134 THE CAUSATION OF DISEASE. 



I. Geoffroy St. Hilaire has made several important experi- 

 ments upon the lower animals, with a view to study the effect 

 of ante-partem E upon the offspring. His writings should be 

 carefully studied by those wishing to work in this direction.* 



It is proper here to allude to the effect of premature birth 

 upon the child's future. When the foetus is born before its 

 time, the E undergoes a sudden and .premature alteration. In 

 place of the uniformly warm medium afforded by the amniotic 

 fluid, it is prematurely subjected to the vicissitudes of tem- 

 perature. This may be more or less successfully guarded 

 against ; more important is the premature substitution of 

 feeding by mouth, for nourishment drawn directly from the 

 mother's blood. The child has now to elaborate for itself the 

 blood which hitherto has been conveyed to it through the 

 placenta, and, its digestive system not yet being prepared to 

 properly digest the mother's milk, it cannot possibly be so well 

 nourished as by the placental blood. Hence, every prematurely 

 born individual is less vigorous than he would have been if born 

 at the full time. 



From what I have said it is manifest that the ante-partem E 

 is no* such simple thing as some might think. There is, indeed, 



diameters increase. The only other important distinction between the male 

 and female pelvis, which cannot thus be accounted for, is the greater 

 conjugate in the female. Now the advantage to woman of this widening 

 of the pubic arch is obvious. In all vertex or face presentations, the part 

 to be born first, namely, the occiput or chin, rotates, or should rotate, under 

 the symphysis. If either of these parts are from the first anterior (as is the 

 rule), the depth of the bony pelvis through which they have to pass is very- 

 small, to wit : the depth of the symphysis pubis. Thus they are readily- 

 pushed out under the arch, one end of the long pole being thereby released,. 

 and, if the arch be wide, birth of the remaining part of the head readily 

 occurs. In rarer cases backward rotation takes place ; but mark the difference 

 — the part to be born first has to travel through three times the distance of 

 bony pelvis, and, further, it does not pass under an arch, but over a sharp 

 point. The width of the arch, therefore, stands in a most important relation 

 to the child's head. The larger the latter the greater is the necessary pubic 

 span, so that we should expect the female pubic span to be largest in those- 

 races which are the most intellectual. Now the width of the pubic arch 

 determines the width of the hips, for, as the arch increases, the acetabula, 

 and with them the femora, are thrust outwards. Wherefore we may con- 

 clude that the women of intellectual races are large-hipped, and that, as 

 evolution proceeds, they will become more so. These theoretic considerations 

 are, I believe, substantiated by fact. 



* Vide " Me*moire sur la Production Artificielle des Monstruosites, 1862," 

 pp. 8-12 ; "Recherches sur les Conditions, &c, chez les Monstres," 1863. 



