Breathing before Birth in Animals and Man

Abstract

Observations on AnimalsTHE question of whether the fetus normally breathes before birth has been a matter of uncertainty for the past 80 years. The casual or fugitive observations of breathing movements in fetuses of different species at cesarean section have been attributed to inadvertent tactile or thermal stimuli¹ or to asphyxia, an argument that was hard to meet until the introduction of blood gas electrodes. Secondly, it was noticed that radiopaque contrast material, introduced into the amnion, soon appeared in the fetal intestines but, provided there was no asphyxia, not in the fetal bronchi. These observations, in man and . . .