Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/749

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been quite exhaufted of blood by the mother's dying of an hemorrhage; and Mr. Monro acquaints us, that he has feen children pafe and weak by violent flood ings in the time of la- bour. See Medic. EfT. Edinb. vol. 2. art. 9. The liquors are not carried from the mother to the fetus, or from the foetus to the mother by continued canals. That is, The uterine arteries and veins do not anaftomofe with the veins and arteries of the fecundines; but the extremities of the um- bilical vein take up the liquors by abfbrption, in the fame way as the lacteal veffels do in the guts ; and the umbilical arteries pour their liquors into the large cavities of the fmufes, or o- ther cavities analogous to them. Vid. Monro, in Med. Eft". Edinb. vol. 2. p. 133, feq.

It is a queftion, whence the fetus has its red blood. Mr. Monro anfwers, that fceiufes in viviparous animals have their red blood, from the fame fource that chickens in ovo have theirs; which can be no other than the action of their heart and of the veffels in their body and fecundines. See Medic. EfT. Edinb. vol. 2. p. 144.

A liquor is found in the thorax of fetufs, which Mr. Petit inclines to believe is furnifhed by the thymus. See Mem. de 1'Acad. des Sciences, 1733.

ReSpiration feems to be the great act by which the change is made in animals, from the ftate of fetus, to that of motion, fenSation, and the other qualities of animal life in their larger degree. Mr. Duverney obferved this in the foetus of a com- mon fnake : he broke the egg of one of thefe animals, at a time when it was juft ready for hatching, and the young fnake fell out rolled in a fpiral, at firft: quite ftiff and motion- lefs ; but it had no fooner breathed three or four times, than it began to perform all the motions of animal life, in the moft nimble and active manner.

We have a very Surprifing account in the Philosophical Trans- actions of an extraneous body lodged in the bladder of an in- fant, which was born with many imperfections, and could not be expected to live any long time; on the opening the body after the death, there was found in the bladder a tough fubftance of the bignefs of a fmall fig, in the center of which was a pin with the head on, and grown very black. The child was opened in prefence of feveral perfons, who all faw this ; but the moft probable account of its coming there feems however not to have been in th.e foetus ftate, but by Some ac- cident after the birth. Philof. Tranf. N°. 479, p. 365. The foetus often dies in the womb. This is discovered to be the cafe by the following Symptoms. The mother becomes languid and weak, and is Subject to frequent fain tings. She complains alfo of flying heats and chilnefl'es, fucceding one another at fliort intervals, and of ftraitneSs of the praecordia, anxieties of mind, and vertiginous dizzinefs of the head. The breafts tho' before diftended and hard, grow flaccid on this and have an abundance of a thin watery Serum in them. The foetus is not perceived to move, and the belly hanss upon the thighs with an uncommon dead weight; and is affected with a remarkable coldnefs. Junker' ConSp. Med. p. 710. The death of the fetus is often owing to a remarkably ple- thoric ftate of the mother ; and yet more frequently to her violent pafiions, whether of grief, anger, fear, or any other kind. The morbid conftitution of the mother may alfo oc- cafion it, be it almoft of any kind whatever, as will habitual diarrhceas. But the death of the fetus is moft frequently of all occafioned by the bad SucceSs of labour pains, or bad afllf tance in them, and by its being left conftricted by the womb. The expulfion of the dead child is to be attempted by all the forcing medicines, fuch as borax, and the like ; and the Spi- rits and ftrength are to be kept up during the attempt, by giving analeptics in the intermediate time; but if thc-Se medi- cines have not the defired effect, the manual operation of the man-midwife, muft be called in; and when the fetus is taken out, the woman is to be treated with the utmoft care in the common way of lying in women. Junker's Confp. Med p. 711.

The accidents which attend a dead foetus of considerable growth are well known, but the conSequence of its dying, while very young, is Ids understood. There is an account 111 the memoirs oS the Paris academy, of a caSe oS this kind, where all the circumftances are very accurately delivered. A Jady of Genoa, who found that fhe was breeding, accidentally got a fall, but without perceiving that (he had received any great hurt. After the fall, her belly continued to grow big till the end of the fifth month, but after that time, itliegan to decreafe inftead of enlarging in Size, and fhe began to enter- tain Some doubt, whether {he had been really with child or not; no motion of the fetus had ever been perceived, nor had the lady ever the leaft appearance of milk in her breafts ; about a month after this, that is, in her Sixth month of preg- nancy, fhe was delivered of a fliapelefi maSs of the bignefs of a man's fift.

