THE PRESENTATION AND POSITION OF THE FOETUS AT FULL TERM is a thing of much interest; and the true causes which influence and determine these most now be stated and explained. At the earliest period at which the embryo it seen, it has always been observed to be curved forwards; and in all orderly developments this position continues as the growth increases, until a full term of gestation, the head is found flexed so that the chin nearly touches the sternum, the arms flexed upon the chest, and the forearms upon the arms, so that the palm of each hand is applied to is side of the face and chin. The inferior extremities are also flexed in a similar manner; the thigh upon the abdomen and the leg upon the thigh, the feet lying together and within the thighs, the knees and elbows touching each other. This is found to be the position most economical of space; it forms of the body a compact and ovoidal mass, similar in shape to that of the head, and most convenient for expulsion from the genital organs.
Upon a little reflection it must be evident, that the same influences that give shape to the embryo and foetus must also shape its position in uterus. And furthermore that the same influences must also determine the presentation of the foetus,- not at once, but as it is gradually developed so it is gradually made to assume its best possible position, and gradually to present itself at the superior strait with its head downwards, the occiput turned to the left ilio-pectineal eminence; its back, relative to the mother, to the left and in front, and its face looking back to the mother’s right. This position and presentation is assumed by means of the all-pervading influence of the mother, more frequently than all the others out together, simply because it is the most favorable for an easy expulsion from the generative organs, and is consequently the most orderly and natural one. When the foetus deviates from this, it assumes the next most favorable position for an easy delivery, and so on, the greatest number of presentations and positions being by far the best, and the least number being the most difficult. The causes of all these different presentations and positions may be much more rationally accounted for, by referring the whole matter to Nature’s formative process, than by attempting to explain them as the effects of gravity or of any other mechanical influence; since the same result is obtained where women maintain the horizontal position during the entire period of utero- gestation. If the formative powers of nature in the mother are adequate to the folding of the limbs in the compact and symmetrical manner just described, why should they not be deemed sufficient to determined the presentations and the precise position?
It may be asked why then are there so many different presentations and positions? The head is sometimes extended upon the back, as in the face presentation; and sometimes the lower extremities are thrown over towards the back. All these various attitudes, presentations and position result from corresponding variations in the vital energies of the mother. Should she be well, in an orderly and happy condition, both mentally and physically, her young will have only natural and orderly presentations and positions. The truth of this is proven by daily experience in practice. For females who, for instance, invariably have face presentations of their children and who have always been ill in some particular manner themselves, after the removal of their malady, have as invariably had their children present naturally. Hence the great importance of making the most strenuous and persevering efforts to efforts to remove the various illnesses with which women are afflicted, and to advise happy and orderly modes of life, in order that the distresses of child-bearing may be entirely overcome, which indeed is not only possible, but under the prevalence of the Homoeopathic regime, quite probable, in the course of time. If should be remembered here that the embryo or foetus is not suspended in the uterus by the umbilical cord, but that it always floats in the liquor amnii, the child being of lighter specific gravity than liquid. Hence it must swim or float, touched nothing but water for its support, hence it is also free to obey any influence brought to bear upon it by its mother, through the cord, its only medium of connection.
By Presentation we mean the part that presents at the superior strait; as the vertex, the face, the breath, &c. By Position we mean the particular posture in presentation; as the occiput in the left hair of the pelvis, anterior, transverse or posterior. But the further consideration of this subject will now be postponed, till we come to treat of the Mechanism of Labor.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FOETUS needs also to the be studied with especial reference to the three great Functions of Nutrition, Repatriation and Circulation, by which this development is accompanied. Each of these functions is evidently maintained during intra-uterine life, in a manner altogether different form that after birth.
NUTRITION.- At no instant in the history, even of the unimpregnated ovule, is it without the support of the mother, from the earliest moment of its existence within the ovary, till it is ruthlessly washed away by the menstrual flux or broken and destroyed by some other means. But, when impregnated, the ovule becomes still more especially the object the particular care of the mother. Hence, immediately upon the occurrence of conception, the entire natural, spiritual and vital organism of the mother is aroused to provide for what is really a new creature, already a new human being. From this moment, therefore, commences the nutrition of the embryo. And at the very first this is accomplished in a manner similar to the nutrition of a seed in the earth; which, although in a general manner supported by the external influences of the mother-earth, is in a still more immediate and particular manner sustained by itself, the sprout flourishing upon the remaining substances of the seed till that is consumed. So the impregnated ovum, even after it has ovary, is sustained in a general way by a sort of endosmosis from the mother; but in a more immediate and particular manner, its primary development is maintained, and the embryo itself subsists upon the vitellus-a substance most nutritious, and especially provided for this very purpose. When this original resource is exhausted, the embryo throws out the allantoid vesicle in search of other supplies. These are found my coming in contact with the mother’s blood in the villi of the chorion. In this great life- fountain the embryo finds a bountiful supply of all things needful for is present wants and future growth and development. The vitellus is indeed very small, but the embryo itself is correspondingly minute; it wants but little.
Sufficient proof of these statements may be found in the fact that the umbilical vesicle is entirely constituted from the vitellus, or from that remains of it after the formation of the blastodermic membrane. And in the further fact that the omphalo- mesenteric vessels, artery and veins are found to circulate blood to and from the embryo in a manner altogether similar to that in which it is subsequently done in the umbilical cord. And, finally, the umbilical vesicle and the omphalo-mesenteric vessels soon becomes obliterated after the nutritious root has become well established by means of the allantoid vesicle, its arteries and veins.
Pure arterial blood contains all the needful materials for growth, and for the separation of the waste and decomposition of tissue; these must be first accumulated in the blood, then distributed as needed. For this supply of the elements necessary for growth and repair, there is a constant yearning, of which the blood, as a living body, is conscious, and to which it continually seeks to respond. Blood is found in the embryo at the earliest possible period of examination; a circulation has already been established in the embryo and in the omphalo- mesenteric vessels, by the time the supply is exhausted which has contained in the umbilical vesicle, into which these vessels ramify in search to nourishment for the blood itself.
Upon the failure of the supplies from the umbilical vesicle, a new route must be opened up to furnish the demand. This is done by the embryo throwing out the allantois supplied with the two arteries arising from the internal iliacs and containing impoverished blood which must be renovated and returned to the embryo. These arteries are accompanied by a vein. The whole apparatus soon takes root in the villi of the chorion; and forthwith a return of nourishment is made to the already flourishing embryo. The impoverished arterial blood from the embryo, by endosmosis through the coats of the villi of the chorion, is renewed and regenerated from the aerated and revivified blood is immediately returned to the embryo for its especial benefit. Now is formed the first nucleus of the placenta; now the grand and lasting event is established, and in this manner, for the continued nutrition of the future foetus, by its famished and exhausted blood being thus supplied with all things needful by endosmosis from the maternal blood, through the vessels in and about the villi of the chorion. From this time the foetus, the cord and the placenta grow pari passu, till the completion of the full them. And by no other means is the nutrition of the embryo and foetus provided. All the plants, and, indeed, the whole animate creation is nourished by a kind of endosmosis from the parent earth, or mother; but the material thus applied is appropriated by each receiver in its own way, in accordance with its own blood and form of life.
