Footnote 198:

_Remarks on the Epidemic Yellow Fever which has appeared at intervals

in the South Coasts of Spain, since the year 1800_, by ROBERT JACKSON,

M.D. 8vo. London, 1821.

Footnote 199:

It is probable that the Fomites of Plague are never extinct in Turkey,

although various circumstances may render it _Sporadic_, or entirely

dormant.

Footnote 200:

_Loimologia._

Footnote 201:

_Op. citat: p. 501._

Footnote 202:

_Page 159._

Footnote 203:

The following account is taken from Quincy: “Dr. _Plott_ observes, the

reasons why Oxford is now much more healthful than formerly, to be the

enlargement of the city, whereby the inhabitants, who are not

proportionally increased, are not so closely crowded together; and the

care of the magistrates in keeping the streets clear from filth: for

formerly, he says, they used to kill all manner of cattle within the

walls, and suffer their dung and offals to lie in the streets.

Moreover, about those times, the Isis and Cherwell, through the

carelessness of the townsmen, being filled with mud, and the common

shores by such means stopped, did cause the ascent of malignant

vapours whenever there happened to be a flood. But since that, by the

care and at the charge of Richard _Fox_, Bishop of Winchester, in the

year 1517, those rivers were cleansed, and more trenches cut for the

water’s free passage; _the town has continued in a very healthful

condition, and in a particular manner so free from pestilential

diseases, that the sickness in 1665, which raged in most parts of the

kingdom, never visited any person there, although the terms were there

kept, and the Court and both houses of Parliament did there

reside_.”—_Plott’s Hist. of Oxfordshire, chap._ ii.

Footnote 204:

See _Dr. Heberden’s Observ. on the Increase and Decrease of different

Diseases, and particularly the Plague, p. 71_.

Footnote 205:

The earliest instance of jail infection, communicated in a Court of

Justice, appears to be that mentioned by Mr. Anthony _Wood_, as having

happened “at the Assize kept in the Castle at Cambridge, at the time

of Lent, 13th _Henry_ viii. ann. dom. 1521-2, when the Justices there,

and all the gentlemen, bailives, and all resorting thither, took such

an infection, that many of them died; and almost all that were present

fell desperately sick, and narrowly escaped with their lives.” Then

comes the memorable _black assize_ at Oxford, in July 1577, the best

account of which is that given in “_The History and Antiquities of the

University of Oxford, by Anthony Wood, M. A. of Merton College_”,

first published in English from the original MS. in the Bodleian

library, by John _Gutch_, A. M. printed at Oxford in 1796. Another

instance is mentioned by _Holinshed_, (vol. ii, p. 1547) as occurring

at Exeter, during the assizes there in March 1586. From this period no

remarkable case of jail infection is recorded for a period of 150

years, when at the Lent assizes, some prisoners who had been removed

from Ilchester gaol, to take their trials at Taunton, were said to

have infected a part of the court, and produced a contagious disease,

of which the Chief Baron _Pengally_, with some of his officers and

servants, and Sir James _Sheppard_, knight, and Serjeant at Law, died

afterwards at Blandford in Dorsetshire. Twelve years after, viz. in

April, 1742, according to Dr. _Huxham_ (_De aëre, &c. vol._ ii, _p._

82) a putrid fever appeared at Launceston, and occasioned great

mortality; this fever, he adds, was generated in the prisons; and

widely disseminated by means of the county assize. The next remarkable

occurrence of this kind happened at the sessions of the Old Bailey, in

the spring of 1750, which proved fatal to the Lord Mayor, and two of

the Judges, with several eminent and other persons; this circumstance

induced the Magistrates of London to resolve upon attempting to render

Newgate more healthy; and they accordingly consulted Dr. _Hales_ and

Sir John _Pringle_ about the method which they should follow. Dr.

_Hales_ recommended the use of his _Ventilator_, a machine contrived

to pump out the air of any place, and thus to occasion a perpetual

renovation of it. The machine was accordingly erected, and its

salutary effects soon became apparent, the deaths in Newgate having

been reduced from 7 or 8 a week to about 2 in a month. Eleven men were

employed in erecting this ventilator, of which no fewer than 7 were

seized with the disease; a very interesting account of these men, and

of the mode of treatment, were drawn up by Sir John _Pringle_, and

published in the _Philosophical Transactions for 1753, vol._ xlviii,

_p._ 42.

Footnote 206:

_Page 144._

Footnote 207:

_A History of the Epidemic Fever which prevailed in Bristol during the

years 1817-18-19_, by J. PRICHARD, M. D.

Footnote 208:

_Medical Report of the Fever Hospital and House of Recovery, Cork

street, Dublin, for the year ending the 5th of Jan. 1819._ By RICHARD

GRATTAN, M.D. &c.

Footnote 209:

_Medical Report of the Fever department in Stevens’ Hospital,

containing a brief Account of the late Epidemic in Dublin, from Sep.

to Aug. 1819._ By JOHN CRAMPTON, M.D. &c. Dublin, 1819.

Footnote 210:

QUARANTINE, or Quarantain, a French word signifying the space of forty

days; why forty days should have been fixed upon as the period of

probation upon these occasions is not very evident. _Beckmann_

observes that it arose from the doctrine of the ancient physicians, in

regard to the critical days of many diseases, of which the fortieth

seems to have been considered the last, and most extreme, and on which

many astrological conceits were formerly maintained. (See _G. Wedelii

Exercitatio de Quadragesima die_, in his _Centuria Exercitationum

Medico-Philologicarum_, Jenæ 1701.) This explanation however is not

quite satisfactory; forty days appear to have been a period fixed upon

for various kinds of probation, (probably from the duration of Lent);

we have thus _Quarantain_ of the King in France, which denotes a truce

of forty days appointed by Saint Louis, during which time it was

expressly forbidden to take any revenge of the relations or friends of

people who had fought, wounded, or affronted each other in words. So

again in the law of England, the word _Quarantine_ denotes a benefit

allowed to the widow of a man dying seized of land; by which she may

challenge to continue in his capital messuage, or chief mansion house

(so it be not a castle) for the _space of forty days_ after his

decease; during which time her dower shall be assigned. _Coke upon

Lit._ 34, 35.

An account of the various establishments for preventing the plague in

different countries, with a reference to the best writers, may be

found in _Schleswig Holstein schen Blattern fur Polizey und Cultur_.

1800, 2 _p._ 341.

Legislative enactments for arresting the progress, and preventing the

diffusion, of contagious diseases are mentioned in the earliest

history: it is, for instance, commanded in the books of the law of

Moses, that the priests shall be desired to visit houses infected with

the plague of leprosy, which, if necessary, are to be closed, and even

pulled down; or the walls are to be scraped and white-washed, and the

infected persons to be shut up. (_Leviticus, chap._ xiii, xiv.) The

laws of QUARANTINE, however, as directed against the propagation of

Pestilential Epidemics have a later origin. In the first centuries of

the Christian era, it does not appear to have been known that

infection could be communicated by cloathing, and other things used by

infected persons. After the plague in the fourteenth century, which

continued longer than any other on record, and extended over the

greater part of Europe, the survivors found that it was possible to

guard against, or to prevent infection, and Governments then began to

order establishments to be formed for that purpose. The most ancient

of these appear to be those in Lombardy and Milan in the years 1374,

1383, 1399; an account of which may be seen in MURATORI _Scriptores

rerum Italic: T._ xvi, _p._ 560, & xviii _p._ 82, and from thence

copied into CHENOT, p. 147. See also BOCCACIO _Decam._ The Venetians

are entitled to the merit of having improved the establishments formed

to prevent infection, and that their example was followed in other

countries is generally admitted. MURATORI (_Lib._ i, _cap._ ii, _p._

65) says that Quarantine was first ordered to be performed by the

Venetians in 1484; and HOWARD (_An Account of the principal

Lazarettos; London_, 1789, 4_to p._ 12) states that the College of

Health was instituted in 1448—see BECKMANN’S _History of Inventions_,

vol. ii, p. 153—and _Considerations on the Means of Preventing the

communication of Pestilential contagion_, by W. BROWNRIGG, London,

1771. On the Turkish frontiers the period of Quarantine was reduced to

_twenty_ days, under the Emperor Joseph II. See MARTINI LANGE

_Rudimenta Doctrinæ de Peste_.

Footnote 211:

For an interesting account of the rise and progress of this disease,

see Sir A. _Faulkner’s_ work already quoted.

Footnote 212:

Though no punishment is annexed by the Act to any offence against the

Order of the King in Council, yet the disobedience of such an order

founded on Act of Parliament, is an indictable offence, and punishable

as a misdemeanor at common law; _King_ against _Harris_, 4 T. R. 202,

which was the case of a pilot who quitted a ship subject to Quarantine

contrary to the established regulations.

Footnote 213:

This rule should be extended to vessels meeting at Sea.

Footnote 214:

The signal by day is a yellow flag of six breadths of bunting at the

maintopmast-head, and if the vessel have not a clean bill of health,

then the flag must have in it a black circular mark or ball, whose

diameter must be equal to two breadths.

Footnote 215:

See also 59 Geo. 3. c. 41. which relates to infection in Ireland.

Footnote 216:

_On Hereditary Disease_, (Note 1, p. 46.)

Footnote 217:

The visitation of Lunatic Asylums and Mad-houses by Special

Commissioners (_see_ 14 _Geo._ 3, _c._ 49—_Appendix_ 170) may be

considered as a branch of Medical Police, for which see the subjects

of Idiots and Lunatics in Part II.

