DEVELOPMENT, ETC. OF ORGANIZATION. 101 



of his formation or of his development; consequently, it is 

 also difficult to perceive in him these first changes. The 

 comparison of man with animals, and of man with himself at 

 different ages, is a point of comparative anatomy, which al- 

 ready rich in a great number of facts, recommends itself by 

 its importance to the observation of the accoucheur. , 



110. As may easily be imagined, the organic phenomena 

 follow the successive development of the organs. In the 

 embryo, there is only an almost direct absorption and assimu- 

 lation of the nutritive matter; afterwards the vessels become 

 apparent, and it is the circulation which then, every where dis- 

 tributes the materials of nutrition; the secretions then begin 

 to form, and the blood of the foetus, brought into contact with 

 that of the mother through the medium of the placenta, de- 

 rives from it a kind of branchial respiration. At birth, atmos- 

 pheric respiration and digestion are added to the other nutri- 

 tive functions, and the animal functions enter into exercise; 

 and here, as in the whole animal kingdom, we see the organs 

 and their functions the last developed, hold all the rest in a 

 state of dependence, and life to result from the connexion of 

 organic actions with each other. 



111. The organization of man presents differences in the 

 sexes:* besides those that exist in the organs of generation, 

 there are others in the general form of the body and in the 

 proportion of its parts. Man is generally larger than woman; 

 the total weight of his body is about one third greater. The 

 contour is more rounded in woman, bolder and more salient 

 in man; the trunk of woman is shorter, and the inferior ex- 

 tremities longer, so that the middle of her body is lower in 

 her, than in man the abdomen, and the pelvis particularly, 

 are larger in proportion than the shoulders and chest, which 

 is short, and tapering. The organs contained in the abdomen, 

 are larger, and those of the breast and neck smaller, in pro- 

 portion to the rest of the body, in woman than in man; the 

 bones and the muscles are less developed, the adipose tissue 



* Sec J. F. Ackerman, de discrimine sexuum prscfer gemtalia. Mogunt, 

 1787. Ejusd. historia etichnogr. infantis androgyniJente, 1805. 



