208 THE FCETUS. 



men, the heels crossed and very near the ischia, the arms applied 

 to the sides of the thorax, the fore-arms bent, and crossed in front 

 of the sternum, as if to support the chin betwixt the two hands. 

 It therefore forms an oval mass whose large end is represented by 

 the pelvic extremity of the trunk, and its apex by the cephalic ex- 

 tremity. In this state its great or occipito-coccygeal diameter is 

 only ten or twelve inches in length, and may even be shortened one 

 or two inches by pressure exerted upon its two extremities. 



534. It may be affirmed, in general, that the laws of gravity de- 

 termine the position of the foetus, until the last stage of gestation; 

 suspended in the centre of the ovum by means of the umbilical 

 cord,* loose and very moveable in the amniotic liquor, it necessarily 

 falls to the lowest point of the cavity in which it is contained; the 

 cord being inserted much nearer to the coccyx than to the occiput, 

 renders it necessary for the cephalic extremity of the foetus to fall 

 to the lowest part of the womb: therefore, since, even when the 

 woman is lying down, the neck is lower than the fundus of the 

 womb, it is clear that the head must naturally be turned towards 

 the superior strait in a great majority of cases, as is proved by daily 

 experience. 



535. However, the ancients entertained a different opinion; ac- 

 cording to them, the foetus has its head upwards, the pelvic extremity 

 turned towards the margin of the pelvis, and the hinder part of 

 the breech resting against the sacro-vertebral angle, until about the 

 seventh month; then, by means of certain quick and somewhat 

 convulsive motions, it turns over, performing a somerset; so that 

 the forehead comes to take the place of the breech, and vice versa. 

 This hypothesis, generally adopted until the time of Baudelocque, 

 and since that period still defended by several authors, principally 

 in Germany, is now abandoned to the vulgar, who also are begin- 

 ning to give it up. 



536. If a pregnant woman dies before the seventh month of ges- 

 tation, the head of the foetus is found turned towards the neck of the 

 uterus, just as it is at the full term. I have opened the bodies of 

 three women who died between the third and sixth months of their 

 pregnancy, and in these three cases the occiput was below. Who 

 has not seen the foetus come head foremost in abortion as at the 

 full period? From October 1823 to the month of April 1826, 



* It is hardly correct to say that the fetus is suspended, &c. by means of the 

 umbilical cord: that cord is twenty inches in length; and as the whole length 

 of the womb is only twelve inches, it follows that the child is not suspended 

 by the cord. It is connected with its parent by it. — M. 



