NOURISHMFNT OF THE FCETUS. 217 



and developed by blood furnished to it by the mother; this is another 

 disputed point: is it real blood, or only some of its principles? 

 Does it pass directly from the vessels of the mother into the circu- 

 latory system of the fcstus? Is it merely poured into the sinuses of 

 the placenta? Must it, or must it not be subjected to some prepa- 

 ratory elaboration before it reaches the placenta? 



558. Galen, Aristotle, Vesalius, Columbus, Maurocordatus, Hil- 

 danus, Haller, and a majority of accoucheurs have been of opi- 

 nion that the blood passes directly from the mother to the fostus; 

 the partisans of this hypothesis, which has been combated in detail 

 by Diemerbroeck, rely upon the existence of vessels passing from 

 the womb to the placenta; on this latter body having been seen, as 

 by M. Ribes, to grow and live after the expulsion of the foetus; on 

 the circumstance, that the detachment of the placenta, whether 

 during pregnancy or after delivery, always gives rise to hemorrhagy; 

 that uterine hemorrhages cause the foetus to die exsanguious; oa 

 blood having been observed to flow from the placental end of the 

 cord so as to constitute a dangerous hemorrhage; on M. Magen- 

 die's having found the odor of champhor, and the colormg matter 

 of madder in the young of animals fed on those substances, on the 

 presence of large orifices observed by various authors on the internal 

 surface of the womb; on the fact, that the best mode of arresting 

 flooding is to compel the womb to contract: and above all, on the 

 passage of various substances, when injected in the uterine vessels; 

 into the organs of the foetus. 



559. None of these reasons are demonstrative; we have seen, 

 above, that it was necessary to imagine the existence of vascular 

 anastomoses between the ovum and uterus: supposing the placenta 

 does sometimes remain adherent to the uterus, and continues to live, 

 that does not at all prove that there is a direct sanguine circulation 

 from one to the other; it is false to say that the detachment of the 

 placenta always occasions hemorrhage; and even if it were true, it 

 would no more militate in favor of than against the idea of im- 

 mediate anastomoses, for the blood in that case may just as well be 

 poured out by exhalation, as from ruptured vessels. If it be true 

 that the heart and vessels of the foetus are emptied of their blood 

 when the mother dies with hemorrhage, Wrisberg proves that the 

 contrary has been very often observed; besides, it does not follow, 

 because a child is born anemic after a uterine hemorrhage of several 

 weeks duration, that the blood passes unchanged to the cord, for if 

 the woman be for a long period anemic herself, it is very natural 

 that the fruit of her womb should also be feeble: further, it seems 

 to be forgotten that many of those heraorrhagies, as those that depend 