Footnote 218:

The local causes to which we would particularly refer, are those

connected with humidity of atmosphere, which so generally occurs in

the vicinity of the sea. The author speaks from experience, when he

ventures to assert that the most efficient extracts soon lose their

powers under such circumstances.

Footnote 219:

A bill was recently introduced in the House of Commons on this

subject, but did not pass into a law.

Footnote 220:

The first bills containing the ages of the dead were those for the

town of Breslaw in Silesia, from which Dr. HALLEY deduced a table of

the probabilities of the duration of human life, at every age, see

_Philosophical Transactions_ (Abridgement vol. iii, p. 669.) Similar

bills were established at Northampton in 1735.

Footnote 221:

We ought to mention that in consequence of the apprehension respecting

the plague having subsided, the company soon began to discover that

the weekly bills declined in sale; in order therefore to keep alive

the public interest, and to preserve for themselves the income which

arose from it, they printed on the same sheet, in the year 1735, the

regulated prices of bread and salt.—!

Footnote 222:

This society was incorporated by Letters Patent of the 17th Henry iii,

in 1239, by the style of the “_Fraternity of Saint Nicholas_;” and

they were re-incorporated by charter of the 9th of James i. In 1625,

they obtained a decree from the Star chamber, allowing them to keep a

press in their hall, for the printing of the weekly and general bills

of mortality of the city and liberties of London: and for this purpose

the Archbishop of Canterbury appoints a printer. All which privileges

were subsequently confirmed by a charter granted by Charles ii.

Footnote 223:

_Strictures on the Uses and Defects of Parish Registers and Bills of

Mortality, with suggestions for improving and extending the System of

Parochial Registry._ London, 1818.

Footnote 224:

Many of the diseases are absolutely unintelligible under their present

designation; such, for instance, as _Headmoldshot_; _horse-shoe head_;

_over-grown head_; _rising of the lights_, _&c._ others are barbarous,

as _liver-grown_; _twisting of the guts_, _&c._ others again are far

too indefinitely expressed to be admitted as specific diseases, of

which _aged_; _bed-ridden_; _bile_; _colds_; may serve as examples.

“_Fevers of all kinds_” is a little too sweeping and indiscriminate.

“_Abortives and still-born_” united, form a large number in the

general annual bill, the absurdity of which is apparent. _Child-bed_

is a formidable article in the bill, and is liable to much

misinterpretation and error; all women dying within the month after

delivery are indiscriminately classed under _child-bed_, whether they

die in actual labour, or subsequently of acute fever, consumption, or

any other disorder. Infants dying before baptism are not returned by

the parish clerks in the bills of mortality. In the old bills they

were entered under the denomination of _Chrysoms_, but this title has

been long disused. See _Burrows’s_ _Strictures_, p. 53.

Footnote 225:

_Observations on the Increase and Decrease of different Diseases, and

particularly of the Plague._ London, 1801.—See also STOWE’S _London_,

book 5, p. 448.—MORRIS’S _Observations on the past Growth, and Present

State of the City of London_.—JAMESON _on the Changes of the Human

Body_, 8vo. London, 1812.

Footnote 226:

PHIL. TRANS. 1774, vol. lxiv. p. 67; vol. lxv. p. 85; and vol. lxviii.

p. 131.

Footnote 227:

PHIL. TRANS. 1782, vol. lxxii. p. 35.

Footnote 228:

PHIL. TRANS. for 1775; see also THOMSON’S _Hist. of the Royal Society,

article Political Arithmetic_, p. 530.

Footnote 229:

The term Medicine (_Ars Medendi_) is used generally as including

Surgery.

Footnote 230:

For the Law of Evidence in general see Trials per pais; Gilbert’s Law

of Evidence; Viner’s Abr. tit Evidence; Bacon’s Abr. tit Evidence;

Comygn’s Digest. tit Testmoigne: Buller’s NP; Espinasse NP; Peake on

Evidence; Phillips on Evidence; 2 Tidd’s Practice 845.

Footnote 231:

See _Severn v. Olive_ (_Appendix_, p. 201), in which it is also

determined that the expense of experiments to elucidate or determine

points in dispute cannot be allowed in costs. We regret the decision,

as it may in future cases stand in the way of important and highly

useful investigations.

Footnote 232:

See Cutt v. Pickering 1 Vent, Lord Say & Sele’s Case; Macclesfield,

41. or Annesley & Anglesea, 9 St. Tri. 383, 392.

Footnote 233:

Lord Barrington’s objection to disclose confidential conversation was

also over-ruled in the case cited above.

Footnote 234:

It has been decided in civil cases, that declarations even of a dying

man, made _post litem motam_ are not admissible as evidence; this

appears to be rather a fine drawn distinction, and if it were extended

to criminal matters would be productive of some mischief; for then if

a man died of his wounds, after the assailant had been committed or

indicted, declarations made under circumstances of equal solemnity and

religious force, would be evidence or not according to the hour of the

day at which they were uttered. The distinction is not taken in the

law of Scotland, as appears by the stress laid by Lord Mansfield, on

such declarations in his judgment in the Douglas cause. 2 Collec.

Jurid.

Footnote 235:

Baptist or quaker surgeons should therefore, in cases likely to come

before the criminal tribunals, take care to have persons associated

with them who may supply their places in Court; we do not urge them to

be sworn, as we should place less reliance on an oath taken in breach

of conscientious scruples, than on the affirmation which is rejected

in obedience to the forms of law.

As a quaker if living could not be heard as a witness in a criminal

case, query his declarations when dying, does the solemnity of the

occasion dispense with the form of an oath?

Footnote 236:

For the medical dangers and advantages of celibacy and marriage, the

reader, if fond of such speculations, may consult _Mahon, vol._ 3,

_p._ 43, 80.

Footnote 237:

Œtas plena, or full age, regularly is one and twenty, _Co. Litt_ 79.

103. 1 _Hale Pl. c._ 17. The Roman law makes it twenty-five,

_Institut. lib._ 1. _tit._ 23. _De Curatoribus. Dig. lib._ 4. _tit._

4. _De Minoribus. Taylor’s Civil Law_, 255, 256. In France it was

thirty for males. _Potier._ In Holland 25.

Footnote 238:

Sir John Sebright informs us, that if a flock of sheep, in which there

is any defect, are permitted to breed _in and in_, the defect will

gradually increase among them; and Colonel Humphries, by selecting for

breeding a marked variety, has succeeded in procuring a flock, all of

them with deformed bones: upon these curious facts Dr. Adams makes the

following remarks; “If the same causes operate in man, may we not

impute to them many endemic peculiarities found in certain sequestered

districts, which have hitherto been imputed to the water, and other

localities? and may we not trace a provision against such a

deterioration of the race, in that revealed law, by which any sexual

intercourse between near relations is forbidden, on pain of death?”

Footnote 239:

If either of the parties be under the age of twenty-one, they cannot

by their own consent alone contract marriage; they must have either an

express consent in case of licence, or an implied consent by the banns

not having been forbidden; but as banns may be and frequently are

improperly published in churches far distant from the actual residence

of the parties, their parents, or guardians, this precaution of the

legislature offers but a precarious safeguard against clandestine

marriages.

Footnote 240:

32 _Hen_ 8. _c._ 38. in part repealed by 2 & 3 _Ed._ 6. _c._ 23. but

query how far revived by 26 _Geo._ 2. _c._ 33. See also 1 & 2 _Ph. &

M. c._ 8. §. 20: and 1 _Eliz. c._ 1. §. 11.

Footnote 241:

From the age of seven to the age of twelve, as to the woman, and

fourteen as to the man, they cannot contract marriage _de præsenti_,

but only _de futuro_. _Swinb. s._ 7.

Footnote 242:

As to matrimonial contracts, the full age of consent in males is

fourteen years, and of females, twelve; till that age they are said to

be _impuberes_, and are not bound by matrimonial contracts; and with

this also our law agrees; 1 _Hale Pl._ 17. _Instit. Lib._ 1. _tit._

10. _de nuptiis_. _Dig. Lib._ 23. _lit._ 2. _de ritu nuptiarum Co.

Litt._ 104. The statute of Merton, 20. _Hen._ 3. _c._ 6 (_Co. Litt._

30). inflicts the loss of wardship and its benefits on such Lords as

shall marry their wards within the age of fourteen years, _et talis

ætatis quod matrimonio consentire non possit_. Yet a widow who had

been married at seven, and at nine years old survived her husband, was

held entitled to dower. _Co. Litt._ 33.

Footnote 243:

This case was cited in argument in _Manby v. Scott. Siderf. p._ 112.

but it was allowed that the older writers _Bracton_, _l._ 5. 421. and

_Fleta_, 434, 58, had held the contrary, and so does the law of the

present day. See _Co. Litt._ 30. 80: _Brouwer de jure Connubiorum_.

Footnote 244:

15 _Geo._ 2. _c._ 30. _Co. Litt._ 80. _n._

Footnote 245:

Statutes. 32 _Hen._ 8. _c._ 38: 2 & 3 _Ed._ 6. _c._ 21: 5 & 6 _Ed._ 6.

_c._ 12: 7 & 8 _Wil._ 3. _c._ 35: 10 _Ann. c._ 19. 26 _G._ 2. _c._ 33.

Footnote 246:

For further authorities see 4 _Bacon Abr._ 523. 15 _Viner Abr._ 252.

