since the amnion increases more rapidly than 

 the chorion and approximates to the latter even during 

 the first months after conception,* in proportion to its 

 approximation must this fluid necessarily be absorbed. 



568. The internal membrane of the ovum is filled, 

 from its first formation (565) to the last moment of 

 pregnancy, with the liquor amnii,f an aqueous fluid, of 

 a yellowish colour, nearly inodorous, of a bland and 

 scarcely saltish taste, commonly thought nutritious, and 

 compared to albumen, from which, however, more accu- 

 rate investigation proves it to differ considerably.^; 



Its source is doubtful and cannot be referred to the 

 foetus or umbilical chord, because it exists in abortive 

 ova containing neither. 



Its quantity is inversely as the size of the foetus. 

 Hence we may conjecture that its use is rather to de- 

 fend the foetus while nearly gelatinous and most liable 

 to suffer from external injuries, than to afford nourish- 

 ment. That the portion of fluid which occasionally, 

 although rarely, and therefore not naturally, enters the 



* See Hunter's figures (imaginary indeed) 1. c. tab. xxxiv. fig. 9. 8. 7. 



f Paul. Scheel, at the end of his Commentat. de litptoris amnii asperee arteries 

 faetuum hitman, natura et usu. Hafn. 1799. Svo. 



C. H. D'Zondi, Supplementa ad anat. et physiolog. potmimum comparatam. 

 Lips. J 806. 4to. 



X Steph. J. Van Geims, De natura et utiliUtte liaiioris amnii. Ultraj. 

 1793. 4to. 



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