An inquiry on the subject of vaccination : addressed to the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society / by Benjamin Ridge.
- Ridge, Benjamin
- Date:
- 1851
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: An inquiry on the subject of vaccination : addressed to the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society / by Benjamin Ridge. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.
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![de sac; though probably, in the more numerous cases, it breaks and comes away piecemeal with portions of the meconium. It is by no means a smooth membrane, but appears laminated ex- ternally, and to have portions of its internal surface dipping into the meconium, in like manner as the arachnoid membrane dips into the brain. The rete vasculare appears to be provided by Nature for the nourishment of the meconic membrane, as well as the mucous membrane on which it lodges, and to sustain the functional in- tegrity of both during foetal life. As far as I have been able to observe, it is the most beautifully-organised piece of network of blood-vessels the eye ever saw; and, when first taken out of the gut of a strangled puppy or kitten, most brilliant in colour. ] t may probably assist in keeping up a highly-organised state of the alimentary canal during fetal life, which, with the lungs, appear to be the only organs not performing functions precisely similar to those which they are afterwards called upon to do. I may also add another reason for supposing the meconium to be an inde- pendent deposit of any secretion of the liver, though this opinion differs entirely from received authority—which is, that as the rete vasculare and meconic membranes are structures peculiar only to foetal life, they must disappear altogether some time after birth, and Nature must provide for this first step. My impres- sion is, that the bile traverses the whole length of the alimentary canal from the duodenum to the anus, and is, in foetal fife, the proper menstruum to lubricate the rete vasculare and the meconic membrane; whilst the meconium itself, by the aid of its antiseptic properties, prevents the chylification of these structures. There can be no doubt, however, that an attempt at digestion and chy- lification does occur in foetal life, as the piece of orange-coloured fecula on the external meconic sac and membrane of my first preparation fully demonstrates; and also that this little piece of fecula passed down the alimentary canal between the rete vasculare and meconic membranes. This very act must have ruptured the union of the two membranes in the track down which it passed, as it is carried on by the minutest network of blood-vessels; for previous to washing it, as before described, I noticed the unattached surface thickly strewed with hair-like vessels. As soon, no doubt, as the meconium has passed out ot the system, the bile gets access to the centre of the meconic sac, so that chylification is pretty certain to ensue, as both the rete vasculare and meconic membrane are inclosed and surrounded by bile, which serves to digest them; and hence I have been led to the conviction that this action gives the orange-colour to the first infant stool. The great amount of organic matter](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21457888_0010.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
