Elements of medical jurisprudence / By Theodric Romeyn Beck.

  • Theodric Romeyn Beck
Date:
1825
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Elements of medical jurisprudence / By Theodric Romeyn Beck. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    179/708 page 115
    margins—the fontanelles are smaller ; the hair is longer, thicker, and of a deeper colour ; and the nails become more solid, and prolonged to the extremity of the fingers. The circumvolutions on the surface of the brain are more numerous—the cineritious portions begin to be distinguished by their colour; and although the lobes which compose the cerebrum retain their former softness, yet the cerebellum, and the basis of the cerebrum, have acquired a remarkable consistence. The head measures longitudinally, from the forehead to the occiput, four inches to four inches and aquarter ; and transversely, from three and a half to four inches. The abdomen is now large and round. The lungs are redder and more voluminous. The canalis arteriosus is large, and its coats are thicker and denser than formerly. The meco- nium fills nearly the whole of the intestines, and the bladder contains urine. In fact, the digestive apparatus, the heart and the lungs, are in a state fit to commence extra-uterine life. The length varies from nineteen to twenty inches or more—the meddle of which ts at the navel, ora very little below.* .- - a The observations of M. Beclard on the skeleton may also be stated, as its increase is more regular than that of the softer parts, and its appearance may afford important evidence in cases which vary from the ordinary state. | | ; “« After two months have elapsed from the period of conéeption, the skeleton is about four inches and three lines in length, that of the Spine being two inches. At three months, the former is six inches and the proportion of the spine as two and two-thirds to six. At four months ‘and a half, it is nine inches, and the spine four. At six months, twelve inches, and the spine five. At seven and a half months, fifteen inches, the spine six and one-third. At nine months, or the period of birth, it is ordinakily from sixteen to twenty inches in length, or at a medium of eighteen inches, and the spine is in the proportion of seven and three-fourths to eighteen, to the whole length of the body. These calculations were made from observations on about fifty foetuses, at each of the periods above indicated. Each vertebra, consisting originally of a section of a solid cylinder, and a ring furnished with several apophyses, is in general formed by three primitive points of ossification ; the one anterior, whieh, by its developement, forms the body or solid part of the bone; and two lateral ones, which constitute the apophysarial masses, and which, uniting together with the former, constitute the annular structure. Besides these, each vertebra is completed by several secondary points of osseous developement. | ; , : ; At about the sixth month of intra-uterine life, two points of ossifi- cation are found in the second cervical vertebra, one situated above the other. Towards the seventh month, the superior point, which answers to the odontoid process, is larger than the inferior, which relates to the body of the bone. At about the eighth month, the ja 3 ; =: ae * Hutchinson, p.6 to 14. Capuron, p. 165 to 173. Foderé, vol. 2, ps 149 Burns, p. 114 to 118. 12
    No text description is available for this image
    No text description is available for this image
    No text description is available for this image