§10#2ἀλλ’ Ἱπποκράτης γέ φησιν· Ὁκόσαι μετρίως ἔχουσαι τὰ σώματα ἐκτιτρώσκουσι τετράμηνα καὶ τρίμηνα ἄτερ φανερῆς προφάσιος, ταύτῃσι αἱ κοτυληδόνες μύξης μεσταί εἰσι, καὶ οὐ δύνανται κρατέειν ὑπὸ τοῦ βάρεος τὸ ἔμβρυον, ἀλλὰ ἀποῤῥήγνυνται. καὶ μὴν Διοκλῆς ὁ Καρύστιος καὶ Πραξαγόρας ὁ Κῶος ὁ Νικάρχου, μικρὸν ὕστερον Ἱπποκράτους γεγονότες, ταὐτὰ λέγουσι, πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι.
But Hippocrates indeed says: "Those women of moderate bodily condition who miscarry in the fourth or third month without any obvious cause, in these the cotyledons are full of mucus, and they cannot hold the fetus because of the weight, but are ruptured." Moreover, Diocles of Carystus and Praxagoras of Cos, the son of Nicarchus, who lived a little after Hippocrates, say the same things, as do many others.
ἆρ’ οὖν πάντες ἠγνοήκασι;
Did they all, then, lack this knowledge?
ἀλλ’ οὐ θέμις ὑπὲρ ἀνδρῶν τηλικούτων οὕτω φρονεῖν.
But it is not right to think thus of such great men.
τί ποτε οὖν ἐστιν, ὃ λέγουσι;
What is it, then, that they are saying?
τὰ στόματα τῶν ἐν τῇ μήτρᾳ ἀγγείων οὕτω καλοῦσι.
They call the mouths of the vessels in the uterus by this name.
καὶ γὰρ καὶ ταῦτα κοτυληδονώδεις ἐξοχὰς ἐπιφυομένας ἴσχει παρὰ τὸν τῆς κυήσεως χρόνον, οἷα καὶ ἐν τῷ ἀπευθυσμένῳ γίνονται ἐπὶ αἱμοῤῥοΐσι.
For indeed these vessels also acquire cotyledon-like outgrowths growing upon them during the time of pregnancy, just as those that occur in the rectum in the case of hemorrhoids.
λέγω δὲ ταῦτα οὐ μαντευσάμενος, ἀλλὰ παρὰ Πραξαγόρου μαθών.
And I say these things not by divination, but having learned them from Praxagoras.
ὁ γάρ τοι Πραξαγόρας ᾧδέ πώς φησιν αὐταῖς λέξεσι· Κοτυληδόνες δέ εἰσι τὰ στόματα τῶν φλεβῶν τῶν εἰς τὴν μήτραν ἡκουσῶν. ὥστε ἔχοι ἂν ἡ γυναικεία μήτρα κοτυληδόνας· καὶ ᾗ διαφέρουσιν αὗταί τε καὶ αἱ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀλόγων ζώων, σαφὲς ἤδη οἶμαι ἐκ τῶν εἰρημένων γεγονέναι.
For Praxagoras speaks somewhere in these very words: "The cotyledons are the mouths of the veins coming to the uterus." Thus the female uterus would have cotyledons; and how these and those in irrational animals differ has, I think, already become clear from what has been said.
ἀρχόμενα οὖν τὰ τοῦ χορίου ἀγγεῖα ἐντεῦθεν, ὅθεν περ εἴρηται, διαπλέκει τε τὸ χορίον, ἀλλήλοις τε μίγνυται καὶ συμφύεται.
The vessels of the chorion, therefore, beginning from there, whence has been said, weave the chorion, mix with one another, and grow together.
ὁ δὲ τρόπος αὐτῆς τῆς συνόδου τοιόσδε τίς ἐστιν. ἐννόησον ῥίζας δένδρου πολλάς τε καὶ λεπτὰς, κατὰ δύο καὶ τρεῖς ἀλλήλαις ἑνουμένας, ὥστε ἐξ αὐτῶν ἑτέρας ῥίζας γίνεσθαι, μείζους μὲν τῷ μεγέθει, ἐλάττους δὲ τῷ ἀριθμῷ, κᾀκείνας πάλιν συνιούσας ἀλλήλαις ἑτέρας ὡσαύτως ποιεῖν, εἶτα ἐκ τῶν γενομένων κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ἄλλας, καὶ τοῦτο ἀεὶ γινόμενον, ἕως ἐς ταὐτὸ ἐλθοῦσαι σύμπασαι τελευτήσωσιν ὑπ’ ἄκραν τῆς γῆς τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν εἰς τὸ τοῦ δένδρου μέρος ἐκεῖνο, ὃ καλεῖται στέλεχος.
The manner of this union itself is something like this: conceive of many and slender roots of a tree, uniting with one another by twos and threes, so that from them other roots are produced, larger in size but fewer in number, and those again coming together with one another produce others in the same way, then from those produced others in the same manner, and this always happening, until all of them, coming to the same place, end just beneath the surface of the earth into that part of the tree which is called the trunk.