_Rolle’s Abr. tit. Bastard._ 356.

Footnote 247:

“_De contracti matrimonii valore, per Sobolis necessariam

judicatur._”—_Hebenstreit Anthropolog: Forens. p._ 618.

Footnote 248:

Old _Parr_, who lived to the age of 152, did penance at 105, for lying

with _Katharine Milton_, and getting her with child. He married his

second wife in his 122d year.

Footnote 249:

The Romans interdicted marriages of extreme inequality in respect of

age, upon public policy; their law likewise restrained it between men

above 60 and women turned 50, because at these ages procreation was

improbable.

The Athenian laws are said once to have decreed that Males should not

marry till they were past 35 years of age. ARISTOTLE (_Polit. lib._

vii. _c._ xvi.) thought 37 the proper age; PLATO fixes 30, in which

opinion HESIOD coincides. With respect to Females, the old Athenian

laws allowed them to marry at 26; ARISTOTLE at 18, and HESIOD at 15.

LYCURGUS approved a marriage between men of 37, and women of 17; the

principal object of which was, says ZENOPHON (_De Republ. Lacedæm._)

to insure that perfect maturity, and complete sexual vigour which he

considered so eminently essential for the propagation of the human

species. ARISTOTLE wished the husband to be always 20 years older than

his wife, in order that they might both arrive, at the same time, to

the period when fertility ceases; and we learn from CÆSAR & TACITUS

that the ancient Germans maintained a similar sentiment.

Footnote 250:

In a celebrated German case, an affianced officer, by the misfortune

of war, was rendered incapable of performing his contract; the

marriage however took place, _uxore sciente et consentiente_, to the

great scandal of the more bigoted ecclesiastic authorities who sought

to annul it.

Footnote 251:

_Capuron_ relates several instances of women of sixty and upwards who

have borne children. _Pliny_ says that _Cornelia_, of the family of

the _Scipios_, bore a child at sixty, who was called _Volusius

Saturninus_. _Marsa_, a physician of Venice, records a similar

instance; _De la Mothe_, another at sixty-one; and there is in the

third volume of the Memoirs of the Academy, an account of a litigation

on the presumption that a woman of sixty-eight could not bear a child.

We shall treat this subject very fully under the head of Physiological

Illustrations.

Footnote 252:

To those who are anxious to pursue the subtleties of this curious

question, the following references may be acceptable—MERCATUS De

_Morbis Hereditariis_, a treatise published in the beginning of the

17th century; STAHL’S _Theoria Medica Vera_, published at Halle, in

1737, p. 377. There are besides in the collection of Dissertations

published by Stahl in 1707, several passages which refer to the

subject of Hereditary Diseases, and an Inaugural Dissertation, “_De

Hereditaria Dispositione ad varios Affectus_,” by Burchart; HALLER’S

_Elementa_, vol. 7, article _Similitudo Parentum_; M. PORTAL, “_Sur la

nature et traitement de quelques maladies hereditaires ou de

famille_,” published in the Memoirs of the French National Institute,

and a translation of which may be found in the 21st volume of the

London Medical & Physical Journal; it is principally valuable on

account of the number of facts and references which it contains; M.

FORESTER, _De Morbis aut Noxis puerorum in vitiatis depravatis que

parentibus_. M. Portal mentions this work as one of great

merit—certain opinions of Mr. JOHN HUNTER, upon the subject are

contained in the report of Donellan’s trial, _See Appendix_.—The most

important work which has been produced in our own times, is that by

Dr. ADAMS; entitled “_A Treatise on the supposed Hereditary Properties

of Diseases, containing Remarks on the unfounded Terrors and

ill-judged Cautions consequent on such Opinions_.”

Footnote 253:

See the ancient doctrine of disparagement, _Co. Litt._ 80, 81.

Footnote 254:

We are acquainted with but one instance of Legislative interference,

relative to hereditary diseases, and that is to be found in the

earlier history of our sister kingdom. The following quotation will

explain its nature: “Morbo comitiali, amentia, mania, aut simili tabe,

quæ facile in prolem transfunditur, laborantes, intereos ingenti facta

indagine inventos, ne genus fæda contagione ab iis qui ex illis

prognati, forent læderetur, castraverunt; mulieres hujusmodi morborum

quavis tabe leprave infectas procul a virorum consortio ablegaverunt.

Quod si harum aliqua concepisse inveniebatur, simul cum fætu nondum

edito defodiebatur viva—Voraces, manducones supra quam erat humanum,

helluonesque, et perpetuæ ebrietati indulgentes aut addictos, netam

fæda monstrain patriæ dedecus supressent flumine mergentes, prius

quantum libuit et cibi et potus vorare ac ingurgitare eis præbentes,

miti supplicio exterminarunt.”

_Scotorum Historiæ a prima Gentis Origine, cum aliarum et rerum et

gentium illustratione non vulgari, Libri_ xix—HECTORE BOETHIO

DEIDONANO _auctore_—Parisiis 1574, lib. 1, p. 12.

The ancient Greeks appear to have entertained a similar opinion,

although they did not ground any legislative enactments upon it; thus

Plato commends Esculapius for refusing to patch up persons habitually

complaining, lest they should beget children as useless as themselves;

being persuaded that it was an injury both to the community and to the

infirm person himself, that he should continue in the world, even

though he were richer than Midas. _De Republ. Lib._ III. Upon the same

principle Herodicus is censured by Plato as the inventor of an art of

teaching the infirm to regulate their exercise and diet in such a

manner as to prolong their lives for many years.

Footnote 255:

_Police Medicale_, p. 91. the author goes on to state, that by an

ordinance of the king of Denmark, if the husband or wife have before

marriage any secret malady, as leprosy, epilepsy, or other contagious

disorder calculated to inspire horror, and does not inform the other

of it, the party uninformed may have a divorce p. 92.

Footnote 256:

It must not be on the mere confession of parties, 2 _Burn._ 461. but

see _Greenstreet_ and _Greenstreet Phillimore’s Rep._ Divorce by

reason of impotence, 4 _Bacon. Ab._ 534, and cases there, and note, p.

555.

Authorities,—_Panormus_; _Targereau, Paris_, 1611; _Sylva Nuptialis_;

_Ambrose Parè, sixth edit._; _Sanchez de Matrimonio_; _Journal des

Sçavans, July_, 1677; _Johannes Saresberiensis in Policratico sive de

nugis curialium_; _Rouliard’s Capitulaire_; _Antony Hotman’s

Treatise_. _Bayle_ says that the _Divorce propter impotentiam_ was

first allowed by _Justinian_ at the instance of his wife the empress

_Theodora_; her life and character (7 _Gibbon’s Roman Empire_, p. 64)

will best explain the motives of her interference; the Canonists added

_propter arctitudinem_, which the empress had naturally omitted.

Footnote 257:

There is some philosophy as well as considerable humour in the

arguments of _Louvet_ in his celebrated novel, for it is well known

that persons of a sedentary and studious habit are seldom excited and

easily diverted.

Footnote 258:

_Maleficium, Magorum Ars. Maleficus, Incantator. Maleficare,

Incantare._ 4 _Ducange Gloss._ 363.

Footnote 259:

On the same principle the College of Physicians of Paris would have

suppressed the works of _Ambrose Parè_, the celebrated surgeon to

three kings; whom, though a Protestant, _Charles_ the ninth saved in

his own chamber, from the massacre of St. Bartholomew. His work _de

Generatione_, was considered too minute in its details, and too

explicit in its language, for general inspection.

Footnote 260:

The defect must exist at the time of the marriage; if it ensue

subsequently, it is no ground of divorce.

Footnote 261:

See DERHAM’S _Physico-Theology_, vol. 1. p. 260.

Footnote 262:

See _Traité de Medicine Légale_, par F. E. FODERE. tom. I. p. 9.

Footnote 263:

In JOHNSON and STEVENS’S edition by ISAAC REID, we have a long note

upon this passage, in which a quotation is introduced from “_The

Treasury of Ancient and Modern Times_,” in order to give an account of

the Septenary divisions of PROCLUS. According to this Greek

philosopher, the life of man is divided into seven ages, over each of

which one of the seven planets was supposed to preside. “THE FIRST AGE

is called Infancy, containing the space of foure yeares. THE SECOND

AGE continueth ten yeares, untile he attaine to the yeares of

fourteene: this age is called Childhood.—THE THIRD AGE consisteth of

eight yeares, being named by our auncients Adolescie, or Youth-hood;

and it lasteth from fourteene, till two-and-twenty yeares be fully

compleate. THE FOURTH AGE paceth on, till a man have accomplished two

and fortie yeares, and is tearmed Young Manhood.—THE FIFTH AGE, named

Mature Manhood, hath fifteene yeares of continuance, and therefore

makes his progress so far as six and fifty yeares. Afterwards in

adding twelve to fifty-six, you shall make up sixty-eight yeares,

which reach to the end of the SIXTH AGE, and is called Old Age.—THE

SEAVENTH, and last of these seaven ages, is limited from Sixty-eight

yeares, so far as four score and eight, being called weak, declining,

and decrepite age. If any man chance to goe beyond this age (which is

more admired than noted in many) you shall evidently perceive that he

will returne to his first condition of Infancy againe.”

Footnote 264:

AS YOU LIKE IT, Act 2. Sc. 7.

