ANIMALS. 295 



cause it takes up the least room. The human figure is now no 

 longer doubtful : every part of the face is distinguishable ; the 

 body is sketched out; the bowels are to be distinguished as 

 threads ; the bones are still quite soft, but in some places begin- 

 ning to assume a greater rigidity ; the blood-vessels that go to 

 the placenta, which, as was said, contributes to the child's nour- 

 ishment, are plainly seen issuing from the navel (being therefore 

 called the umbilical vessels,) and going to spread themselves 

 upon the placenta. According to Hippocrates, the male em- 

 bryo developes sooner than the female : he adds, that at the end 

 of thirty days, the parts of the body of the male are distinguish- 

 able ; while those of the female are not equally so till ten days 

 after. 



In six weeks, the embryo is grown two inches long ; the hu- 

 man figure begins to grow every day more perfect ; the head 

 being still much larger, in proportion to the rest of the body ; 

 and the motion of the heart is perceived almost by the eye. It 

 has been seen to beat in an embryo of fifty days old, a long 

 time after it had been taken out of the womb. 



In two months, the embryo is more than two inches in length. 

 The ossification is perceivable in the arms and thighs, and in 

 the point of the chin, the under jaw being greatly advanced be- 

 fore the upper. These parts, however, may as yet be considered 

 as bony points, rather than as bones. The umbilical vessels, 

 which before went side by side, are now begun to be twisted, 

 like a rope, one over the other, and go to join with the placenta, 

 which, as yet, is but small. 



In three months, the embryo is above three inches long, and 

 weighs about three ounces. Hippocrates observes, that not till 

 then the mother perceives the child's motion : and he adds, that 

 in female children, the motion is not observable till the end of 

 four months. However, this is no general rule, as there are 

 women who assert, that they perceived themselves to be quick 

 with child, as their expression is, at the end of two months ; so 

 that this quickness seems rather to arise from the proportion be- 

 tween the child's strength and the moth; r's sensibility, than from 

 any determinate period of time. At all times, however, the 

 child is equally alive ; and, consequently, those juries of ma- 

 trons that are to determine upon the pregnancy of criminals 

 •should not inquire whether the woman be quick, but wliether 