καὶ γάρ τοι τὰ ἀγγεῖα ταῦτα, οἷον ῥίζαι τινὲς οὖσαι πολλαὶ καὶ μικραὶ, συμφύονται, καὶ συμφυόμενα γίνεται μείζονα τῶν προτέρων· εἶτα ἐφεξῆς μείζονα γινόμενα περατοῦνται σύμπαντα εἰς δύο οἷον στελέχη, φλέβας μὲν τὰ φλεβώδη, ἀρτηρίας δὲ τὰ ἀρτηριώδη, ἑκάτερον ἐξ ἑκατέρου μέρους, δεξιοῦ τε καὶ ἀριστεροῦ, ἐμβαλλούσας εἰς τὸ ἔμβρυον κατὰ τὸν ὀμφαλόν.
For indeed these vessels, being as it were many and small roots, grow together, and by growing together they become larger than the previous ones; then in succession becoming larger, they all terminate in two as it were "trunks", the venous ones into veins, and the arterial ones into arteries, each entering into the fetus through the navel from each of the two sides, the right and the left.
οὐδὲ γὰρ οὐδὲ ἄλλο τί ἐστιν ὁ ὀμφαλὸς, ἀλλ’ ἢ τὰ τέτταρα ἀγγεῖα, μέσον αὑτῶν ἔχοντα τὸν οὐραχόν.
For indeed the navel is nothing else than the four vessels, having the urachus in their midst.
οὗτος δέ ἐστιν ἀρχὴ τοῦ ἀλλαντοειδοῦς χιτῶνος, ὃν ἐξικνεῖσθαι κατὰ τὰ ἐξέχοντα τοῦ ἐμβρύου ἐλέγομεν· συντέτρηταί τε εἰς τὸν πυθμένα τῆς κύστεως τοῦ ἐμβρύου εὐρεῖ καὶ ἀξιολόγῳ πόρῳ, ὥστε εἶναι ἕνωσιν τῇ κύστει πρὸς τὸν ἀλλαντοειδῆ χιτῶνα διὰ τοῦ οὐραχοῦ, μεταξὺ ἀμφοῖν κειμένου.
This urachus is the origin of the allantoic tunic, which we said reaches to the projecting parts of the fetus; and it is perforated into the bottom of the bladder of the fetus by a wide and remarkable passage, so that there is a union for the bladder with the allantoic tunic through the urachus, which lies between them.
καθ’ ὃ δὲ πρῶτον ἀνευρυνομένου τοῦ οὐραχοῦ ἀποφύεται ὁ ὑμὴν, τραχύτης ἱκανὴ καὶ οἷον ψωρώδης φαίνεται.
Where the membrane first branches off as the urachus widens, a considerable and as it were scabby roughness is visible.
καὶ μὴν καὶ ὑγρὸν οὐκ ὀλίγον ἐν ἑκατέρῳ τῶν ὑμένων περιέχεται, διαφέρον τοῦ ἑτέρου τὸ ἕτερον καὶ τῇ χροιᾷ καὶ τῷ πλήθει.
And indeed, no small amount of fluid is contained in each of the membranes, the one differing from the other both in color and in quantity.
ξανθὸν μὲν γὰρ τὸ ἐν τῷ ἀλλαντοειδεῖ, λευκότερον δέ πως τὸ ἐν τῷ ἀμνειῷ.
For that in the allantois is yellow, while that in the amnion is somewhat whiter.
τοῦτο δὲ καὶ πλέον ἐστὶ τοῦ ἑτέρου· καὶ γὰρ καὶ ὁ χιτὼν τοῦ χιτῶνος μείζων, εἴ γε ὁ μὲν ὅλον τὸ ἔμβρυον ἀμφιέννυσιν, ὁ δὲ κατά τινα μέρη ἐπίκειται αὐτῷ.
And this latter is also greater than the other; for indeed the tunic itself is larger than the other tunic, since the one wraps the whole fetus, while the other is placed over it only in certain parts.
ὅθεν δὲ καὶ τοῖς ὑγροῖς τούτοις ἡ γένεσις, καὶ τίς ἡ ἀπ’ αὐτῶν χρεία, ἐν τῷ ἐφεξῆς λόγῳ πάντα εἰρήσεται· καὶ τὰ περὶ τῶν ἀγγείων τῶν εἰς τὸ ἔμβρυον διὰ τοῦ ὀμφαλοῦ καθηκόντων αὐτὰ καθ’ αὑτὰ εἰρήσεται ἐν ἑτέρῳ λόγῳ τῷ περὶ τῆς τοῦ ἐμβρύου ἀνατομῆς.
Whence these fluids have their origin, and what their use is, will all be said in the following discourse; and the facts concerning the vessels descending into the fetus through the navel will be said by themselves in another discourse, that on the anatomy of the fetus.