Outlines of the theory and practice of midwifery / by Alexander Hamilton, M.D. F.R.S. Edin. ; Professor of midwifery in the university, and member of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh.

  • Hamilton, Alexander, 1739-1802.
Date:
MDCCXC [1790]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Outlines of the theory and practice of midwifery / by Alexander Hamilton, M.D. F.R.S. Edin. ; Professor of midwifery in the university, and member of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    The progrefs of the foetus appears to be much quicker in the early than latter months: but the proportional increafe is attended with difficulty in the calculation ; for this, among other reafons, that we have not an opportunity of knowing the magnitude or weight of the fame foetus in different months. It will alfo, probably, be materially influenced by the health, conftitution, and mode of life, of the pa- rent. A foetus of four weeks, is near the fize of a com- mon fly ; it is foft, mucilaginous, feems to hang by its belly, and its bowels are only covered by a trans- parent membrane. At fix weeks, the confidence is itill gelatinous, the fize about that of a fmall bee, the head larger than the reft of the body, and the extre- mities then begin to {Loot out. At twelve weeks, it is near 3 inches long, and its formation pretty diftinS *. At four months, the foetus meafures a- bbve 5 inches ; at five months, between 6 and 7 in- ches ; at fix months, the foetus is perfect in all its external parts, and commonly in length about 8, or between 8 and 9 inches 5 at feven months, it is be- tween II and 12 inches ; at eight months, about 14 or 15 inches; and at full time, from 18 to 22 or 23 inches. But thefe calculations, for the above rea- fons, muff be very uncertain. S E O • Vide Dr Hunter's eleprant Plates of the Gravid Uterus, the Wdrks of Djt Harvey, De Gratvf, Malpighi, Haller. &e.