NUTRITION OF THE FCETUS 29 



the villi of the chorion, and reach here the blood current 

 of the foetus. According to this hypothesis, uterine milk 

 plays as important a role in the later fcetal periods as at 

 the time when the various organs first begin to develop. 



Experiments show that under high pressure white blood 

 cells, pigment and bacilli pass the placental filter; under 

 ordinary conditions, with moderate pressure, this does not 

 occur readily. The baccilus of glanders, tuberculosis, pass 

 through that filter, but the anthrax bacillus does not in- 

 variably. 



That tubercule bacilli penetrate the placental foetus, the 

 various cases of tuberculosis of the bovine foetus reported in 

 our literature prove (Bang, Johne, Korevaar, Lungwitz). In 

 the case reported by Korevaar, no tuberculosis of the uterus 

 was present. 



ANATOMICAL DEVIATIONS OP THE FffiTUS. 



The digestive apparatus of the bovine foetus shows some 

 mollifications of general interest. 



The abomasum is well developed, and forms the greater 

 part of the four receptacles. The rumen is small. The 

 intestinal canal is rather short, and contains yellowish or 

 greenish fatty faeces, termed meconium, small pieces of 

 which are occasionally found in the amniotic fluid. The 

 liver in the foetus is greatly developed and by far the largest 

 organ. 



After birth the abomasum and liver decrease in size; 

 that is, their volume does not decrease, but their slow growth 

 and the rapid development of the others equalizes matters 

 soon. 



THE RESPIRATORY APPARATUS. 



The lungs of the foetus are in the state of atelectasis, that 

 is, they are devoid of air and their vascular supply is limited. 

 In the anterior mediastinum of the foetus between the two 

 layers lies a glandular organ, the sweetbread, or thymus 

 (glandula thymus). It is already present at the second month 



