On the anatomical relations of the blood-vessels of the mother to those of the foetus in the human species / by John Reid.
- Date:
- [1841?]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: On the anatomical relations of the blood-vessels of the mother to those of the foetus in the human species / by John Reid. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
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![pierced by a million of small holes, each of which is filled up by as many small capillary blood-vessels * Vatcr,t proceeding on the supposition which we have seen to be common at the time he lived VIZ. that the ovum, after exhausting the nutriment which it found m the uterus, sends the filaments of the chorion into the substance of the uterus as a ])lant shoots its roots into the soil, and being also aware of the existence of the open mouths of the uterine sinuses, states, that the vascular extremities of the chorion insinuate them- selves into the open mouths of the uterine sinuses, and draw nourishment from them. We find no evidence which would lead us to believe that this description given by Vater was not a mere expression of a theoretical opinion. Noortwyk+ describes nu- merous vessels emerging from the uterine surface of the placenta inserting themselves into the uterine pores, and forming a mani- fest communication between the blood-vessels of the mother and foetus. He afterwards states that these vessels are ■ not continua- tions of the capillary vessels of the placenta, but vessels omnino sui generis.§ Monro primus,\\ after maintaining that the pla- centa is covered on the uterine surface by a fine membranous continuation of the chorion, states, that the extremities of the umbilical vessels pierce this membrane, and show their very small orifices on the side next to the uterus, and therefore it is compared to the villous coat of the intestines. J. G. D, Michaelis If de- scribes the fcEtal placental vessels penetrating the decidua, and pas- sing into the walls of the uterus. He further adds, that some of them ad vasorum uterinorum orificia lateralia quasi aggluti- natcB firmiter sese applicant, We have thus seen that a theo- retical notion prevailed for a considerable time, that the foetal ves- sels passed through minute and numerous orifices in the decidua; that it was then also generally believed that they entered into small openings in the inner surface of the uterus ; and that one author made the fortunate guess that they passed into the open mouths of the uterine sinuses.** It will be at once apparent to those who are familiar with the subject, that the view here giveu of the anatomical relations of the blood-vessels of the mother to those of the foetus is considerably different from that proposed by the Hunters, and by those who have succeeded them. The Hunters were not aware that the foetal placental vessels are prolonged into the uterine sinuses of • Idem liber, 1714, p. 182. •f- De Utero Gravido, published in 1725, Haller's Disput. Anat. Tom. v. p. 2G0. X Uteri Humani Gravidi Anatome, &c. p. 10, 1743. § Idem liber, p. 14. II Edinburgh Medical Essays, Vol. ii. p. 102, 1747. ^ Dissertatio Inauguralis, Med. De Placenta Ilumano. The date of this disser- tation was obliterated in the only copy which I have seen, but the author was born in 1750. It is quite possible that this idea may have been repeated by other authors, of whose works I am ignorant.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21953120_0012.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
