nineteen to twenty-two inches. Seventeen and twenty-six will include the two extremes. Professor Chaussier has presented us with a scale of relative admeasurements, from which he thinks we may deduce the age of a child. He asserts that at the full term of gestation, the middle of the body of the fœtus corresponds exactly with the umbicus; at the eighth month it is two or three centimeters higher; that it approaches still nearer the sternum at the seventh month; and at the sixth falls exactly at the abdominal extremity of that bone.[1] If this statement is to be relied upon, we should be able to conclude, says Dr. Smith, that when the middle of the length of the body falls at the cartilago ensiformis, the fœtus must be under the seventh month, and consequently could not have continued to live after birth.
The surface of the fœtus will moreover present an appearance, arising from its great vascularity, which is very characteristic of its immaturity; the red hue, however, to which we more particularly allude, is not acquired until the vessels have attained a certain capacity, and the circulation a considerable degree of vigour; and it is worthy of remark that the appearance becomes again obscure, as the developement of the fœtus advances, from the increasing opacity of the integuments, but in those parts where the deposition of fat in the cellular membrane is wanting, the redness will remain conspicuous, as in the palms of the hands, or in the soles of the feet. The head still maintains an unjust proportion to the rest of the body; the bones of which it consists are extremely soft and yielding; and, on account of the extent of
- ↑ We have already given a scale of the dimensions of the skeleton of the fœtus, according to the accurate observations of M. Beclard, vol. iii, p. 75.
