This page needs to be proofread.
- drawn, although we are well aware that various opinions
might be cited in support of a contrary position. (See Physiological Illustrations, vol. i, p. 243.) The weight of the child is a circumstance which should always be ascertained, as being capable of throwing some light on the question at issue. If the fœtus has passed the period of seven months, it will generally weigh four pounds, although upon this point again a difference of opinion has unfortunately existed.[1]
The length of the fœtus, at the full term, is said to vary less than its weight. It is generally from
- ↑ Dr. Hutchinson states that the weight of the fœtus at the full term of utero-gestation has generally been rated too high; apparently from this having been stated from conjecture, rather than from the evidence of the balance. It appears from the observations of Dr. Hunter, made at the British Lying-in hospital, on the bodies of several thousand new-born and perfect children, that the weight of the smallest was about four pounds; and of the largest eleven pounds two ounces; that of by far the greater proportion was from five to eight pounds. Dr. Clarke's inquiries furnished nearly similar results; he found that the average weight of male children was seven pounds five ounces and seven drachms; and that of female, six pounds eleven ounces and six drachms, (Phil. Trans. vol. lxxiv.) Dr. Clark, of Dublin, found it vary from four to eleven pounds. Dr. Merriman states, in his lectures, that he delivered one which weighed fourteen pounds, (it was born dead,) and Dr. Croft delivered one alive weighing fifteen pounds. It is somewhat less in France than in England; of fifteen hundred and forty-one examined by Camus, under circumstances similar to the foregoing, the greatest weight was nine pounds, and of this there were sixteen instances; the ordinary, from five to seven; and the average six pounds and about a quarter; there were thirty-one instances in which it was as low as three pounds, although Baudelocque states that he saw several instances in which the weight was about ten pounds, a few where it was twelve, and one of thirteen. Subsequent observations on twenty thousand children at the Hospice de la Maternité, at Paris, have shewn a few instances where it has been one hundred and sixty-eight ounces, that is ten pounds and a half, which has been the highest term. In Germany it appears to be nearly the same as in France; for Roederer states the average weight to be from five pounds to six pounds and a half.—Hutchinson, L. C.
