On the foetus in utero, as inoculating the maternal with the peculiarities of the paternal organism : and on the influence thereby exerted by the male on the constitution and the reproductive powers of the female / by Alexander Harvey.

  • Harvey, Alexander, 1811-1889.
Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the foetus in utero, as inoculating the maternal with the peculiarities of the paternal organism : and on the influence thereby exerted by the male on the constitution and the reproductive powers of the female / by Alexander Harvey. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    exerts an influence on the genitals, and, of course, on the ova of the mare, which appears subsequently on the impregnation of these ova by males of her own species.1 It may be stated, in support of Haller's theory, that, in the case of birds, a single intercourse is known to impregnate many eggs which arc laid successively after it; but, on the other hand, the in- fluence of such intercourse extends only to the eggs of one season, or rather of one brood,—the several eggs being laid in tolerably quick succession, and all of them probably in a state of maturity, and actually impregnated at the time of that intercourse. This fact, therefore, goes but a short way to favour Haller’s theory, and may, indeed, be said to tell as much against as for it. And if it shall be clearly ascertained (as seems presently to be the belief of physiologists), that any single ovum remains but a short time in the ovary, Haller’s theory must be given up. But even if it could be shown that an ovum may remain in the ovary for a series of years, the fact would be of little value, unless it could also be shown that the semen can exert some definite kind of influence on an ovum, which it does not at the time actually impregnate. There seems little probability, however, of this being done ; and there is one fact known in regard to the ova which makes it difficult to conceive it possible—the fact, namely, that unripe or immature ova lie deeply imbedded in the stroma of the ovary. Mr M;Gillivray’s theory seems to me to meet the whole facts of the case, and to derive support from a great variety of facts in re- gard to the reception and constitutional effects of morbific poisons and morbid diatheses, Mr M‘Gillivray, indeed, supposes, as was formerly noticed, that there is a direct vascular connection between the foetus in utero and its mother; and he seems to consider the validity of his theory to hinge on this assumption. The assumption, however, is untenable, nor is it at all necessary for the establishment of the theory. The researches of Dr John Reid and of Mr Goodsir, on the structure of the placenta, have demonstrated that the connection is indirect only —the foetus and the mother imbibing materials from each other, very much in the same way that the lacteal vessels take up the nutritive portions of the food in its transit along the small intes- tines ; or that the roots and leaves of vegetables take up nourish- ment from the soil and the atmosphere,—the materials imbibed, in each case, passing through a pervious, but not a perforated, tube or membrane, and being taken up by a real act of absorption, during which act they are more or less altered in their character, or assimi- 1 Dr Kirkes also appears to regard the cause as a local one. Referring to Lord Morton’s case, he observes,—“ The single impregnation, by the seminal fluid of the quagga, had impressed its character not only on the ovum then impregnated, but on the three following ova impregnated by horses.”—Hand- book of Physiology, p. 014. Such, too, is Mr Mayo’s view. Physiology, 2d Ed., p. 490.
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