646 A N A T 
Tims the head grows lefs after the lower limbs have begun 
to increafe in bulk. 
Yet the head of the fcetus is large, every where mem¬ 
branaceous, in a few places cartilaginous on the earlier 
days of geftation, with a mouth deeply cut, and with ve¬ 
ry long jaws. In the foetus come to maturity, there are 
alfo rudiments of the teeth, which have a great deal of 
membrane as an appendage ; the brain, at firlt fluid, and 
always foft, is itfelf very large, with large nerves; the 
eyes are big, and the pupil (hut by a membrane; the bread 
is very fhort, but capable of extendon, on account of a 
great quantity of cartilage; the abdomen is large, fur- 
rounded -with membranes, and contains a very large liver ; 
the bile is infipid and mucous ; the inteftines are irritable, 
and full of foft green excrement. When the foetus has 
at lad arrived at its date of maturity, the kidneys are di¬ 
vided into lobes, are large, and have very big capfules; 
the pelvis is very (mail, fo that (he bladder, ovaries, and 
tubes, project from it; the genital lydem is denfe, not 
yet evolved, nor preparing its juices; all tire glands are 
large, particularly the conglobate ones, and full of a fe- 
rous juice; the (kin is at fird pellucid, then gelatinous, 
and at lad covered with a foft cuticle and febaceous oint¬ 
ment; the fat is fird gelatinous, and then grumous; the 
■ tendons foft, fucculent, and not yet fhining. 
Thole who have aliened that the foetus refpires in the 
uterus have made very few experiments : they have not 
even attended to the faCt, that the foetus in utero fwims 
, in a body of water; and that the lungs of a foetus im- 
merfed in water always fink: nor have they given due 
confideration to the evident (hortnefs of the bread, and 
the fmallnefs of the lungs. Whether it can take in air 
through the vagina of the mother is very difficult to be 
determined ; but we fufpeCI it to be poffible in a certain 
fituation, that a well-grown fcetus, which is not too much 
comprelled, may fometimes draw in air, while it is in 
the birth. 
As the foetus grows larger, fo the uterus increafes pro¬ 
portionally. The general figure of the uterus is oviform ; 
the fundus anfwering to the larged extremity of the egg, 
and the cervix and os uteri to the fmall end : but the fun¬ 
dus is larger and more flat, or lei's pointed, in proportion 
to the lower extremity of the uterus, than one end of an 
egg is to the other ; and the whole uterus feems more or 
lei's compreded, fo as to be broader from right to left, 
than it is from the fore-part backwards. Belides thefe 
more condant deviations, the figure of the uterus differs 
from the regular oviform, from a variety of accidental 
caufes, as it adapts itfelf to the neighbouring parts, to 
rhe attitude of the body, and to the pofition of the con¬ 
tained child. In order to conceive thefe varieties more 
eatily, we mud remember that in mod cafes the Uterus is 
not lb completely filled as to be upon the full dretch. 
Were it out of the body, and filled artificially, it would 
eafily contain more than it actually does. Thus the ute¬ 
rus, like a bladder of water not quite full, is pladic, and 
moulds itfelf into various fliapes from accidental circum- 
dances. 
As the furrounding parts refid the preffure or weight of 
the uterus unequally, according to their different natures, 
the uterus fwells out in fome places, while in others it is 
prefled inwards. Thence it is, that the brim of the bony 
pelvis has commonly the effeCt of a belt girding that part 
of the uterus, and the projections of the fpine, and of 
the pfote and iliac velfels, mould the outfide of the uterus 
into correfponding cavities. That the diderent attitudes 
of the mother’s body ffiould produce alterations in the fi¬ 
gure of the uterus, needs not a particular explanation or 
proof. The weight of the uterus itfelf, and of the adja¬ 
cent vifeera, being differently directed, mud produce fome 
change in its form correfponding to every change of pof- 
ture, efpecially as the parts againft which the uterus will 
red its weight, in the different poflures of the body, are 
of fuch different natures. 
