SUPERFCETATION. 213 



546. Of two germs vivified by the same copulation, one may not 

 descend into the uterine cavity until a considerable time after the 

 other; the maturity of the two ovules may not have arrived at the 

 same degree of perfection at the instant of their union with the 

 principle furnished by the male; one of the germs may happen to 

 be disengaged with difficulty from the ovary, remain adhering to it 

 without growing with the same rapidity as its congener, and not 

 escape from the vesicle, nor pass into the tube until after a greater 

 or less lapse of time. 



547. I am astonished that^modern physiologists, and even some 

 medico-jurists, among whom should be mentioned M. Orfila, have 

 admitted the existence of superfcetation up to the moment when the 

 ovule reaches the womb, while they deny the possibility of its occur- 

 ring after that period. It ought to be equally rejected in both cases. 

 The concrescible lymph or anhistous membrane is fully as capable 

 as the ovum itself of intercepting all contact between the seminal 

 principle of the male and that of the female. To conclude, super- 

 fcetation may take place; 1. In the case of extra-uterine pregnancy; 

 2. In that of a double uterus; 3. Where a woman has had com- 

 merce with two different men the on same day, or even at short in- 

 tervals with the same man; 4. and lastly, while the uterine cavity is 

 not filled with any substance, and the orifices of the tubes remain 

 perforate. 



SECTION 2. 

 Functions of the Foetus. 



§. I. Of the ]\ourishiueiit of the Fcetus. 



548. Few questions in physiology have occupied so much of the 

 attention of the learned, as that of the nourishment of the foetus. 

 Different authors have by turns placed its source in the liquor amnii 

 and in the placenta, in the umbilical vesicle and in the ailantois, in 

 the gelatine of the cord, and in the caducous membrane. 



549. What I have elsewhere (410) said of the anhistous mem- 

 brane and its fluid seems to me to prove at least that that tunic can- 

 not concur in the development of the ovum longer than during the 

 first fortnight of its existence: If Chaussier and some others have 

 entertained a different opinion, it is because they had acquired false 

 notions concerning the caduca, and its nature. 



550. The gelatine of the cord, which by Warthon, Rouhault, 

 Lobstein and Beclard, has been supposed to play a part in the 



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