406 



absorption which might otherwise take place, from the outer part of the 

 body*? 



It was long believed that the fcetus was in an upright position, during 

 the first months of life,- but that, towards the end of pregnancy, it fell into- 

 a different position, and lay with its head downwards. This errone- 

 ous opinion, believed from its antiquity, and because it was admit- 

 ted by several physiologists, is completely refuted in Professor Baude- 

 locque's work on miduifery. The absurdity of this hypothesis is mani- 

 fest, if it be considered that the head of the embryo, the most bulky and 

 weighty part of the body, must necessarily occupy the most depending 

 part. 



The plumpness and the strength of the feetus do not altogether depend 

 on the strength of the mother. Corpulent and strong women often bring. 

 forth puny children, while others who are thin and feeble, bring forth 

 children plump and healthy. Such instances, however, are exceptions to 

 the general rule, as, cseterisparibus, the healthy state of the foetus is to be 

 estimated by that of the mother. The morbid condition of the fluids of 

 the mother has a considerable influence on the health of the foetus, and is 

 perhaps the way in which hereditary diseases are transmitted, which, by 

 others, are ascribed to a diseased state of the semen* 



The fcetus is subject to affections of various kinds, whether of sponta- 

 neous origin, or arising from a germ received from the mother. Foetus- 

 es have been seen with cicatrices, which clearly showed, that solutions of 

 continuity, of various kinds, had taken place. A child, born with the loss- 

 of some limb, has met with the accident, in consequence of some affec- 

 tion experienced in the womb. Professor Chaussier having been called 

 in to a case of this kind, found the hand and a portion of the fore-arm, 

 among the membranes!. 



CCXIII Of monsters. As it is useful to study Nature, even in her ir- 

 regularities, I shall say a few words on the subject of monsters, adopting 

 the arrangement proposed by Buffon, of dividing them into three classes: 

 the first including monsters from excess ; the second, monsters from de- 

 fect ; the third including those in which there is a misplacement of or- 

 gans. In the first, are included those which have superaumerary limbs 

 or figures, or even two bodies joined in various ways. In the second, 

 children born with a hare-lip, or who are deficient in some one part. In 

 the last place, those monsters belong to the third class, in which there is 

 a general transposition of organs ; when, for example, the heart, the 

 spleen, and the sigmoid flexure of the colon are on the right side, and the 

 liver and caecum on the left ; those born with herniae of different kinds, 

 likewise belong to this class. One may reckon among these monstrous 

 confirmations, spots in the skin, the colour of which always resembles 

 that of some of our fluids, but whose various forms are purely accident- 

 al, though, from prejudice, one is apt to imagine some likeness to objects 

 longed for by pregnant women accustomed to those fantastic appetites 

 and longings, so frequent during pregnancy. 



Various attempts have been made to account for these unnatural forma- 



* May not also this substance, which is the produce of the small sebaceous glands of 

 the skin, prevent the cuticle from being'macerated in the surrounding fluid, owing to its 

 being 1 repulsive of water, and to its being retained closely applied to the cuticle by the 

 fine downy hair, or pubescence, which thinly covers the skin during the early periods 

 of existence. Copland. 



f See the APPENDIX, Note 1 1. 



