At the end of the _fifth month_ the body of the foetus is from seven to nine inches long and weighs from eight to eleven ounces. The skin has a fairer appearance and more consistence; the eyes can no longer be distinguished through the lids, owing to the increased thickness of the latter. The head, heart and kidneys are large and well developed. At the end of the _sixth month_ the foetus is from eleven to twelve and a half inches in length, and weighs about sixteen ounces, more or less. The hair upon the scalp is thicker and longer, the eyes remain closed, and very delicate hairs may be seen upon the margins of the eye-lids and upon the eye-brows. The nails are solid, the scrotum small and empty, the surface of the skin appears wrinkled but the dermis may be distinguished from the epidermis. The liver is large and red, and the gall-bladder contains fluid. At the end of the _seventh month_ the length of the foetus is from twelve and a half to fourteen inches, its weight is about fifty-five ounces, and it is both well defined and well proportioned in all its parts. The bones of the cranium, hitherto quite flat, now appear a little arched, and as the process of ossification goes on, the arching increases till the vault is quite complete. The brain presents greater firmness, and the eye-lids are opened. The skin is much firmer and red. The gall-bladder contains bile. At the end of the _eighth month_ the foetus seems to thicken up rather than to increase in length, since it is only from sixteen to eighteen inches long while its weight increases from four to five pounds. The skin is red, and characterized at this period by a fine downy covering, over which is spread a quantity of thick viscous matter, called the sebaceous coat, which has been forming since the latter part of the fifth month. The lower jaw has now become as long as the upper one, and in the male the left testicle may be found in the scrotum. Convolutions appear in the brain structure. At _nine months_ the anxious time of parturition has arrived. The foetus is from nineteen to twenty-three inches in length and weighs on an average from six to eight pounds. Children at birth sometimes weigh as much as fourteen pounds; but such extremes are very rare. At this period the white and grey matter of the brain are distinct, and the convolutions are well marked; the nails assume a horny consistence, hair upon the head is more or less abundant, the testes are in the scrotum, and the entire external genital organs of both male and female are well formed.