470 



Diseases of the Genital Organs 



wholly detached, but further forward the larger cotyledons 

 show merely a very few peripheral chorionic tufts displaced 

 from the placental crypts. The displaced tufts are white or 

 grayish-white, due apparently to anemia owing to the inter- 

 ruption of the physiologic placental contact. The phenome- 

 non is so nearly universal that, like the necrotic tip of the 

 fetal sac, it may be designated normal in the sense that is is 

 generally present. Its significance is unknown. 



(b) Inter-placental hemorrhage with fetal desiccation is 

 a more interesting and) at present more important clinical 

 manifestation of placental disease. It has not been shown 



Fig. i66 — Inter-Placental Hemorrhage with. Desiccation of Fetus, in Early Stages. 

 [Cervical canal ; //, hematoma filling uterus and covering fetal sac ; C, chorion incised 

 and turned back ; I'] fetus ; CL, corpus luteum. 



to be dependent upon disease of the non-placental uterine 

 areas. 



In the abattoir I have observed marked inter-placental 

 hemorrhage involving uniformly all cotyledons. In one well 

 marked case none of the blood had escaped into the utero- 

 chorionic space, the peripheral tufts having maintained their 

 contact. In a manner this is a reversal of the peripheral 

 dehiscence described in the preceding paragraph. 



It seems perfectly clear that this phenomenon is the ini- 

 tial stage of desiccation or mummification of the fetus. In 