Footnote 265:

In every _Septenary_, says Solon, man receives some sensible mutation;

thus in the _First_ is DEDENTITION, or falling of teeth;—in the

_Second_, PUBESCENCE;—in the _Third_, THE BEARD GROWETH;—in the

_Fourth_, STRENGTH PREVAILS;—in the _Fifth_, MATURITY OF ISSUE;—in the

_Sixth_, MODERATION OF APPETITE;—in the _Seventh_, PRUDENCE.

Footnote 266:

By the Civil Law _Twenty-five_.

Footnote 267:

TAYLOR’s _Civil Law_, 254.

Footnote 268:

Sir WILLIAM BROWN’s _Vulgar Errors_. Folio, 1686. p. 173.

Footnote 269:

It appears therefore that the _Milk_ Teeth are divided into _Eight_

INCISORES—(The fore or cutting teeth) _Four_ CUSPIDATI (Canine or Eye

Teeth) and _Eight_ MOLARES (or Grinders).

Footnote 270:

RICHERAND has clearly shewn that this change of voice depends upon the

larynx undergoing an increase in capacity; he observes that in the

male, at the time of puberty, the aperture of the glottis augments in

the proportion of 5 to 10, in the course of twelve months; that its

extent is in fact doubled both in length and breadth: that these

changes are less strongly marked in woman, whose glottis only enlarges

in the proportion of 5 to 7.—_Elements of Physiology, translated from

the French of A. Richerand, by Robert Kerrison, London, p. 438._

Footnote 271:

_Quæst: Med: Leg._—_Q._ 6.

Footnote 272:

ADAMS on _Hereditary Diseases_. HASLAM on _Madness_.

Footnote 273:

A question has arisen whether this discharge be a secretion from the

internal surface of the uterus, or pure blood; it is now generally

admitted that the former is the true theory of its origin, and it is

important for the medical jurist to know that _it does not coagulate_;

in the celebrated case of the murder of MARY ASHFORD, this fact

furnished a useful feature in the evidence; and in other cases that

might be cited, the medical witness has been thus enabled to discredit

the explanation given by a woman, for the appearance of blood. The

average quantity in this country is about four ounces, which is

generally about four days in flowing, but this of course is liable to

great variation. An opinion has prevailed from the most remote

antiquity, that there is something peculiarly malignant and unclean in

the nature of this discharge. Haller thinks that this belief was

brought from Asia into Europe, by the Arabian physicians; that such an

idea should have originated in hot countries is not extraordinary,

when we consider how rapidly blood runs into putrefaction under such

circumstances. In Africa the women are obliged at these periods to

separate themselves from society, and to abstain from the performance

of their domestic duties, and even to carry about them some mark, by

which others may learn to avoid them. The Jews observed the same

practice, and the laws of Moses condemned to death the persons who

were discovered to have had sexual intercourse during this period.

(_Levit. Ch._ 20. _v._ 18.)

Footnote 274:

The use of the bath hastens puberty, as we find in the example of the

Turkish women.—The custom of dancing is said to be attended with a

similar effect.

Footnote 275:

LINNÆI _Flora Lapponica_.

Footnote 276:

It has been a question much agitated by the ancients, why females

arrive at puberty before males. HIPPOCRATES gives the following as a

reason, _propter corporis imbecillitatem id evenit puellis, ut citius

quam mares pubescant_. (Lib. de Sept. part. in fin. et in lib. de nat.

puer.) ARISTOTLE also entertained a similar opinion. (_De Generat._

animal: cap. 6) and GALEN also adopted it (De Usu part Corp. human).

Footnote 277:

PLINY the Elder, has recorded several histories of children who

prematurely arrived at puberty. “It is well known that there be some

that naturally are never but a foot and a half high; others again

somewhat longer, and to this height they came in three years, which is

the full course of their age, and then they die”—PHILEMON HOLLAND,

_book_ vii. _chap._ 16.—An account is also given by CRATERUS, the

brother of king Antigonus, the subject of which history was an

_Infant_, a _Young Man_, and an _Old Man_, was married and begat

children, and all in the space of _Seven_ years! In January, 1747, Dr.

MEAD presented to the Royal Society the history of a child born at

Willingham near Cambridge, which is recorded in the 43d _Volume of

Transactions, for the year 1745_. This child was not only remarkable

on account of his bulk and height, but also for the _external marks of

Puberty_, which were first observed at the age of twelve months; no

evidence however is offered in this case of the perfect developement

of the genital organs, their external appearance is alone described,

without any regard to the state of their functions. In an account

published after his death, it appears that he was attacked by a

disease resembling _Phthisis Pulmonalis_, and was attended by the late

Dr. Heberden, then at Cambridge, of which he died, and after death,

says his historian, he had the appearance of a venerable old man.

Footnote 278:

TRANSACTIONS OF THE MEDICO-CHIRURG. SOCIETY, vol. 1.

The following are the particulars of the case of PHILIP HOWORTH, as

related by Mr. WHITE—He was born in Quebec Mews, Portman Square, on

Feb. 21, 1806; his parents are middle aged, and poor, but industrious

people; the father being a coachman in a gentleman’s service, and the

mother employed in nursing and rearing a family of ten children, of

which Philip is the ninth: the father is a healthy and muscular man,

the mother a middle sized woman, and rather delicate; the rest of the

children are of the ordinary stature and appearance. During the

mother’s pregnancy with Philip, (which continued the usual length of

time) nothing occurred worthy of remark. At the birth, the head of the

child was covered with a profusion of hair of considerable length; the

sutures of the cranium were closed, not leaving the slightest vestige

of a Fontanelle, and he was at this period considered, in point of

size and appearance, as a large and healthy child; during the first

year he was remarkably healthy, and could at about the 12th month run

alone; shortly after this period, a very visible alteration took

place, his countenance, which, until now, had been marked with health

and infant beauty, lost its round and infantile form, and became long,

pale, and extremely ugly, as if affected by the ravages of some bodily

malady. These appearances seem to have been the preludes of those

remarkable changes which quickly succeeded; at this period Nature made

a sudden bound to puberty; the penis and testes were observed to

increase in size, and a small number of black, curling hairs, were

discovered on the pubes: an evident alteration also took place in the

tone of the voice, his cries becoming much hoarser, and more

interrupted; the peculiar organic changes which have been described as

commencing on the completion of his first year continued to be rapidly

increased, and the full developement of the sexual organs was attended

with signs of returning health; the features assumed a more manly

expression, and the rapid and successive growth of the body became the

wonder of all who knew him. Mr. White then proceeds to state that part

of his history which fell under his own notice; the first appearance

of the boy, says he, is very striking, on account of the manly

character so strongly impressed upon his countenance; the chin is

_without beard_, but the black headed points of steatomatous matter so

remarkable in young men previous to the growth of beard, is very

apparent. The Axilla is without hair, but the secretion has the

peculiar characteristic odour of the Adult; the pubes and scrotum are

covered with black curling hair; the penis and testes are as large as

has been seen in some adults, the _corpus spongiosum urethræ_ having

outgrown the _corpora cavernosa_, the penis is curved during erection;

the testes are firm and perfect in their appearance, and the chord may

be felt very distinctly; the prepuce is easily drawn back over the

glans, and the secretion of the _glandulæ odoriferæ_ is apparent; the

usual brown appearance of the integuments of these parts is also to be

observed. “_Minime prætereundum est, quod hic puer virilis

manstupratione gaudet, et semen ita eliminatum perfectum et bene

eleboratum se habet._”

This extraordinary subject is now (1822) fifteen years of age, but no

farther change has occurred in his habit; he is therefore like other

young men of his age, and attends very industriously to the trade of a

shoemaker, to which he is apprenticed.

Footnote 279:

IBID: vol. 2.

Footnote 280:

Pubertatem autem veteres quidem non solum ex annis sed etiam ex habitu

corporis in masculis æstimari volebant. Nostra autem Majestas dignum

esse castitate nostrorum temporum existimans, bene putavit: quod in

feminis etiam antiquis impudicum esse visum est, id est, inspectionem

habitudinis corporis hoc etiam in masculos extendere. Et ideo nostra

sancta Constitutione promulgata, pubertatem in masculis post decimum

quartum annum completum illico initium accipere disposuimus

antiquitatis normam in feminis bene positam, in suo ordine

relinquentes ut post duodecim annos completos viri potentes esse

credantur. _Inst. lib._ 1. _Tit._ 22. It is singular that the modern

Greeks should have retained the delicacy which this law implies; they

are perhaps the only nation of Europe in which male chastity is

practically ranked among the essential virtues; the surgeons of the

Greek Light Infantry might testify to the reluctance with which even

the common soldiers submitted to the established inspections.

Footnote 281:

MAHON, _Medicine Legale_, tom. iii. p. 54.

Footnote 282:

PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS for 1805, vol. 95, p. 225. See MAHON, _Med.

Leg. tom._ ii. _p._ 54. Boerhaave relates the story of a Sow gelder in

Spain, who in a fit of passion removed the ovaries of his daughter,

and that she in consequence lost all her sexual characters and

propensities.

Footnote 283:

See Sir Henry _Halford’s_ Paper on the Climacteric Disease. Med.

Trans, vol. iv, p. 316.

Footnote 284:

“A proprement parler, nous vieillissons des l’instant que nous

commençons à cesser d’être jeunes; ou plutôt les memes causes qui

amènent notre dévelopement préparent notre destruction, dès l’instant

même de la naìssance.” _Foderé_ Trait de Medicine Legale, tom. 1, p.

26.