The fame pladic date of the uterus makes it adapt its 
O M Y. [Gravid Uterus-,. 
figure to the circumdances of the child within, and vary 
as thofe change. We not only in dead bodies fee tire parts 
of the child making a variety of different projections on 
the outfide of the uterus ; but, in the living body, all the 
fame variety is frequently manifed to the touch, in exa¬ 
mining the outfide of the abdomen. The round project¬ 
ing ball made by the child’s head or buttocks is commonly 
very perceptible, and in many indances fmaller projecting 
parts are fo didinCtiy felt through the containing parts of 
the abdomen, as to leave no room to doubt of their being 
knees or elbows. 
To illuftrate this fad, and to difplay the fituation and 
connection of the womb, under the above-mentioned cir¬ 
cumdances, Dr. Hunter has given a Front View of the 
Pregnant Uterus at its full time, with the containing parts 
turned back, fo as to ffiew the external coat and veffels 
of the womb, and parts contiguous. Thefe are repre- 
fented in Plate II. of the Gravid Uterus, of which 
the following is an explanation:—AA, The fore-part of 
the ched, juft below the breads, where the trunk was cut 
through. BB, The two upper anglesof the integuments, 
mulcles, and peritonaeum, turned back over the cartila¬ 
ginous margin of the ched. CC, The two inferior angles, 
turned down over the groin, thigh, and anterior fpine of 
the os ilium, on each fide. D, The upper end of the lon¬ 
gitudinal incifion, at the pit of the domach. E, The low. 
er end of the fame incilion carried down to the fymphyfis 
of the olfa pubis. F, The umbilical or falciform liga¬ 
ment of the liver, which runs upwards on the indde of 
the abdominal mufcles. GG, The epigadric artery and 
vein, proje&ing through the peritonaeum. H, The fmall 
lobe of the liver, fituated in the highed part of the epi¬ 
gadric region. I, The omentum, fpread over the fmall 
intedines in the epigadric region. K, The lower and mid¬ 
dle part of the omentum, which had been puffied up by 
the womb, and lay in numerous fmall folds preffed toge¬ 
ther. L, The omentum in the right tide. M, The omen¬ 
tum in the left fide, which came down before the Fallo¬ 
pian tube, &c. NN, Two turns of the fmall intedines. 
O, The womb, polfeding all the umbilical and hypogaf- 
tvic regions : its furface is interfperfed with a number of 
fmall vefTels, the greated part of which are veins; they 
were dlled with blood only, and therefore gradually dis¬ 
appeared after the fubjeft had been preferved fome time: 
its fituation is a little oblique, and towards the right fide: 
tlie navel was a little higher than the part upon which the 
letter O is placed. The form of the womb is a little ir¬ 
regular, at fome places projecting more than at others; 
this feemed partly owing to its being moulded upon the 
neighbouring bowels, particularly at its fundus, and part¬ 
ly to its contents; whence P, A fuelling towards the left 
fide of the womb, where the middle of the placenta ad¬ 
hered; and Q_i A fwelling on the right fide, where the 
buttocks of the child lay, and where the child could be 
diftinCtly felt through its fubftance. RR, The round li¬ 
gaments : the left is longer than the right, becaufe of the 
oblique fituation of the womb. SS, The Fallopian tubes : 
in the right fide, little more than the beginning of the 
tube is feen, the reft running down behind the womb. 
The fmall or lower end of the uterus is placed in the 
cavity of the pelvis. This generally contains the greater 
part of the child’s head, and fills up the cavity of the 
pelvis fo completely, as to prefs the vefica urinaria againft 
the fymphyfis pubis, and the rectum againft the hollow 
of the facrum. The os uteri is directed againft the coc¬ 
cyx, or the lower part of the facrum. The body and 
fundus of the uterus, which for the moft part contains all 
the reft of the child and the placenta, is fo placed in the 
anterior part of the abdomen, from the brim of the pel¬ 
vis upwards to the epigadric region, as to be under and 
before all the other bowels in immediate contact with the 
parietes abdominis, occupying the whole fpace from one 
hip-bone to the other, and a proportionable fpace from 
thefe bones upwards as faras the epigadric region. When 
the uterus rifes yp, from the cavity of the pelvis into, the 
hypogaftric 
