Simon Magus Part 12

[Footnote 131: xv, 1, 2]

[Footnote 132: The most advanced theory, however, is that the foetus derives nourishment from the amniotic fluid, and Dr. Jerome A. Anderson sums up his highly interesting paper on the "Nutrition of the Foetus" in the _American Journal of Obstetrics_, Vol. XXI, July, 1888, as follows:

"To briefly sum up the facts supporting amniotic nutrition:

"1st. The constant presence of nutritive substances in the amniotic fluid during the whole period of gestation.

"2nd. The certainty of the absorption by a growing, almost skinless, foetus of any nutritive material in which it is constantly bathed.

"3rd. The permeability of the digestive tract at an early period, and the necessary entrance therein, according to the laws of hydrostatics, of the alb.u.minous amniotic fluid.

"4th. The presence of, as it seems to me, _bona fide_ debris of digestion, or meconium, in the lower intestine.

"5th. The presence of urine in the bladder, and bile in the upper intestine; their normal locations.

"6th. The mechanical difficulties opposing direct nutrition through the placenta, and the impossibility of nourishment by this method during the early stages of embryonic life previous to the formation of the placenta or umbilical vesicle.

"7th. The evident material source of the fluid, as shown by the hydrorrheas of pregnancy, as well as in the exhaustion the mother experiences, in some cases, at least, under its loss and rapid reproduction.

"8th. The entire absence during gestation of any trace of the placenta in certain animals, notably the salamander."]

[Footnote 133: Oratio V, _In Matrem Deorum_.]

[Footnote 134: _De Defectu Oraculorum_, xxi.]

[Footnote 135: _Dictionary of Christian Antiquities_, art. "Four Rivers, The."]

[Footnote 136: _The Homeric Cave of Nymphs_, [Greek: peri tou en Odusseia Numphon antrou].]

[Footnote 137: [Greek: legousin ek petras gegennaesthai auton]--Just.

Mart. _Dial. c.u.m. Tryph._]

[Footnote 138: _Cabiri_, ii, 363.]