title: A study of the elasticity and tension of fetal membranes and of the relation of the area of the gestational sac to the area of the uterine cavity.
abstract: The surface area of the uterine cavity before delivery was compared with that of the gestational sac after delivery and experiments were carried out to test the elasticity of membranes and the tension on them during labour. The results indicated that after 28 weeks of pregnancy the intact fetal membranes were under tension and were not a passive lining to the uterine cavity and that there was a significant decrease in the elasticity of those membranes which ruptured before labour irrespective of the maturity of the pregnancy. The results failed to support the suggestion that there was a deficiency in the area of the gestational sac in those cases where the membranes ruptured before labour.
mesh_terms: D000886:Anthropometry; D004548:Elasticity; D005321:Extraembryonic Membranes / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007743:Labor, Obstetric; D011247:Pregnancy; D013499:Surface Properties; D014590:Uterine Contraction; D014599:Uterus / Q000033:anatomy & histology*