Mr. Anell who attended her, found that this was a kind of bag, formed by the chorion and amnios, and fattened to a placenta of about two ringer's thick, and filled with a fluid much refembling milk, both in colour and confidence. Near the middle of the placenta, there was an appendage of about Suppl. Vol. I,

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two fingers long, which was the remainder of the umbilical cord, but there appeared no feet us ; and indeed a lefs curious obferver than Mr. Anell might very eafily have concluded, that there was none. This gentleman, however perfifling in his fearcb, at length difcovered it. It was very well formed, but not longer than a kidney bean, yet the head was very perfect, and there were rudiments of arms and legs, and the navel was clofed. The principal things to be remarked in this extraordinary cafe are; i. That the foetus and the placenta had a very different age, the firft being not above a month old; and the placenta and its membranes being of fix months growth, and being of the fize that thofe parts ufually are, fix months after pregnancy, a. That the fatus was entirely fe- parated from the navel ftring ; and 3. That it had been fo well preferved for fo many months after its death, it not being at all corrupted. The fetus naturally died by the injury re- ceived in the fall, the navel ftring no longer conveying nou- rifhment to it. After this the umbilical cord being unhurt, might continue to receive by the vein the blood drived to it from the placenta, and from 'the mother ; but the dead fetus could no more return that blood by the umbilical arteries; and this impoiTibility of any farther circulation, muft make the cord ceafe to grow any larger. On the other hand, the con- tinual tranfpiration decrealing its fubftance, it could not but diminifh; and this is the more probable, as the fetus when taken out of the bag, and put into fpirits, diminifbed in a lit- tle time to half its original fize; which proves that the fofterand lefs confident parts of thefe bodies eafily evaporate. There muft however have been a circulation in the placenta, as it grew larger to the time of the delivery. The fall of the mother was plainly the caufe of the breaking of the umbilical cord, and from hence followed all the other circumftances ; but it is not eafy to explain how the fetus be- came preferved fo long a time in a peculiar liquor furnifhed to the fack. See Delivery. FOAL, or Cult, the young of the horfe kind. The word Celt fimply fpoken, is among the dealers underftood to mean the male kind ; the female or mare colt being called a Filly, Colts are ufually foaled in the beginning ot fummer, and it is the cuftom to let them run with the mare till Michaelmas; when they are to be weaned. This is to be done fooner or later ac- cording as the cold whether comes In. Some are for not hav- ing them weaned till the middle of November, and that three days before the full of the moon, if it happen near that time. And fome of the beft writers on this fubject, are of opinion, that we do not let the fials fuck long enough, and that this is the reafon, why they are fo very long before they are fit for ufe. Thefe authors are of opinion, that a colt ought always to fuck the whole winter, and that this would make them fit for fervice a great deal fooner than they are at prefent. When firft weaned, they muft be kept in a convenient houfe with a low rack and manger for hay and oats, that they may eat freely and eafily, and the hay muft be very fweet and fine, efpecially at firft; a little wheat bran mould be mixed with the oats in order to keep their bodies open, and make them eat freely and drink freely.

It has been obferved, that the eating too much oats has ren- dered colts blind ; but the caufe has been wrongly attributed to the heating quality of the oats. If the oats are bruifed in a mill before they are given them, tho' they eat ever fo much of them, there never happens any mifchief of this kind ; but endeavouring with their teeth to break and chew them when whole, they are apt to ftretch and fwell the veffels of the head, and occafion a fullnefs of blood about the eyes, which often terminates in inflammations, and in blindnefs. The difficulty of chewing oats, and not their heating nature, is therefore the true reafon of this mifchief; and if this be ob- viated by the firft bruifing the grain, the colt always grows the better for eating it. His legs do not grow thick, but he be- comes broader and better knit, and as he grows up, will bear fatigue much better than if he had been fed only with bran and hay. Above all things, thefe creatures are to be kept from wet and cold while they are young, for nothing is more ten- der than a colt, and the mifchiefs he gets at this time are not fo eafily got over. Experience {hews the great advantage of houfing and taking care of colts: for if the fame ftallion cover two mares, both alike in age, beauty and all other particulars, and thefe bring both foals of the fame fex, fo that there is no room to expect the leaft difference between them ; let one of thefe colts be houfed every winter, and let the other always run a- broad, it will be found as they grow up, that the colt which has-been kept abroad, ftiall have large flefhy moulders, flabby and gouty legs, weak patterns, and bad hoofs, and fhall be a dull heavy creature; and that the other which has been houfed and taken care of, fhall have a fine forehand, be well fliaped, have good legs and good hoofs, and be of good ftrength and fpirit. From this it may be learned, that it is of no confe- quence to have a good ftallion, and a good mare, if the colts are fpoiled in the breeding up.

It is obferved that fome colts under the age of fix months, tho' the mare yields plenty of good milk, yet decay and wafte dai- ly. They are in this cafe always troubled with a cough. The " P breeders