ANIMALS. 



131 



ver, this is no general rule, as there are wo- 

 men who assert, that they perceived themselves 

 to be qaick with child, as their expression is, 

 at the end of two months; so that this quick- 

 ness seems rather to arise from the proportion 

 between the child's strength and the mother's 

 sensiYility, than from any determinate period 

 of time. At all times, however, the child is 

 equally alive ; and, consequently, those juries 

 of matrons, that are to determine upon the 

 pregnancy of criminals, should not inquire 

 whether the woman be quick, but whether she 

 be with chill ; if the latter be perceivable, the 

 former follows of course. 



Four months and a half after conception, 

 the embryo is from six to seven inches long. 

 All the parts are so augmented, that even their 

 proportions are now distinguishable. The 

 very nails begin to appear upon the fingers 

 and toes : and the stomach and intestines al- 

 ready begin to perform their functions of re- 

 ceiving and digesting. In the stomach is found 

 a liquor similar to that in which the embryo 

 floats ; in one part of the intestines, a milky 

 substance ; and, in the other, an excrementi- 

 tious. There is found, also, a small quantity 

 of bile in the gall bladder ; and some urine in 

 its own proper receptacle. By this time, also, 

 the posture of the embryo seems to be deter- 

 mined. The head is bent forward, so that the 

 chin seems to rest upon its breast ; the knees 

 are raised up towards the head, and the legs 

 bent backward, somewhat resembling the pos- 

 ture of those who sit on their haunches. Some- 

 times the knees are raised so high as to touch 

 the cheeks, and the feet are crossed over each 

 other ; the arms are laid upon the breast, while 

 one of the hands, and often both, touch the vi- 

 sage ; sometimes the hands are shut, and some- 

 times also the arms are found hanging down 

 by the body. These are the most usual pos- 

 tures which the embryo assumes ; but these it 

 is frequently known to change ; and it is ow- 

 ing to these alterations that the mother so fre- 

 quently feels those twitches, which are usually 

 attended with pain. 



The embryo, thus situated, is furnished by 

 nature with all things proper for its support ; 

 and, as it increases in size, its nourishment also 

 is found to increase with it. As soon as it first 

 begins to grow in the womb, that receptacle, 

 from being very small, grows larger ; and, 

 what is more surprising, thicker every day. 



The sides of a bladder, as we know, the more 

 they are distended, the more they become thin. 

 But here, the larger the womb grows, the more 

 it appears to thicken. Within this the embryo 

 is still farther involved in two membranes, 

 called the chorion and amnios ; and floats in 

 a thin transparent fluid, upon which it seems, 

 in some measure, to subsist. However, the 

 great storehouse, from whence its chief nou- 

 rishment is supplied, is called the placenta ; a 

 red substance somewhat resembling a sponge, 

 that adheres to the inside of the womb, and 

 communicates, by the umbilical vessels, with 

 the embryo. These umbilical vessels, which 

 consist of a vein and two arteries, issue from 

 the navel of the child, and are branched out 

 upon the placenta ; where they, in fact, seem 

 to form its substance ; and, if I may so express 

 it, to suck up their nourishment from the womb, 

 and the fluids contained therein. The blood 

 thus received from the womb, by the placenta, 

 and communicated by the umbilical vein to 

 the body of the embryo, is conveyed to the heart ; 

 where, without ever passing into the lungs, as 

 in the born infant, it takes a shorter course ; 

 for, entering the right auricle of the heart, in- 

 stead of passing up into the pulmonary artery, 

 it seems to break this partition, and goes di- 

 rectly through the body of the heart, by an 

 opening called the foramen ovale, and from 

 thence to the aorta, or great artery ; by which 

 it is driven into all parts of the body. Thus 

 we see the placenta, in some measure, supply- 

 ing the place of lungs ; for, as the little animal 

 can receive no air by inspiration, the lungs are 

 therefore useless. But we see the placenta 

 converting the fluid of the womb into blood, 

 and sending it, by the umbilical vein, to the 

 heart ; from whence it is despatched by a quicker 

 and shorter circulation through the whole frame. 

 In this manner the embryo reposes in the 

 womb ; supplied with that nourishment which 

 is fitted to its necessities, and furnished with 

 those organs that are adapted to its situation. 

 As its sensations are but few, its wants are in 

 the same proportion ; and it is probable that 

 a sleep, with scarcely any intervals, marks the 

 earliest period of human life. 



As the little creature, however, gathers 

 strength and size,it seems to become more wake- 

 ful and uneasy ; even in the womb it begins to 

 feel the want of something it does not possess ; 

 a sensation that seems coeval with man's nature, 



2D 



