THE FCLMTS AT TERM.
Weight and Dimensions of the Reins.
The weight of the foetus at term, as we have seen, varies between six and one half and seven pounds; it oscillates between four and seven pounds. Below four pounds, the fcetus is either not at term, or is in a patho logical condition. We have seen that, according to Schroeder, the fcetus weighs at seven months from two to two and one-half pounds (it not being forgotten that the Germans divide the period of pregnancy into ten months of four weeks each.) The mean weight for us at seven months is three to three and one-half pounds, corresponding to the eighth month of the Germans. Below this figure the child would not be viable, though we have seen a child one week younger than that, and weighing only two and one-tenth pounds, which was successfully reared, it being twelve days before it was able to take the breast. On the other hand, in fants of seven and one-half to eight pounds and more, are not absolutely uncommon, though those weighing over ten pounds are very rare. We ourselves have seen two, one weighing ten and one-quarter pounds. and the other ten and one-half pounds. Madame La Chapelle records one of twelve and one-tenth pounds, Baudelocque one of 13.05 pounds, Mer rimann one of 15.5 pounds, Groft one of sixteen pounds, and Cazeaux has described a child that weighed eighteen pounds. [Anna Swann, a giant em, was delivered of the largest child on record, weighing 23 pounds.—Ed.] As to length, they vary from 20 to 22.4 inches. The heaviest children are not always the longest. The cord is not inserted into the median part of the Mal body; it is generally placed below that point. According to the records of the Clinic, we find that in, for example, an infant 20 inches long, vertex to umbilicus measures 10.4 to 11.2 inches, and from umbi licus to great toe-nail, 11.2 to 8.8 inches; but the point of insertion varies greatly.
The fcetus at term has a rosy skin covered with a more or less abundant sebaceous coating, and a down which is well developed in poor and feeble infants, but is much less abundant on those that are strong and vigorous.
The nails project beyond the extremities of the fingers, and reach the tips of the toes; the testicles are in the scrotum. The labiaminora are generally covered by the labia majora; the nipples are prominent; the infants cry and move vigorously, and void urine and meconium.
Ribemont has called attention to several interesting points. First there is the enormous development of the thymus, which is ordinarily volumin ous enough to completely cover the auricles, and even partly to cover the anterior surface of the ventricles, from which it is separated by the peri cardi um. The heart is pushed by the thymus far from the sternum. The first respiratory efforts of the infant carry the heart inward, so that its apex, which corresponds to the fifth intercostal space, and which, in the child that has not breathed, is one-fifth of an inch from the median line, is pushed to only one-tenth of an inch from that line. Contrary to the general opinion Ribemont has shown that the heart is nearer by two fifths to three-fifths of an inch to the pelvic than to the cephalic extremity. This is important in reference to auscultation. B6clard has thought to find in the point of ossification of the inferior epiphysis of the femur, a positive sign of the maturity of the foetus. (Fig. 167). But the re searches of Hecker and of Hartmann have shown, that the point of ossi fication, with its diameter of one-fourth of an inch, may be found in in fants manifestly before term; and that it may be wanting in infants at full term. Hartmann, in forty foetuses of eight months, found it twice; in sixty foetuses of nine months found it sixteen times; in forty-six at ten months, twenty-seven times; and in one hundred and two infants at term, he proved its absence twelve times.
Head of the Fetus at Term.
The head of the foetus is oval, with the larger extremity posteriorly. It is composed of face and cranium.