§10#1Τὸ δὲ νῦν εἶναι, ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἕν τι τῶν προτεθέντων ὑπόλοιπον, τοῦτο λεγέσθω, τίνα, κυούσης τῆς γυναικὸς, ἐντὸς τῆς μήτρας φύεται.
For the present, which is the single remaining topic of those proposed, let this be said: what things grow inside the uterus when a woman is pregnant.
ἔστι δὲ τάδε. πρῶτον μὲν τὸ χορίον, τῇ μήτρᾳ προσφυές· μετὰ δὲ τόδε ὑμένες οἱ τὸ ἔμβρυον συνέχοντες, καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ ἔμβρυον.
They are the following: first, the chorion, attached to the uterus; and after this, the membranes containing the fetus, and the fetus itself.
εἶδος δὲ ἑκάστου τῇ φύσει τοιόνδε ἐστί. τὸ μὲν χορίον ἀγγεῖα πολλά ἐστι, φλέβες τε καὶ ἀρτηρίαι ἐγγὺς ἀλλήλων κείμεναι, καὶ τὰ μεταξὺ διαστήματα ὑμέσιν ἀναπληρούμενα.
The natural appearance of each is as follows: the chorion is a multitude of vessels, both veins and arteries, lying near one another, with the intervening spaces filled by membranes.
οἱ δὲ ὑμένες, ὁ μὲν ὅλῳ περίκειται τῷ ἐμβρύῳ, ὁ δὲ ἕτερος ἐπίκειται, διπλοῦς κατὰ τὰ ὑπερέχοντα αὐτοῦ, κεφαλήν τε καὶ γλουτοὺς καὶ πόδας.
As for the membranes, one surrounds the fetus as a whole, while the other is placed over it, being double at its projecting parts, namely the head, the buttocks, and the feet.
καὶ ἔστιν ὀνόματα αὐτῶν, τῷ μὲν ἀμνειὸς, τῷ δὲ ἀλλαντοειδὴς, ἀλλᾶντι γὰρ ἔοικεν, ὥστε ἀπὸ τῆς κατὰ τὸ σχῆμα ὁμοιότητος τοὔνομα αὐτῷ· ἄμφω δὲ λευκοὶ καὶ λεπτοὶ, ἐγγὺς ἀράχνης τὸ εἶδος.
And their names are, for the one, amnion, and for the other, allantois, for it resembles a sausage, so that its name comes from the similarity in shape; both are white and thin, close to a spider's web in appearance.
ἔστι δὲ τοῦ μὲν χορίου ἡ πρὸς τὴν μήτραν πρόσφυσις τοιάδε. τῶν τῆς μήτρας ἀγγείων εἰς τὰ ἐντὸς αὐτῆς ἡκόντων, δι’ ὧν καὶ τὰ καταμήνια ἡ γυνὴ καθαίρεται, τὰ στόματα ἀνέῳκται, ὁπόταν ἡ γυνὴ συλλήψεσθαι μέλλῃ.
The attachment of the chorion to the uterus is as follows: of the vessels of the uterus coming into its interior, through which the woman is also purged of her menses, the mouths are opened whenever the woman is about to conceive.
ἔστι δ’ οὗτος ὁ χρόνος ἀρχομένων τῶν ἐπιμηνίων ἢ παυομένων.
This time is when the menses are beginning or ceasing.
ἀνεστόμωνται γὰρ καὶ ἐν τῷ ἄλλῳ παντὶ χρόνῳ τῆς καθάρσεως τὰ ἀγγεῖα ταῦτα, ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἂν λάβοι πρὸς ἑαυτὴν ἡ γυνὴ τηνικαῦτα, οὐδὲ γὰρ δύναται μένειν ἐν τῇ μήτρᾳ τὸ σπέρμα, ἐκκλυζόμενον τῷ πλήθει τοῦ ἐπιῤῥέοντος αἵματος.
For these vessels are also opened during the entire other time of purging, but the woman would not conceive then, for the seed cannot remain in the uterus, being washed out by the abundance of the flowing blood.
παυομένων δὲ τῶν ἐπιμηνίων καὶ ἀρχομένων ἀνεστόμωται τὰ ἀγγεῖα, καὶ τὸ ἐπιμήνιον οὔτε πολὺ οὔτε ἀθρόον ἐκχεῖται, ἀλλ’ ὀλίγον τε καὶ κατὰ βραχὺ, οἷον ἀπὸ νοτίδος αἱματηρᾶς διϊδρουμένης· ὥστε προσφύεται μὲν διὰ τὴν τραχύτητα τῇ μήτρᾳ τὸ σπέρμα, αὐτάρκη δὲ ἔχει τροφὴν τὴν ὀλιγότητα τοῦ συῤῥέ οντος εἰς αὐτὴν αἵματος.
But when the menses are ceasing or beginning, the vessels are opened, and the monthly discharge is poured out neither in large quantity nor all at once, but in small amounts and gradually, as if sweating out from a bloody moisture; so that the seed attaches itself to the uterus due to its roughness, and has sufficient nourishment in the small quantity of blood flowing into it.
