246 THE FOETUS. 



placenta, the milk fever, and the sequelae of the labor require the 

 same cares, particularly if the pregnancy have exceeded the fourth 

 month, and even in the first months, when the ovum comes away 

 whole; but if the membranes are left behind after the expulsion of 

 the foetus or embryo, as they compose the chief portion of the pro- 

 duct, the consequences do not always terminate at once; in such 

 cases we can never feel secure until after their complete expulsion, 

 and it would be wrong not to extract them as soon as it is possible 

 to seize them in the vaffina.* 



SECTION 2. 

 Of the Term of Gestation, and of Retarded Births. 



634. The natural duration of gestation in the human species is 

 generally nine months, or- rather two hundred and seventy days. 

 " Man only," says Aristotle, " is born at seven, eight, nine or ten 

 months; the last named period is the most common; sometimes, 

 however, pregnancy lasts until the commencement of the eleventh 

 month." According to Pliny, gestation may continue a whole year. 

 Riolan thought he had seen pregnancies of twelve, thirteen, four- 

 teen, fifteen, and even of eighteen months. Kiperus, according 

 to Millot, and Chanvalon pretend that the duration of pregnancy 

 varies according to climate. Heister thinks we may establish 

 that the term of nine months is the most ordinary one, and that 

 the time fixed by nature is that which elapses from the seventh to 

 the eleventh month. Sennertus thinks that every birth should be 

 deemed regular that happens within one year. Blancard, Hoff"- 

 mann, Mauriceau, Schenk, and De la Motte have related cases 

 confirmatory of the opinion of Heister. Levret contents himself 

 with advancing that the woman most- commonly carries the child 

 nine months, that many exceed that term, but that few go beyond 

 the tenth month. 



635. In a cause that was pleaded by the celebrated lawyer Gerbier, 

 the duration of pregnancy suddenly gave rise to some very animated 

 discussions, about the middle of the last century. 



Haller, Bertin, Lieutaud, A. Petit especially, and Lebas, Vicq- 

 d'Azyr, and Roussel, who were partisans of protracted pregnancy, 

 were vigorously opposed by Bouvart, Mahon, Hebenstreit, and 

 Louis. The latter author had no difficulty in demonstrating that 

 the numerous histories of protracted pregnancies mentioned by his 



* See the article on Delivery of the Placenta. 



