110 



economy of all other processes in Animal Che- 

 mistry. The phenomena, under which the fcf- 

 tus is formed and grows, belong- more properly 

 to Anatomical than to Chemical Physiology. 

 Even the manner in which the foetus receives its 

 sustenance and increase is perfectly enigmatical, 

 since we know with certainty, that the blood- 

 vessels of the foetus have no immediate con- 

 nexion with those of the mother. 



The fluid by which the feet us is surrounded in 

 the womb, and, which is discharged at the birth, 

 has been examined by VAUCIUELIN and Bu- 

 KIVA ; and according to their analysis, the liquor 

 amnii in women seems to have a great analogy 

 with the fluid of serous membranes, and with the 

 humours of the eye : it contains no more than 

 from II to 1 1 p. c. of solid matter. In several 

 of the mammalia urine is formed in the kid- 

 neys of the foetus, and is carried off, through 

 what has been termed the urachus, into a peculiar 

 reservoir, which is formed by the allantoid mem- 

 brane. When the foetus is born, the urine 

 mixes itself with the liquor amnii, from which 

 circumstance it was long supposed, thatrthe dif- 

 ference, for instance, between the liquor amnii 

 of a woman and that of a cow, was very consi- 



