The Dublin practice of midwifery / by Henry Maunsell.

  • Henry Maunsell
Date:
1856
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Dublin practice of midwifery / by Henry Maunsell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    73/328 page 57
    to the embryo^ and to secrete the liquor amnii. Neither of these membranes have been injected in the human subject; but their vascularity can be fully ascertained in animals^ by injecting from the foetal vessels. The liquor amnii is the fluid secreted by and contained in the amnion. It is composed of water containing small quantities of albumen^ muriate of soda^ and phosphate of lime. It is of a light straw colour, and has a very peculiar smell. The liquor amnii varies in quantity, at the ftdl period of gestation, from half a pint to upwards of a quart. Its use appears to be, to furnish a medium in which the foetus can enjoy a certain degree of motion, and at the same time be most effiectually protected against external injmy. It has been supposed by some to be a source of nou- rishment to the foetus; but, without involving our- selves in the intricacies of this question, it will be enough to point out the absui'dity of any animal being supposed capable of secreting matter for its own nourishment. Such would be the case, how- ever, if the liquor amnii served this purpose, as it can only be produced from the foetal vessels; the amnion having no vascular connection with the mother. We shaU now take a brief notice of the foetus, the main object for which all this apparatus to be, in original formation, identical with the cutis and epi- dermis.
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