Footnote 285:

This is erroneously supposed to be paralytic, they evidently

originate, says Dr. Darwin, from the too quick exhaustion of the

lessened quantity of the spirit of animation, for they only exist when

the affected muscles are excited into action, as in lifting a glass to

the mouth, or in writing, or in keeping the body upright, and cease

again, when no voluntary exertion is attempted.

Footnote 286:

DARWIN’S Zoonomia. Class iii. 2. 1. 2.

Footnote 287:

See _Observations on a Course of Anatomy of MARCHETTI at Padua_ by Mr.

RAY. Phil. Trans. No. 307, p. 2283.

Footnote 288:

_Traite de Anatomie, Tom. iii. p. 29._

Footnote 289:

_Spermatol. p. 393._

Footnote 290:

_Histor. Anatom. Med. Tom. ii. p. 334._

Footnote 291:

_Cours d’Anat. Med. T. v. p. 429._

Footnote 292:

_De Situ Testic. alien._

Footnote 293:

HAXBY on retention of the testicles until the fourth year. Dunc. Ann.

1799.

Footnote 294:

_Lectures on the Structure and Physiology of the Genital Organs.

London, 1821._

Footnote 295:

_BOERHAAVE, in Prop. Institut. Med. T. v. p. 239._

Footnote 296:

_Treatise on the Venereal Disease._

Footnote 297:

_Morbid Anatomy, Edit. v, p. 371._

Footnote 298:

Lectures on the Genital organs.

Footnote 299:

_Page_ 47, _plate_ v.

Footnote 300:

SHAW’S _Travels, chap._ ii.

Footnote 301:

MALE’S _Juridical Medicine, p. 257._

Footnote 302:

_Univers. Journ. of Med. Scien. for October 1811._

Footnote 303:

We wish to be perfectly understood upon this point; no instance of

impregnation has ever occurred, where the virile member has not come

into actual contact with the Labia; we are not so credulous as to

believe with Averroes the case of the woman that conceived in a bath,

by attracting the sperm of a man admitted to bathe near her; nor the

story of the daughters of Lot, who were impregnated by their sleeping

father, or conceived by seminal pollution received at a distance from

him.

Footnote 304:

_See The case of a pregnant woman, in whom the hymen was found entire

at the time of her being seized with labour pains_, by N. TUCKER, M.

D. related in Dr. MERRIMAN’S _Synopsis of the various kinds of

difficult Parturition_, p. 218. See also ZACCEIÆ _Quest. Med. Leg.

vol._ 3, _Tit._ 1, _Q._ 1.—_Instituzioni di Medicina Forens, di_ G.

TORTOSA, vol. 1, p. 61. In the _Bulletin de la Societé Medicale

d’Emulation for 1819_, there is a very curious case related by Dr.

CHAMPION, of a woman who became pregnant of two children,

notwithstanding the presence of the hymen, and in whom _coitus_ during

gestation had taken place _per urethram_. The obstructing membrane

perforated with two minute orifices, which had allowed the escape of

the menstrual blood, was opened by a crucial incision; about an ounce

of bloody mucus was discharged, and the vagina being naturally

dilatable, the children were safely delivered. The first _coitus per

urethram_ is supposed to have taken place subsequently to conception;

the canal was so much dilated as to admit the fore-finger with

facility. The author relates many other instances of fecundation,

_sine penis intromissione_.

Footnote 305:

PHIL. TRANS. vol. xxxii, p. 408.

Footnote 306:

BERTRAND _Opera Chirurg. Tom._ I, _p._ 253.

Footnote 307:

“Minor Penis de reliquo apte conformatus, et qui in cunnum immissus,

rigidus manet, coitum fæcundum omnino exercere valet, licet forte inde

minus œstrum venereum in fœmina excitetur.” LUDWIG _Inst. Med. Leg.

p._ 159.

Footnote 308:

Martin, King of Aragon, is stated by historians to have been so

corpulent, that neither mechanical contrivances, nor medical treatment

could render him any assistance towards the accomplishment of venereal

congress.

Footnote 309:

_De Partib. Generat. inserv. p._ 85.

Footnote 310:

_Delect. Opuse. Medic. tom._ iv, _p._ 313.

Footnote 311:

_Edinb. Essays, vol._ I, _art._ 35, in which an interesting case of

this kind will be found, by Dr. Cockburn.

Footnote 312:

DENMAN’S Midwifery; _Isbrandus de Diemerbroeck_ Anatom. Lib. I, c. 26;

_Johannes Nicolaus Pecklinus_ Observat. Med. Phys. Lib. I, c. 25.

Footnote 313:

_Marcellus Donatus_, De Medica Historia Mirab. Lib. vi, cap. 2;

_Johannes Riolenus_, Art be medendi, sect. iv, tract 2, c. I; _Caspar

Bauhin_, Theatr. Anatom. lib. I, c. 39, et De Hermaphroditis, lib. I,

c. 38; _Felix Platerus_, Observat. lib. I, p. 259-259; _Hildanus_

Observat. cent vi, obs. 67; _Riolanus_ (Filius) Enchirid. Anatom. lib.

ii, c. 37; _Bartholin. Hist. Anatom._ cent ii, hist. 31; _Astruc_ on

the Diseases of Women, vol. i, p. 126.

Footnote 314:

_Nicolaus Tulpius._ Observat. lib. iii, cap. 33; _Christoph Vœlterus_.

Schol. Obstetric, part ii, c. 19; _Acta Berolinen_, dec. ii, vol. v,

p. 85; _Acta Erudit._ Lipsien. ann. 1726, Octob. p. 480; _Antonius

Benivenius_. De Abditis Morb. et sanet. causis, c. 79; _Johannes

Wierus_. Observat. lib. I.

Footnote 315:

_Walter._ Extirpatio Polyporum semper tentanda, atque curatio

eventusque felix sunt expectandi.

Footnote 316:

_Edinburgh Essays_, vol. 3, p. 321. _Morgagni_, de Sedibus et causis,

epist. 46, advised two women upon such an occasion “ut æquo animo

ferrent conjugium male initum potius dissolvi, quam se temere secandas

prœberent.” For a cause of Impotence caused by pressure on the vagina,

see _Edinburgh Essays_, vol. 2, p. 343.

Footnote 317:

_Zitman._ Med. Forens. p. 906.

Footnote 318:

_Zacchiæ._ Quæst. Med. Leg. lib. 9, T. 3, Q. 5: _Edinburgh Essays_,

vol. 3, p. 317; _Baillie’s_ Morbid Anatomy, p. 428.

Footnote 319:

_Edinburgh Med. Comm._ vol. ii, part 2, case 4.

Footnote 320:

Instit. di Med. For. di _Tortosa_, vol. I, p. 46; _Huxham_ de Febr. et

alia Opusc; _Durieu_. Diction d’Anatom.; _Plenck_. Obstetric, p. 137;

_Schener_. De Morbis Intestini Recti, c. iii, sect. 4, (_nota_ 5);

_Richter_. Element de Chir, vol. vi, p. 416.

Footnote 321:

_Palliani_ Epist. ad Hall, p. 268; _Monteggia_. Inst. Chirurg. p. iii,

p. 512.

Footnote 322:

_Edinburgh Medical Essays_, vol. ii, art. 27.

Footnote 323:

_Medical Repository._

Footnote 324:

_Sauvage._ Epist. ad Haller, vol. iii, p. 138; _Stalpart_. ii, 48,

from Opium.

Footnote 325:

_Brown’s_ Vulgar Errors, folio, 1686, p. 173.

Footnote 326:

_Murray’s_ Apparatus Medicaminum, vol. I, p. 395.

Footnote 327:

Treatise on the Venereal Disease, page 201 to 208.

Footnote 328:

_Baumer_, Medicin. Forens. p, 135.

Footnote 329:

_Montaigne’s_ Essay on Impotence, chap. xx.

Footnote 330:

MORGAGNI _De Causis et Sedibus Morborum_, Epist. xlvi.

Footnote 331:

_Journal des Practische Heilkunst._

MEMOIRES DE ACADEMIE DES SCIENCES. Ann. 1705. _Histori_, p. 52.

Footnote 332:

Dr. GORDON SMITH relates a case in which an operation of this kind was

performed with success. See his _Principles of Forensic Medicine_, p.

458.

Footnote 333:

HAMILTON’S _Outlines of Midwifery_, p. 119.

Footnote 334:

BAILLIE’S _Morbid Anatomy_. _Phil. Trans. vol._ 91.

Footnote 335:

DENMAN’S _Midwifery_.

Footnote 336:

For the ancient distinctions of natural, spurious, and illegitimate

children, see _Taylor’s Civil Law_, 270.

Footnote 337:

“It is now held that the husband’s being within the four seas, is not

conclusive evidence of the legitimacy of the child, and it is left to

a Jury to consider whether the husband had access to his wife. See 3

_P. W._ 275. 276; _Pendrell and Pendrell_, 2 _Stra._ 925. So evidence

may be given, that the husband’s habit of body was such, as to make

his having children an impossibility. _Lomax v. Holmden_, 2 _Stra_.

940: see also 1 _Roll. Abr._ 358; 1 _Salk._ 123. But the rule laid

down by Lord _Coke_, was once generally received. In _Jenk._ c. 10.

pl. 18. it is said “that if the husband be in Ireland for a year, and

the wife in England during that time has issue, it is a bastard; but

it seems otherwise now for Scotland, both being under one king, and

make but one continent of land.” (_Co. Litt._ 244.) and see also _Co.