πρὶν γὰρ ἰέναι τὰ ἐπιμήνια, οὐκ ἂν συλλάβοι ἡ γυνὴ, ὅτι καὶ τοῦ τρέφοντος ἐστέρηται τὸ σπέρμα, καὶ προσίζησιν οὐκ ἔχει· λεία γὰρ ἡ μήτρα τηνικαῦτά ἐστι, μεμυκότων τῶν ἀγγείων, ὥστε ἀποῤῥεῖ τὸ σπέρμα καὶ οὐχ ἑνοῦται τῷ χιτῶνι αὐτῆς, ἐπιτηδειότερον γὰρ πρὸς σύμφυσιν τὸ τραχὺ τοῦ λείου.
For before the menses flow, the woman would not conceive, because the seed is deprived of nourishment and has no attachment; for the uterus at that time is smooth, as the vessels are closed, so that the seed flows away and does not unite with its tunic; for the rough is more suitable for union than the smooth.
ταῦτα γοῦν καὶ τῶν ἀψύχων τὰ πολλὰ, φησὶν ὁ Διοκλῆς, οἷον ξύλα τε καὶ λίθους, ἑνῶσαι πρὸς ἄλληλα βουλόμενοι, ἢν τυγχάνῃ λεῖα ὄντα, τραχύνουσι πρότερον κατακνίζοντες.
Indeed Diocles says that if we wish to unite many of even inanimate things to one another, such as pieces of wood and stones, if they happen to be smooth, we first roughen them by scraping.
καὶ γὰρ τὰ χείλη, καὶ τὰ βλέφαρα, καὶ τῶν δακτύλων τὰ μεταξὺ πολλάκις ἑλκωθέντα συνέφυ· κατὰ φύσιν δὲ ἔχοντα, καίτοι ἀεὶ ὁμιλοῦντα, οὐ συμφύεται διὰ λειότητα.
For even the lips, the eyelids, and the spaces between the fingers have often grown together when ulcerated; but when they are in their natural state, although always in contact, they do not grow together because of their smoothness.
τὰ μὲν γὰρ τραχέα κατὰ τὰς ἀνωμαλίας ἀλλήλοις ἐμπλεκόμενα ἑνοῦται· τὰ δὲ λεῖα, οὐκ ἔχοντα λαβὴν ἀσφαλῆ, κᾂν ὑπό τινος εἰς τὸ αὐτὸ ἀχθέντα καὶ βίᾳ συμπιληθῇ, ῥᾳδίως ἀπολύεται.
For rough things, being entangled with one another in their unevennesses, are united; but smooth things, not having a secure hold, even if brought to the same place by something and forcibly compressed, are easily separated.
ταῦτα μὲν εἴρηται, καὶ γέγονεν ἤδη δῆλον, ὅτι τὸ χορίον τῇ μήτρᾳ προσφύεται κατὰ τὰ στόματα τῶν ἀγγείων μόνα, κατ’ ἄλλο δὲ οὐδέν.
These things have been said, and it has now become clear that the chorion attaches to the uterus only at the mouths of the vessels, and in no other place.
ἡ δὲ πρόσφυσις γίνεται τόνδε τὸν τρόπον. τὸ ἐν τῷ χορίῳ φυόμενον ἀγγεῖον ἀρχὴν ἔχει τὸ πέρας τοῦ εἰς τὴν μήτραν ἐμβάλλοντος, ὥστε ἄν τινα φάναι ἓν εἶναι τὰ δύο.
And the attachment takes place in this manner: the vessel growing in the chorion has its origin at the extremity of the vessel emptying into the uterus, so that one might say the two are one.
ἥνωται γὰρ κατὰ τὰ στόματα, καὶ μεταλαμβάνει θάτερον παρὰ θατέρου. ἡ μὲν γὰρ φλὲψ τὸ αἷμα παρὰ τῆς φλεβός· ἡ δὲ ἀρτηρία τὸ πνεῦμα παρὰ τῆς ἀρτηρίας.
For they are united at their mouths, and one receives from the other: the vein receives blood from the vein, and the artery receives pneuma from the artery.
ὥστε τηλικαῦται τῶν τοῦ χορίου ἀγγείων αἱ διαστάσεις εἰσὶν, ἃς ὑμὴν διυφαίνει, ἡλίκον καὶ τὸ ἐν μέσῳ τῶν ἀναστομουμένων εἰς τὴν μήτραν ἀγγείων.
So that the intervals between the vessels of the chorion, which the membrane weaves between them, are as large as the interval between the vessels opening into the uterus.
κατὰ ταῦτα καὶ αἱ κοτυληδόνες εἰσὶ, δεσμὸς ἀσφαλὴς τῷ χορίῳ πρὸς τὴν μήτραν γεγενημέναι, καίτοι τὴν τῆς ἀνθρώπου μήτραν οὔ φασιν ἔχειν κοτυληδόνας· γίνεσθαι γὰρ αὐτὰς ἐπί τε βοῶν καὶ αἰγῶν καὶ ἐλάφων καὶ τοιούτων ἑτέρων ζώων, σώματα πλαδαρὰ, ὑπόμυξα, τῷ σχήματι ἐοικότα κοτυληδόνι τῇ πόᾳ, τῇ κυμβαλίτιδι, ὅθεν περ καὶ τοὔνομα αὐταῖς.
Corresponding to these are also the cotyledons, which have become a secure bond for the chorion to the uterus, although they say that the human uterus does not have cotyledons; for they arise in cows, goats, deer, and other such animals, being flabby, mucous bodies, resembling in shape the herb cotyledon, the cymbalitis, whence indeed they have their name.