FCETAL NUTRITION: THE PLACENTA 505 



indirectly by a number of investigators ^ {cf. Eodents, p. 464). 

 Hasselbalch ^ found the respiratory quotient of the new-born baby to 

 be unity, thus indicating carbohydrate as the source of the child's 

 energy. "Weiss ^ subsequently found the quotient to be between 

 ■7 and -95. More recently Benedict and Talbot* carried out a series 

 of metabolism experiments on 105 newly-born infants, taking special 

 precautions against error. They found that the average respiratory 

 quotient for seventy-four babies during the first twenty-four hours 

 after birth was '8, thus showing that the substance oxidised could 

 not have consisted entirely of carbohydrate. During the first eight 

 hours, however, the quotient was somewhat higher. It tended to 

 fall until the third day, after which it rose, owing possibly to the 

 carbohydrate supplied in the mother's milk. 



Iron ' 



In man, , Peters found evidence of the presence of red blood 

 corpuscles in the trophoblast of the early ovum, and Ulesco- 

 Stroganoff^ states that they are also present in the syncytium in 

 later stages. This has been disputed by Kworostansky " and Hof bauer, 

 who maintain that the corpuscles are first dissolved. More recently 

 Bryce and Teacher found no evidence of the ingestion of red blood 

 corpuscles by the trophoblast, while Bonnet' has shown that the 

 syncytium gives the eosin-reaction of haemoglobin at the points where 

 it comes in contact with extravasated blood. It has been stated that 

 placental extracts produce haemolysis in vitro (Veit and Scholten ^), 

 but whether a similar action takes place in the body is unknown. 



Iron-containing compounds are also found in the villi. Using the 

 method of Hall, which demonstrates iron in loose organic compounds, 

 Hofbauer found none such in the superficial layers of the syncytium, 

 but an increasing number of granules were present in the deeper 

 parts. In the mesoblast they again decreased in number, and were 

 altogether absent near the capillary walls (Fig. 157). He suggests 



1 Feldman, Priiiciples of Ante- Natal and Post-Natai Child Physiology, London, 

 1920. 



2 Hasselbalch, "Respiration Experiments with New-born Infants,'' originally 

 published in Copenhagen, 1904 ; republished in English in Benedict and Talbot's 

 memoir, The Physiology of the New-hm-n Infant , Carnegie Institute (Wash- 

 ington) Publication No. 233, 1915. 



^ Weiss, "Les Bchanges Eespiratoires des Nouveaux-nes et I'lndice 

 d'Oxygenation," Bull. Acad, de Med., Paris, vol. Ix., 1908. 



* Benedict and Talbot, loc. cit. This memoir contains other references. 



^ Ulesco-Stroganoff, "Beitrage zur Lehre vom mikroskopischen Bau der 

 Placenta," Monatsschr. f. Oeburtsh. u. Cfyndk., vol. iii. 



" Kworostansky, "Ueber Anatomie und Pathologie der Placenta," Arch. f. 

 Gynah., vol. Ixx., 1903. 



' Bonnet, quoted by Hofbauer, hn:. cit. 



* Veit and Scholten, " Synzytiolyse und 'S.amo\js,%" Zeitsch. f. Gehurtsh. u. 

 GymiJc., vol. xlix., 1903. 



