124 OBSTETRICAL PHYSIOLOGY. 



umbilical cord was exposed, the beating of its very tense arteries could 

 be distinctly felt ; and when compressed, these enlarged between the 

 foetus and the point where the pressure was applied. On removing the 

 foetus from the uterus, it did not make any perceptible movement, but 

 then it was only three or four months old. The thoi'ax having been 

 •opened, the action of the heart was observed to resemble that of the 

 •other foetus ; there were 31 pulsations in the first minute, IS in the 

 third, 11 in the fourth, and 21 in the fifth. The beats ceased in about 

 twenty-five minutes. In these two experiments, as well as in others 

 made on smaller animals, M. Colin found it impossible to perceive any 

 •difference in colour between the blood of the umbilical arteries and that 

 •of the veins, both fluids showing a tint intermediate to that of the 

 •arterial and venous blood of the adult. 



Secretion. 



With regard to secretion in the foetus, it is worthy of remark that 

 •several glandular structures at an early period and during foetal life ex- 

 hibit a remarkable degree of activity ; and more especially is this the 

 •case with those of the stomach and intestines, the liver, the mucous 

 membrane of the air-passages, and the kidneys. The glands of the 

 jiiouth and oesophagus only furnish the mucus that covers the mem- 

 brane lining these parts, but it is not long before the stomach is filled 

 with a white or colourless viscid fluid, in which is a large proportion of 

 ■epithelial cells and nuclei. Colin has found as much as 229 grammes 

 of this fluid in the stomach of a Foal at birth, from 150 to 180 in Lambs 

 at the same period, 200 to 300 in Calves towards the middle of gesta- 

 tion, and 500 to 600 in those at birth. It is neutral or slightly alkaline, 

 and contains, more especially in the foetuses of Solipeds and Kumin- 

 ants, a ver}- large proportion of sugar, with mucine and salts. This 

 fluid can scarcely, however, be looked upon as a gastric secretion, but 

 rather as a mixture of this with the amniotic liquid swallowed by the 

 foetus ; and it appears certain that, though the mucous glands are active, 

 yet those which elaborate the pepsine are inactive. The stomach 

 ■of a foetal Calf twenty weeks old, digested for eight days in milk at a 

 temperature of 20 degrees (Cent.), transformed that fluid into a gela- 

 tinous mass, but did not coagulate it. 



The secretory function of the pancreas is so obscure, that it has not 

 yet been determined. 



The biliary secretion soon appears, and is remarkably abundant. In 

 the foetus of the Cow at birth, a small quantity of clear bile having a 

 slight greenish tint is found in the gall-bladder; and at the fourth month 

 ■of gestation, the large intestines of this creature and the foetuses of 

 Solipeds are filled with meconium, which is recognisable through the 

 walls of the tube by its green hue. The foetal bile becomes thicker and 

 deeper-coloured as birth approaches ; it is insipid and alkaline. M. 

 Lassaigne analysed that of the foetus of a Cow six months old, and 

 found two colouring matters, mucus, the carbonate and chloride of 

 sodium and phosphate of lime, but no picromel. 



Mixed with the fluids thrown out by the intestines and the other 

 matters entering them, it forms the meconium, which is composed, 

 a,ccording to Simon, of cholesterine 16,00 ; extractive matter and biliary 

 resin 10,40 ; caseous matter 34,00 ; picromel 6,00 ; green colouring 

 matter 4,00 ; and epithelium, mucus, albumin 26,00. This meconium 

 is scanty in the first periods of foetal life, and has been found to be 



