The cause of death in the still-born / by Dr King.

  • Richard King
Date:
1858
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The cause of death in the still-born / by Dr King. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    misplaced to clearly define what is meant by asphyxia and syncope, the only two conditions which I maintain are necessary to be thoroughly understood in the treat- ment of preternatural still-born children; not that I intend by this remark to imply that apoplexy is unknown in the new-born child. Asphyxia is used to denote a suspension or loss of the power of respiration, a state necessarily inducing such a change in the nature of the blood as is incompatible with the continuance of life. The change takes place in the blood, which becomes wholly venous, and is incapable of maintaining the action and vitality of the brain and spinal cord, of the heart, of the voluntary muscles, and of almost every organ of the body. Sensibility diminishes as the blood darkens, and when it has become quite dark the power of sensation is wholly abolished. The action of the heart is always greatly affected from the very first moment that an animal is brought under this condition. At first the contractions
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