Litt._ 126. _n._ 2. and authorities there quoted. Dr. _Ridley’s_ view

of the civil and ecclesiastical law, and the proceedings in the House

of Lords 1811, on the Banbury Peerage, where this point was much

discussed.”

Footnote 338:

In _Cuthbert & Brown_, Dublin C.P. 1821, an action was brought against

the defendant for deceit, by inducing the plaintiff to marry a woman

who was at that time pregnant.

Footnote 339:

In 1697 the Countess of Macclesfield declared the child with which she

was then pregnant to have been begotten by the Earl of Rivers; in

consequence of which confession, without any previous proceeding in

the ecclesiastical court, an Act of Parliament was passed annulling

the marriage and declaring the child with which she was enseint

illegitimate: 9 & 10 _Will._ 3. _c._ 11. private Act.

Footnote 340:

See note 1 _Bl. Com._ p. 456.

Footnote 341:

The children of _John of Gaunt_, Duke of Lancaster, by _Catherine

Swinford_, though born in adultery, he being then married, were

legitimised by Act of Parliament in 1397; the Duke having married his

mistress in the preceding year; see 9 _Froisard’s Chron._ 225.

Footnote 342:

See the case of Sergison & Sergison. 1820.

Footnote 343:

See the Journals of the House of Lords, and also Speeches and

arguments &c. of the Lords of Session in Scotland in the _Douglas_

trial. _London_, 1767.

Footnote 344:

For the _Annesley_ trials, see 17 & 18 _Howel. St. Tri._ and _Harg.

St. Tri._

Footnote 345:

See _Zacchii Questions Med. Leg. lib._ 1. _tit._ 5. _De similitudine

et dissimilitudine Natorum._

Dr. GREGORY, the late distinguished Professor of Edinburgh, used to

relate to his class, in order to convince them of the resemblance

which so generally exists between parents and children, that having

been once called to a distant part of Scotland, to visit a rich

nobleman, he discovered in the configuration of his nose, an exact

resemblance to that of the Grand Chancellor of Scotland, in the reign

of _Charles the First_, as represented in his portraits. On taking a

walk through the village after dinner, the Doctor recognised the same

form of nose in several individuals among the country people; and the

nobleman’s steward, who accompanied him, informed him that all the

persons he had seen were descended from the bastards of the Grand

Chancellor.

Footnote 346:

Yet it is said that shepherds and others accustomed to the continual

view and contemplation of animals, can discern as strong differences

in their forms and features as in the human species, and can

distinguish individuals accordingly.

Footnote 347:

It cannot however be denied that most astonishing likenesses sometimes

exist between persons utterly unconnected by blood or habit, of this

we shall have occasion to speak more fully when treating of personal

Identity. The name of _Douglas_ suggests a remarkable instance; Mr.

_Frank Douglas_, a well-known man of fashion, was committed for

highway robbery on the positive oath of one of the parties plundered,

and very narrowly escaped conviction. On the apprehension of the

notorious highwayman _Page_, the mystery was explained, the personal

resemblance being so great, as to deceive all ordinary observation.

See _Part_ 3. of _Personal Identity_.

Footnote 348:

_Harg. Coke Lit. p._ 29. _Chap._ 4. _Sec._ 35.

Footnote 349:

This law however prevails both in Scotland & Ireland. _Co. Litt._ 30.

Footnote 350:

But it has been doubted whether the child may not be heard to cry _in

utero_; Mr. DERHAM (PHIL. TRANS. vol. 26. p. 485) has given an account

of a case of _Vagitus Uterinus_, in which the child is said to have

cried for near five weeks before delivery, and what is equally

extraordinary, the author professes to credit the story! ETMULLER, in

his Dissertation “_De abstruso respirationis humanæ negotio_,” c. 9.

agrees with DIEMERBROECK in considering such a phenomenon as

impossible, and attributes the noise to flatulence. The learned

VERZASCHA of Basil gives a long catalogue of cases of _Vagitus

Uterinus_, in his third _Observ. Medic._ see also Dr. NEEDHAM’S work

“_De formato fœtu_.”—CHRISTIAN II. King of Denmark, is said to have

cried before he was born. We must, however require very powerful

testimony to shake our incredulity upon this subject, and we should

then be rather inclined to believe the event with Livy, as a prodigy

of Nature, than to consider it, with Derham, as a natural phenomenon.

Footnote 351:

The words _oyes ou vife_, do not warrant this doubt, (see Notes ibid),

for “the crying is but a proofe that the child was born alive, and so

is motion, stirring, and the like,” or indeed any other evidence to

shew that there was living issue born; such at least appears to be the

present law upon the subject, but it may be doubted whether the

ancient law did not contemplate not only a living child, but a child

born in due course, and therefore likely to live. A Fœtus of a few

months when extracted may move, yet such fœtus could not live, and

cannot be considered as possessing the principles of independent

vitality; so that it should survive its separation from the mother.

But when a child can cry, the lungs, which are to supply the

circulation, for which till then, the infant had been dependant, are

matured for their office, which once commenced the child becomes a

separate and independent being. LOUIS IX. decreed, that in order to

give a child the title of inheritance it should have cried—i.e.

completely respired.

Footnote 352:

And query also, why was a living child required? Foreign writers made

a distinction between vivum and vitale, “Hoc est qui vitam protrahere

hæreditatis particeps fieri, eamque ad alios transferre possit.”

_Ludwig. Ins. Med. For._ p. 42.

Footnote 353:

A cause in illustration of this subject was tried in 1806. FISH _v._

PALMER—and was as follows: _Fish_ had a still-born child by his wife,

and at her death, as no issue had been born alive, he resigned the

estate to his wife’s brother-in-law. He was, however, afterwards

induced to contest the fact of the child having been born dead. The

accoucheur, _Dr. Lyon_, had died before the trial, but it appeared in

evidence, that he had declared the child to be living an hour before

the delivery, and having directed a warm bath to be prepared, gave the

child to the nurse to be immersed in it. It neither cried, nor moved,

nor did it shew any signs of life; but two women swore, that while in

the hot water, there twice appeared a twitching and tremulous motion

of the lips: upon informing _Dr. Lyon_ of this, he desired them to

blow into its throat, but it never exhibited any other signs of

vitality. It was declared by _Drs. Babington_ and _Haighton_, that the

muscular motion of the lips could not have happened if the vital

principle had been quite extinct, and that, therefore, the child was

born alive. _Dr. Denman_, however, gave a contrary opinion, and

declared that the child was not born alive; and he attempted to

establish an important distinction between uterine and extra-uterine

life, and considered that the tremulous motion of the lips might arise

from some remains of the former. _Foderé_ in quoting the case

expresses a similar opinion, and pronounces that the slight convulsive

motions alluded to, ought not to have been received as evidence of the

child’s vitality. The Jury, however, found that the child was born

alive.

Footnote 354:

If a woman seized of lands in fee taketh husband, and by him is bigge

with childe, and in her travel dieth, and the childe is ripped out of

her body alive, yet shall he not be tenant by the curtesie; because

the childe was not born during the marriage, nor in the lifetime of

the wife, but in the meane time the land descended, and in pleading he

must alledge that he had issue during the marriage. _Co. Litt._ 30.

Footnote 355:

If the wife be delivered of a monster, which hath not the shape of

mankinde, this is no issue in the law; but although the issue hath

some deformity in any part of his body, yet if he hath humane shape

this satisfieth. “Hi qui contra formam humani generis converso more

procreantur, (ut si mulier monstrosum vel prodigiosum fuerit enixa

inter) liberos non computentur. Partus tamen cui natura aliquantulum

ampliaverit vel diminuerit non tamen superabundanter, ut si sex

digitos vel nisi quatuor habuerit, bene debet inter liberos

commemorari. Si inutilia natura reddidit membra, ut si curvus fuerit

aut gibbosus vel membra tortuosa habuerit, non tamen est partus

monstruosus. Item puerorum alii sunt masculi, alii hermaphroditæ.

Hermaphrodita tam masculo quam fœminæ comparatur secundum

prevalescentia sexus incalescentis.” _Co. Litt_ p. 30.

Footnote 356:

It is scarcely necessary to guard the reader against a belief in the

extraordinary instances of monstrosity which are to be found in the

periodical collections published during the seventeenth and beginning

of the eighteenth century, as in the _Ephemerides, Journal des

Sçavans, &c._ In one, there is mention made of a child born with a

pig’s head; in another a woman is delivered of an animal exactly like

a pike fish!

Footnote 357:

If two Embryos, contained in the same ovum, be placed back to back,

and the surfaces of contact should become inflamed, their mode of

union may be easily perceived. If we put the fecundated Ova of a

tench, or any other fish into a small vessel, the numerous young not

having sufficient space to grow, become jointed to each other, and

hence will arise monstrosities in fish.—_Richerand’s Physiology._

Footnote 358:

The most remarkable case of this kind upon record is that related by

BUFFON (_Hist. Naturells_, Supplement, tom. ii, p. 410), of a double

infant, joined at the loins and having a common anus, but being in all

other respects, morally as well as physically, separate beings. They

were born at Tzoni, in Hungary, on the 16th of October 1701, and died

in a convent at St. Petersburg, on the 23d of February 1723. Their

names were _Hélène_ and _Judith_; the one having been attacked with

fever, became lethargic and died, upon which the other was seized with

convulsions and survived her unhappy partner not more than three

minutes.

