OF THE FOETUS. -2- 



To thefe fa£ls are oppofed the experience arxd 

 obfervation of mod anatomiils. They feldom 

 find any veftiges of an allantois either between 

 the chorion and amnios, or in the placenta ; 

 nor do they perceive any urachus in the umbi- 

 lical cord. A kind of ligament, indeed, runs 

 from the external furface of the bottom of the 

 bladder to the navel ; but, when entering the 

 cord, it becomes fo delicate as to be almoll re- 

 duced to nothing. Neither is this ligament 

 commonly hollow ; and we can perceive no 

 correfponding aperture in the bottom of the 

 bladder. ^ 



The foetus lias no communication with the 

 open air ; and the experiments made upon the 

 lungs demonftrate that they have never refpired ; 

 for they fmk in water, while thcfe of infants, 

 who have breathed, uniformly fwim : The foe- 

 tus, therefore, has no refpiration in the womb 

 of the mother ; confcquently, it can make no 

 found v/ith its voice ; and all the llories of chil- 

 dren groaning and crying before birth muft be 

 regarded as fabulous. After the waters run off, 

 however, the air may fmd admiilion into the 

 cavity of the uterus, and the clilld may begin 

 to lefplre before its birth. In this cafe, the 

 ch.ild may cry, in the lame manner as tlie chlck- 

 €!i cries before the lhe]l of the egg is broken, 

 which it is enabled to do by means of the air 

 lodged in a cavity between tlic external mem- 

 brane and the .(hell : This air cxiHs in ail eggs, 



X 3 an^ 



