Page:The Works of William Harvey (part 2 of 2).djvu/41

 THE HUMOURS. 559

gined by some that the humours which I believe serve for the nutrition of the foetus are excrementitious, led chiefly by the fact that they increase as the foetus grows larger, and in some animals are observed to exist in immense quantities at the pe- riod of birth (at which time it might be supposed that all alimentary matters would have been absorbed), and serve be- sides other uses hardly compatible with their supposed function of nutrition. I nevertheless most confidently assert my belief that these humours are at the commencement destined for the nourishment of the foetus, just as the colliquament and albumen are in the case of the chick ; but that, in course of time, when the thinner and purer portions are absorbed, the remainder takes on the character of excrementitious mat- ter, but still has its uses, and in some animals especially con- duces to the safety of the foetus, and also greatly facilitates birth. For just as wine becomes poor and tasteless when the spirit has evaporated; and as all excreted matters owe their origin for the most part to what has been previously food; so, after all the nutrient portions of the fluid contained in the chorion have been taken up by the foetus, the remainder become excrementitious, and is applied to the above-mentioned uses. But all the fluid of the amnion is usually consumed by the time of birth ; so that it is probable the foetus seeks its exit on account of deficiency of nutriment.

Lastly, if any other fluid is ever contained within the allan- tois, and this is sometimes the case, I believe it to be unnatural. For sometimes we see women at their delivery have an enor- mous flow of water, sometimes a distinctly double flow ; and this the midwives call the ' ' by -waters." And so some women are seen with the abdomen immensely distended, and yet they bring forth a little shrivelled foetus accompanied by a vast flow of water. Some imagine that a larger quantity of water is found with weakly and female children, whilst stronger and male foetuses have a smaller share. I have often seen the waters come away in the middle of pregnancy, and abortion not take place, the child remaining strong and vigorous until birth. Since, then, there are naturally two collections of fluid, one in the chorion, the other in the amnion, so it sometimes happens that unnatural accumulations take place either in mem- branes of their own, or between the duplicatures of the chorion.

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