Footnote 359:

In writing a work which is calculated for the instruction of so wide a

range of readers, the authors have felt some difficulty in adjusting

their _Zero_; but when they assure their scientific friends that they

have heard a provincial attorney advocating the legality of smothering

a hydrophobic patient, they trust that they will stand excused, even

should their precautions be apparently trivial. Two women were tried

at the York Assizes in 1812, for drowning a child, which was born with

some mal-formation of the cranium, in consequence of which, it was

likely that it could not survive many hours. There did not appear to

have been any concealment on the part of the prisoners, who were not

aware of the illegality of the act.

Footnote 360:

See ROEBUCK and HAMERTON, _Cowp._ 737, and HAYES _v._ JAQUES, July 1,

1777. There is some account of this latter case in the _Annual

Register_, and in the _Gentleman’s Magazine_. The author of the

present work was present at the anatomical examination of the

_Chevalier D’Eon_, which took place in his lodgings in Milman-street,

Bedford-row. _Sir Anthony Carlisle_ examined the organs of generation,

and satisfied all present of the perfect condition of the testicles.

Footnote 361:

By a decree of the magistracy this unfortunate woman was compelled to

assume the dress of a male, and to change her name and character, in

spite of her own feelings and inclinations; some time, however, after

this event, she consulted _Helvetius_, who succeeded in completely

curing the disease, and she was in consequence actually restored to

her proper sex by a royal ordinance! So much for the value of that

_ultra medico-legal_ system which has distinguished some of the

continental governments.

Footnote 362:

See _An Experimental Inquiry concerning Impregnation, by_ John

Haighton, M.D. Phil. Trans. for 1797, vol. 87, p. 159.

Footnote 363:

_De Generatione Animalium._

Footnote 364:

_Hunter._ Anatomia Uteri Humani Gravidi, Tabulis Illustrata.

Footnote 365:

_Dr. Heberden_ relates a case in his _Commentaries_, (chap. 43) of a

woman who never ceased to have regular returns of the menstrual

discharge, during four pregnancies, quite to the time of her delivery.

Footnote 366:

_Burns’_ Midwifery, edit. v. p. 197.

Footnote 367:

_Denman’s_ Introduction to Midwifery.

Footnote 368:

Principles of Midwifery, edit. v.

Footnote 369:

Cours de Medicine Legale.

Footnote 370:

“Les symptomes qu’on appelle signes rationels de grossesse, ne la

caracterisent cependant, que d’une maniere tres incertaine.”

_Baudelocque_, L’Art de Accouchem. t. 1, p. 180.

“Omnes qui de graviditatis signis scripserunt, quamvis longo artis usu

celebres fuerint, unanimi ore fatentur, primis præcipue mensibus signa

graviditatis satis incerta esse.” (_Van Swieten_ Com. in Aphor Boer.

tom. vi, p. 331.)

Footnote 371:

_Van Swieten_ Com. in Boer. tom. vi, p. 330.

Footnote 372:

_La Medecine Légale, relative a l’Art des Accouchemens. Par J.

Capuron._ A. Paris, 1821. A work which we very strongly recommend to

those who are interested in the subject.

Footnote 373:

_Roeder._ Elem. Art. Obst. p. 52.

Footnote 374:

Instituzione di Med. For. vol. 1, p. 179—also _Plenck_, Art. Obst. p.

38.

Footnote 375:

We all remember the extraordinary instance of _Johanna Southcote_.

Footnote 376:

In the celebrated case of the _Demoiselle Famin_, published at Berlin

and Paris by Valentin, 1768, a charge of pregnancy and child-murder

was erroneously instituted, in consequence of an extreme case of

Ovarian dropsy.

Footnote 377:

_Dictionaire de Chirur. tom._ 1.

Footnote 378:

_Traité des Accouchemens._

Footnote 379:

_Trattato dei Parti, p._ 26.

Footnote 380:

_L’Art des Accouchemens._

Footnote 381:

QUICK, a word of Saxon origin, signifying _living_.

Footnote 382:

It is difficult to say why the embryon of one or two months should not

have the same protection of the law, as that which has been half its

time in the womb. _Mahon_ expressed a similar opinion—“et voilà le

tort immense que font quelquefois les systèmes et les opinions

scholastiques!”

Footnote 383:

The only immunity to which pregnant women are entitled by the law of

England is the suspension of capital punishment until after delivery.

The state of utero-gestation appears in all ages to have secured

certain privileges and honours to the female; the Athenians even

spared the murderer who took refuge in her dwelling; the ancient kings

of Persia made presents of pieces of gold to every woman in this

condition; and even the Jews relaxed the rigid ordinations of the

Mosaic law, and allowed prohibited viands to the pregnant female,

whose delicate and fastidious appetite might make them objects of

desire. In Egypt the woman condemned to die, was never executed until

after her delivery, and the tribunal of the Areopagus observed a

similar regulation, that the innocent infant might not suffer for the

crime of its mother.

Footnote 384:

De Epidem. Lib. 3.

Footnote 385:

Tome xxvi.

Footnote 386:

_La Medicine Legale relative a l’art des accouchemens, Quest._ “DE LA

VIABILITE,” p. 152.

Footnote 387:

“Cette distinction et cette interpretation sont evidemment conformes a

l’étymologie du mot _viabilité_, qui dérive, non du latin _vita_, vie

mais de _via_, voie, carrière, chemin; en sorte que, d’après la

grammaire seule, l’enfant pourrait vivre quelques heures, meme

quelques jours après sa naissance, comme il vivait dans le sein de sa

mère, sans etre pour celà _viable_, ou capable de parcourir la

carrière de la vie.”—CAPURON, p. 195.

Footnote 388:

Cap. iii, §. 12.

Footnote 389:

_Hippocrates_ Lib. de Septimest. et Octomest. Part. edit. _Halleri_.

See also _Aristot._ Metaphys. Lib. 1, c. 5.

Footnote 390:

It is generally computed from a single coitus, or from a fortnight

subsequent to the last menstrual period; in some cases the computation

has been made from the time of _Quickening_; in either of the two

first methods of calculating, _forty_ weeks are allowed, in the last

about _twenty-two_ weeks.

Footnote 391:

Independent of its obvious importance in determining questions of

legitimacy, it may often be important to determine the longest period

of utero-gestation, for the purpose of ascertaining a child’s right to

property. A child _in ventre sa mere_ is capable of taking by bequest

or devise, even from the earliest period after conception; in which

point our civil is more merciful, and more consonant to the course of

nature, than our criminal law, which regards only the time of

quickening. If therefore _A_ bequeath or devise to all the children of

_B_ living at the time of his death, and _B_ six or seven months after

his death is delivered of a child, that child was clearly _in esse_ at

the time of the testator’s death, and is entitled to its share; it is

equally clear at nine months, provided the child be of its full

growth; but after ten it may be made a question whether such child is

or is not entitled.

Si home morust feme ad issue nee 40 weekes & 8 jours puis son mort,

come sil morust 23 _Marcii_ & l’issue est nee 9 _Jan_ ensuant, cest

issue serra legitimate, car ceo poet estre legittimate par nature, &

la ley n’ad limitt ascun certain temps del nestre de legitimate

infants _Mich._ 17 _Ja. B. R._ —— —— —— sur evidence al barr que

concern leire dun _Androwes resolve per Curiam_, en quel case _Doctor

Paddy & Doctor Mumford_ deux _Physitians_ esteant jure informe le

Court, Que per nature tiel issue poet estre legitimate, car ils

disont, que lexact temps del nestre dun infant est le 280 jours del

conception, scilicet 9 moies & 10 jours apres le conception,

accountant ceo _per menses solares scilicet_ 30 jours al chescun mois;

mes est natural auci si le nestre soit ascun temps del 10 moies

_scilicet_ dans 40 semaignes, sont tout un; mes per accident un infant

poet estre nee apres les 40 semaignes on devant; Et en le case al barr

fuit prove que le feme longe pur choses en vie sa baron, & que le

baron morust del plague, issint que il fuit egrote forsque un jour

devant son mort, & que le _father in lawe_ del feme luy persecute &

use ove grand inhumanitie, & cause luy a demurrer en le streete per

divers nuits, & que le feme fuit en travell 6 semaignes devant el fuit

deliver, mes que ceo fuit interrupt per le dit usage del _sa pere in

lawe_, & que el fuit deliver deins 24 heures après que el fuit receive

en un mese & bien use que fuit bon proofe del legittimation, Coment

que fuit prove de l’auter parte, que le feme fuit un lewde femme de sa

corps. Et sur evidence le Jurie luy trove legitimate. _Nota_ que a la

triall un _Chamberlaine_ un home midwife informe le Court sur son

serement, Que il ad conus un feme destre deliver dun infant, & 2

semaignes apres destre deliver deu auter. Et les _Doctors_ disont que

le nestre est _citius_ on _plus tarde_ solonque le nutriment que le

mere ad purluy. 1 _Rolle Ab._ 156.

Footnote 392:

By the law of Scotland, a child born _six_ months after the marriage

of the mother, or _ten_ months after the death of the father is

considered as legitimate.

Footnote 393:

_Elements of Juridical Medicine, edit._ 2, p. 249.

Footnote 394:

Quæst. Med. Leg. Lib. vii, Q. 2.

Footnote 395:

This conference was held in consequence of the writings of BOHN,

Professor at Leipsic, and of ALBERT of Halde Magdebourg, who asserted

that after the first week, any personal examination was

unsatisfactory.

