On the fœtus in utero as inoculating the maternal with the peculariarities of the paternal organism, and on mental stakes in either parent as influencing the nutrition and development of the offspring / by Alexander Harvey.
- Harvey, Alexander, 1811-1889.
- Date:
- 1850
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: On the fœtus in utero as inoculating the maternal with the peculariarities of the paternal organism, and on mental stakes in either parent as influencing the nutrition and development of the offspring / by Alexander Harvey. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![mals, the blood cannot be returned from the foetus to the mother during utero-gestation.” That this opinion is very generally held by physiologists in this country, is quite certain. Dr Alison, for in¬ stance, after observing (on the authority of Magendie and of Dr David Williams, of Liverpool,) that camphor and oil injected into the blood of pregnant animals are soon detected in the blood of the foetus; but that poison, injected into the umbilical arteries, although mixing with the blood on its way from the foetus to the placenta, does not affect the mother; and that fatal hemorrhage in the mother does not apparently diminish the fulness of the vessels of the foetus, _adds, “ so that it would seem that the transmission of fluids is al¬ most entirely from the mother to the foetus.”1 Again, Dr Kirkes, referring to Professor Goodsir’s observations as to the intervention of two distinct layers of nucleated cells between the foetal and mater¬ nal portions of the placenta, speaks of the one being “ probably designed to separate from the blood of the parent the materials des¬ tined for the blood of the foetus,” while the other “ probably serves for the absorption of the material secreted by the other set of cells, and for its conveyance into the blood-vessels of the foetus,”2—no idea, seemingly, being entertained of a converse process. Moreover, the view taken by most physiologists of the destination of that por¬ tion of the foetal blood which is transmitted to the placenta, appears to be exclusively that of renovation or aeration, by coming into rela¬ tion with the oxygenated blood of the mother,3—nothing being said as to re-absorption into the maternal system.4 1 Outlines of Physiology, 3d edit. p. 426.—In his History of Medicine, Dr Alison expresses himself even more strongly on the subject:—“ The experi¬ ments of Magendie and others have proved that any substance which may be circulating in the blood of the mother finds ready access to that of the foetus, but that there is little or no transference of fluids in the opposite direction.”— Cyc. of Pract. Med., vol. i. p. lxxxiii. 2 Handbook of Physiology, p. 643. 3 Carpenter, Principles of Human Physiology, 2d edit. p. 713. Manual of Physiology, p. 474. . P It may be asked, whether the idea expressed by the terms u renovation and “ aeration ” does not necessarily include that of the transference of some kind of matter from the foetus to the mother ? Supposing “ that the umbi¬ lical arteries terminate in the umbilical veins, and not in the vessels of the uterus, and that the [whole] blood in the umbilical arteries 4 passes from the arteries into the veins, as in other parts of the body, and so back again into the child’ ”—(Dr J. Reid, Researches, p. 318)—still this blood is believed to have acquired something effete in its transit through the foetal system. What be¬ comes of this effete foetal matter ? Clearly there is no outlet for it but through the mother’s system, and by her excretory organs. Judging from the analogy of the process of aeration in the adult, and from the condition of the foetus, which renders all excretion by its own organs (except of bile into the intestine) impossible, carbonic acid and the elements of urine probably form the chief part of that effete matter. Perhaps some animal matter may attach to it,—such as is thrown off with the watery vapour in the adult, and amounts, according to Collard de Martigny, to about 3 parts in 1000 of the vapour. This animal matter, however, may be thought too inconsiderable in amount or not of a nature to exert any influence on the maternal constitu-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30560421_0012.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
