FCETUS. 



331 



thological changes in the foetus, as atrophy, 

 arrest of developement, amputation of limbs, 

 and many other affections, as detailed in the 

 different sections of the present article. 



With respect to those which seem distinctly 

 referrible to inflammation arising in the foetal 

 system and invading particular organs, the in- 

 stances are very numerous indeed; especially 

 in the thoracic and abdominal cavities, in which 

 striking indications of violent inflammatory ac- 

 tion have been frequently observed, both by 

 the writer and by others. 



During the investigations made conjointly 

 by Madame Boivin and M. Chaussier, they 

 met with several cases of well-marked perito- 

 nitis, some of which were accompanied by con- 

 siderable effusion, which, however, did not exist 

 in others ; but in all there were found nume- 

 rous adhesions between the intestines.* Desor- 

 meaux records a case in which a child at birth 

 displayed all the evidences of violent enteritis,f 

 but afterwards recovered. In a case related by 

 Duges, all the abdominal viscera were found 

 agglutinated by a yellow coloured and firm 

 lymph ; there were false membranes on the 

 liver, the spleen, the bladder, &c.; the epiploon 

 was adherent to the intestines, which were ag- 

 glutinated into a lump, and were yellow, hard, 

 and thick. J Other instances of this form of in- 

 flammation are detailed by Billard, Carus,|| 

 Cruveilhier,ir and others. 



The stomach and intestinal canal have fre- 

 quently been found much diseased at birth. 

 In one instance of a still-bom child I found 

 the stomach in a state of intense inflammation, 

 and on its internal surface there were no less 

 than twenty-five patches of ulceration. Dr. C. 

 Johnson of this city found a similar condition 

 existing in the colon : the specimen is depo- 

 sited in the Museum of the College of Sur- 

 geons, Dublin. Cases of this kind are also de- 

 scribed by Billard,** who mentions an instance 

 in which he found in the duodenum a pedicu- 

 lated excrescence of a red colour and uneven 

 like a strawberry ; it was as large as a bean, 

 and in its structure, &c. resembled the vascular 

 tumours found in the intestines of adults. In 

 the same child there was also evidence of 

 chronic inflammation of the lower portion of 

 the ilium, with thickening of the mucous mem- 

 brane, which was of a slate colour .ff In ano- 

 ther case examined by the same writer, the 

 ilium and all the colon were found presenting 

 the characters of the disease named by Laennec 

 sclerosis, and consisting in a scirrhous indura- 

 tion of the submucous cellular tissue of the in- 

 testine. In a case observed by Cruveilhier the 



* Recherchcs sur 1'Avortement, &c. p. 56, note ; 

 sec also Bulletin de la Fac. de Med. 1821, and 

 Proces verbal de la Maternite, Jan. 1812. 



t Diet, de Med. art. (Euf, torn. xv. p. 403. 



+ Recherches sur les Maladies les plus impor- 

 tantes et les moins connues des enfans nouveaux- 

 nes, par Ant. Duges, D.M. Paris, 1821. 



S Maladies des Enfans, p. 444. 



jl Gynskologia, ii. p. 251. 



11 Livraison xv. pi. xi. p. 2, ob. 2. 



'* Op. jam cit. p. 296 et seq. Atlas, pi. v. and 

 also p. 372. 



tt Ibid. p. 373, 4. 



small intestines presented several patches of 

 ulceration, and the coats so thickened that their 

 calibre was quite effaced.* Desormeaux thinks, 

 and apparently with good reason, that several 

 of the strictures and obliterations of hollow 

 canals, such as closing of the oesophagus, intes- 

 tinal canal, anus, urethra, &c. ought to be re- 

 ferred to the influence of former inflammation, 

 to which cause also there is great reason to 

 ascribe many instances of congenital blindness, 

 and especially those in which there is opacity 

 of the cornea. 



The liver is not unfrequently the seat of in- 

 flammatory and other lesions before birth, a 

 variety of which have been noticed by different 

 writers; intense sanguineous congestion has 

 been often met with. Billard mentions two 

 instances in which the organ was found soft- 

 ened and giving out an odour of sulphuretted 

 hydrogen. It has also been found with tuber- 

 cles scattered through its substance at birth.f 

 Hoogeveen describes a tumour which was found 

 attached to the liver of a foetus of six and a 

 half months : it was hard and unequal, and as 

 if composed of particles of soft stone or cherry 

 kernels.^ Considerable serous effusion in the 

 abdominal cavity has been often observed. 



The organs contained in the thoracic cavity 

 appear to be peculiarly liable to the invasion 

 of inflammatory action, and frequently exhi- 

 bit other abnormal conditions also. Cruveil- 

 hier goes so far as to say, that lesions of the 

 lungs are so frequent in the foetus, that in his 

 opinion disease of the lungs carries off as many 

 new-born children as adults. 



The lungs have been found hepatized in 

 still-born children, two instances of which oc- 

 curred to Andral,|| who says he found in ano- 

 ther case numerous abscesses in one lung. 



M. Husson examined two children, one of 

 which was dead-born in the seventh month, 

 and had tubercles softened and in a state of 

 suppuration in the lungs, the mother being 

 healthy. I have met with instances of tuber- 

 cles in the lungs at birth, but in the cases 

 which came under my observation, the mothers 

 were affected with consumption ; under which 

 circumstances I have, in several instances, 

 found in the placenta a deposit of what appeared 

 to be perfect tubercular matter. 



CruveilhierU has noticed instances of tuber- 

 cular induration, grey consolidation, scattered 

 masses of tubercular character containing pus, 

 and, in one case, there was serous infiltration 

 of the pulmonary tissue, which was of an olive 

 green colour. Billard ** relates similar cases of 

 pulmonary lesion, as does also Lobsteiu,t|- who 



* Anat. Pathol. liv. xv. pi. ii. p. 4, ob. 7. 

 t See Billard ut supra, p. 421, and Meissner, 

 Kiiiderkrankhc'iten, i. s. p. 92. 



| Tract de Morb. fretus humani, p. 63; see also 

 Bonetus, Sepulch. Anat. torn. iii. p. 104, Orfila, 

 Lemons de Med. Leg. Paris, 1828, i. p. 292, and 

 Andral's Pathol. Anat. translated by Townsend 

 and West, vol. ii. p. 704. 

 Liv. xv. pi. xi. p. 5. 

 Op. jam cit. p. 703. 

 Op. jam cit. liv. xv. pi. xi. pp.4, 6. 

 ** Malad. des Enfans, pp. 499, 648. 

 tt Pathologischcn Anatomic, i. p. 321. 



