Ii6 OBSTETRICAL PHYSIOLOGY. 



was observed to resemble that of the other foetus ; there were 31 pulsa- 

 tions in the first minute, 18 in the third, 11 in the fourth, and 21 in the 

 fifth. The beats ceased in about twenty-five minutes. In these two ex- 

 periments, as well as in others made on smaller animals, M. Colin found 

 it impossible to perceive any difference in color between the blood of the 

 umbilical arteries and that of the veins, both fluids showing a tint inter- 

 mediate to that of the arterial and venous blood of the adult. 



Secret io7i. 



With regard to secretiofi in the fcetus, it is worthy of remark that several 

 glandular structures at an early period and during foetal life exhibit a re- 

 markable degree of activity; and more especially is this the case with 

 those of the stomach and intestines, the liver, the mucous membrane of 

 the air-passages, and the kidneys. The glands of the mouth and oesopha- 

 gus only furnish the mucus that covers the membrane lining these parts, 

 but it is not long before the stomach is filled with a white or colorless 

 viscid fluid, in which is a large proportion of epithelial cells and nuclei. 

 Colin has found as much as 229 grammes of this fluid in the stomach of 

 a foal at birth, from 150 to 180 in lambs at the same period, 200 to 300 

 in calves towards the middle of gestation, and 500 to 600 in those at 

 birth. It is neutral or slightly alkaline, and contains, more especially in 

 the foetuses of solipeds and ruminants, a very large proportion of sugar, 

 with mucine and salts. This fluid can scarcely, however, be looked upon 

 as a gastric secretion, but rather as a mixture of this with the amniotic 

 liquid swallowed by the fcetus ; and it appears certain that though the 

 mucous glands are active, yet that those which elaborate the pepsine are 

 inactive. The stomach of a foetal calf twenty weeks old, digested for 

 eight days in milk at a temperature of 20 degrees (Cent.), transformed 

 that fluid into a gelatinous mass, but did not coagulate it. 



The secretory function of the pancreas is so obscure, that it has not 

 yet been determined. 



The biliary secretion soon appears, and is remarkably abundant. In 

 the foetus of the Cow at birth, a small quantity of clear bile having a 

 slight greenish tint is found in the gall-bladder ; and at the fourth month 

 of gestation, the large intestines of this creature and the foetus of solipeds 

 are filled with meconium, which is recognizable through the walls of the 

 tube by its green hue. The foetal bile becomes thicker and deeper-col- 

 ored as birth approaches ; it is insipid and alkaline. M. Lassaigne ana- 

 lysed that of the foetus of a Cow six months old, and found two coloring 

 matters, mucus, the carbonate and chloride of sodium and phosphate of 

 lime, but no picromel. 



Mixed with the fluids thrown out by the intestines and the other mat- 

 ters entering them, it forms the meconium, which is composed, according 

 to Simon, of cholesterine 16,00 ; extractive matter and biliary resin 10,40 ; 

 caseous matter 34,00 ; picromel 6,00 ; green coloring matter, 4,00 ; and 

 epithelium, mucus, albumen 26,00. This meconium is scanty in the first 

 periods of foetal life, and has been found to be white in foetuses destitute 

 of a liver, as well as in others whose intestine was obliterated below the en- 

 trance of the biliary duct. It is very consistent and plentiful in the in- 

 testines at birth. In those of a foal whose stomach contained 229 

 grammes weight of the white viscid fluid above mentioned, there was 

 found 216 grammes of greyish meconium in the small intestines, and 559 

 of green in the large intestines. This product is frequently expelled in 



