THE FCETUS. 205 



of discovering some means by which to ascertain what they are in 

 the foetus while still contained within the maternal organs; but it must 

 be confessed, notwithstanding M. Flaraant's opinion, that all attempts 

 of the sort have been hitherto fruitless. But while I release the 

 reader from a tedious description or even enumeration of all the 

 different methods that have been proposed at various periods, it 

 seems indispensably necessary for me to say a few words on the re- 

 searches of one of my former fellow students upon this subject. 



526. Mensuration. By measuring a certain number of dried 

 heads, M. Fouilhoux ascertained, 1. That a line drawn from the 

 fronto-nasal suture to the edge of the upper alveoles, represents, 

 very nearly, one half of another line, drawn from the superior angle 

 to the great foramen of the occipital bone; 2. That the space be- 

 tween the fronto-nasal and fronto-parietal sutures is equal to that 

 which extends from the posterior edge of the coronal, and the point 

 of the occipital; 3. That by adding five or six lines to the occipital 

 arch we obtain the length of the sagittal suture; 4. That the bi- 

 parietal diameter is six lines longer than the sagittal suture; 5. That 

 the facial line multiplied by three also gives the length of the trans- 

 verse diameter; 6. That the occipito-frontal diameter exceeds the bi- 

 parietal by nine lines. So that if we can succeed during labor in 

 measuring, with any degree of precision, either the fronto-maxillary 

 line, or the naso-parietal arch, or the occipital arch, or lastly, the 

 sagittal suture, it is afterwards easy to determine the antero-posterior 

 and transverse diameters of the cranium. 



527. The assertions of M. Fouilhoux, subjected to pretty nume- 

 rous experimental tests, have appeared to me to be, in general, 

 correct; but I have also found that the proportional differences 

 which he endeavors to establish are too variable to admit of their 

 being very usefully employed in practice. Even were they to prove 

 constantly and rigorously correct, how shall we ever be able to dis- 

 tinguish through the soft parts, and within the maternal organs, the 

 precise length of the occipital arch, or the frontal arch, or even the 

 facial line? The thing appears to me to be impossible. 



528. The sutures of the fostal cranium are more numerous, more 

 moveable, and wider than those of the adult. As they, together 

 with the fontanels, serve to mark the positions of the head, it is 

 very important for the accoucheur to have them always present to 

 his memory. 



The sagittal, straight, or antero-posterior suture extends from 

 the root of the nose to the superior angle of the occipital bone, and 

 may be divided into two portions, the naso-parietal, which unites 

 the two pieces of the frontal bone, and the parietal portion, which 