Footnote 396:

_Traité de Med. Leg. par_ FODERE, _tome_ 2, _p._ 18; and _Bulletin des

Sciences Med. de la Societé Med. d’Emulat. de Paris, tom._ 5, _no._

39, _p._ 105.

Footnote 397:

_Tome_ viii.

Footnote 398:

PHIL. TRANS. A.D. 1741.

Footnote 399:

In _Capuron’s_ work before cited many other cases are related, p. 126.

See also _Burn’s_ Midwifery, edition 4, p. 451. _Diemerbroeck_ Anat.

Lib. ii, c. 2. Cours de Medicine Legale, par J. J. _Belloc_.

_Blumenbach’s_ Institutions of Physiology, sect 42. (_Appendix, Note_

H.)

Footnote 400:

The appearances of the uterus, in the celebrated case of Miss Burns,

were explained by Dr. _Carson_, by supposing that a recent expulsion

of an hydatid had taken place; we shall have occasion hereafter to

dwell at considerable length upon the very extraordinary evidence

which was given upon the trial of _Charles Angus, esq. for the murder

of Margaret Burns_.

Footnote 401:

Principles of Midwifery. Edition 5, p. 557.

Footnote 402:

GYNÆCOLOGIA.

Footnote 403:

“Finis gignendi, ut plurimum, viris quidem septuagesimus annus est,

mulieribus autem quinquagesimus.” _Aristot._ Polit. Lib. 7, c. 16.

“Vidi Mares fertiles ad annum nonagesimum, et fæminas quæ ad annum

quinquagesimum secundum fertiles mansere puerperæ.” _Boerhaave_ Op.

Omu. p. 514.

Footnote 404:

_Plinii_ Hist. Nat. Lib. vi, c. 14.

Footnote 405:

_Plott’s_ Nat. Hist. of Staffordshire, chap. viii, section 3.

Footnote 406:

_Elements of Physiology_, translated by Kerrison.

Footnote 407:

Phil. Trans. for 1786. Vol. lxxxvi. p. 349.

Footnote 408:

Journal des Praktischen Heilkunst. Berlin, Jan. 1, 1820.

Footnote 409:

Medical Logic. Edit. 2. p. 35.

Footnote 410:

Phil. Trans.

Footnote 411:

_Hippocrates_ de Super-fœtat: also Epidem. Lib. vii.

Footnote 412:

_Aristotle_ De Generat. Animal. Lib. iv. c. 5.

Footnote 413:

_Plinii_ Hist. Nat. Lib. vii. c. 2.

Footnote 414:

_Gaspar Bauhuin._ App. ad Lib. de Part. Cæsar. Tit. de Superfœtat.

Footnote 415:

Histoir. Nat. de l’Homme—_Puberte_.

Footnote 416:

De Hist. Animal. p. 258.

Footnote 417:

Hist. Nat. Lib. vii. c. 11.

Footnote 418:

Comment. ad Aphorism 38. Lib. v. p. 817.

Footnote 419:

Quæst. Med. Leg. Tom ii. Consilium 76. See also L’Histoire de

l’Academie des Sciences, Ann. 1709.

Footnote 420:

De Partu Exercit. p. 547.

Footnote 421:

Element. Physiolog. Tom x. p. 218.

Footnote 422:

Quæst. Med. Leg. Lib. 1. Tit. 3. Q. 3 and 4.

Footnote 423:

Element. Physiolog. Tom x. p. 212.

Footnote 424:

Medical Transactions. Vol. iv. p. 161.

Footnote 425:

Phil. Trans. for the year 1818.

Footnote 426:

Opera. Tom. iii. p. 388.

Footnote 427:

Memoir de L’Academie, An. 1701.

Footnote 428:

Append. ad Rousset de P. C.

Footnote 429:

Tabul. Anat. Uteri dupl.

Footnote 430:

Element. Physiolog. T. x, p. 38. See also Memoirs of the Med. Soc.

Vol. iv. _Purcell_ in Phil. Trans. lxiv, p. 474. _Canestrini_, in Med.

Facts. Vol. iii. p. 171.

Footnote 431:

De Super-fœtatione.

Footnote 432:

Inst. Med. Leg. p. 77.

Footnote 433:

Dict. d’Anatom. T. ii. p. 537.

Footnote 434:

See _Hamilton’s_ Outlines of Midwifery, p. 105.

Footnote 435:

_Hippocrat._ Aphorism. Sect. v. 51.

Footnote 436:

Opera Omnia C. 1. p. 302.

Footnote 437:

Anthropologia Forensis, Leip. 1753, p. 208.

Footnote 438:

Institut. Med. For. p. 44.

Footnote 439:

L’Art des Accouchemens.

Footnote 440:

An Experimental Inquiry concerning Impregnation, by _Dr. Haighton_,

Phil. Trans. for 1797, Vol. lxxxvii, p. 159. See also Experiments on

recently impregnated Rabbits, by _W. Cruikshank_, Phil. Trans. Vol.

lxxxvii, p. 197; and more recently a paper, entitled “Experiments on a

few controverted points respecting the Physiology of Generation,” by

_James Blundell, M. D._ in the tenth volume of the Medico-Chirurgical

Transactions, p. 246. This memoir bears internal evidence of the

acuteness and experimental accuracy of its author.

Footnote 441:

Chirurg. Forens. T. ii. p. 44.

Footnote 442:

_Gravel_ de Superfœtatione—Leipsic Memoirs for 1725—and _Teischmeyer_

Inst. Med. Leg. p. 75.

Footnote 443:

_Burns’s_ Principles of Midwifery, edition 5, p. 250.

Footnote 444:

_Burns_ ibid.

Footnote 445:

_Introduction to the Practice of Midwifery, 4to p._ 395.

Footnote 446:

_A Synopsis of the various kinds of Difficult Parturition, with

Practical Remarks on the Management of Labours, by S. Merriman,

M.D.F.L.S. &c. p. 171._

Footnote 447:

_Medical Facts and Observations, vol. 8._

Footnote 448:

_Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol._ 3, _p._ 144; and _Synopsis of

the various kinds of Difficult Parturition, p._ 173.

Footnote 449:

No infant, at the full time, and of the usual size, can be born

naturally when the small diameter of the pelvis is not equal to _two

inches and a half_. See _Hull’s_ translation of _Baudelocque_.

Footnote 450:

Op. citat. p. 152.

Footnote 451:

Cases of such difficulty as to render the use of instruments

absolutely necessary are so rare as not to occur more than once in

_six_, or, at most, _five hundred_ labours. _Midwifery_, as a

practice, must have been nearly coeval with the creation, but during

the first ages it probably consisted in little else than a knowledge

of the method of dividing the navel string; as difficulties, however,

arose, this knowledge, of necessity, was gradually extended to that of

affording mechanical assistance in the exclusion of the fœtus; but it

would seem that for many ages those artificial means consisted almost

entirely in anointing the pudenda with oil, and in placing the women

in hot baths, as we learn from the writings of _Hippocrates_,

_Avicenna_, and other ancient writers, who appear to have attributed

the whole of the difficulty to a rigidity of the muscles, and to have

entirely overlooked that formidable obstacle to child-birth, the

mal-conformation of the pelvic basin. _Hippocrates_ and _Celsus_,

however advise, that upon the failure of the ordinary means above

alluded to, the head of the child should be opened with a scalpel, and

then extracted with strong iron pincers or hooks; but it appears that

the advice of _Hippocrates_ was rarely followed, and that, in such

cases, the child was mangled by the scalpel, and brought away

piece-meal. See _Albucasis_, Methodus Medendi Lib. ii, and _Ruett_ de

Conceptione et Generat. Hominis.

Footnote 452:

The FORCEPS were invented by _Chamberlen_ in 1672, and in his

translation of _Mauriceau’s_ Treatise on the Art of Midwifery, he

indirectly announces the discovery, but does not describe the

instrument.

Footnote 453:

The _Lever_ appears to have been invented at about the same time by

_Roonhuysen_, of Amsterdam, after his having purchased the secret of

the Forceps from their inventor _Chamberlen_.

Footnote 454:

“_Traité nouveau de l’Hysterotomotokie, ou Enfantement Cesarien, qui

ese l’extraction de l’enfant par incisione laterale du ventre, et de

la matrice de la femme grosse, ne pouvent autrement accoucher; et ce

sans prejudicier à la vie de l’un et de l’autre, ni empecher la

fecondité naturelle par après._”

Footnote 455:

_Edinburgh Medical Essays, vol._ v. _Baudelocque_ has published a

table of operations amounting to 64, 24 of which have been performed

with success to the mother, and all of them might have been attended

with success to the child, if they had been performed in time. See

_Hull’s_ Translation.

Footnote 456:

_Synopsis_, p. 164. In the Appendix _Dr. Merriman_ has given a _list

of cases in which the operation has been performed in the British

islands_. See also _Dr. Denman’s_ Introduction to Midwifery; and the

Defence of the Cæsarean Operation by _Dr. John Hull_, Physician at

Manchester, 8vo. 1798.

Footnote 457:

While correcting the present work, we have received a report of the

Cæsarean operation having been performed in Paris, by _M. Beclard_

with complete success. The incision was made in the direction of the

_Linea Alba_. See also, _A case of Cæsarean operation, in which the

lives of the mother and child were both saved_, by J. J. LOCKER, M. D.

in the 9th vol. of the Medico-Chirurg. Trans.; also _The History of a

Second Operation, performed on the same Patient_, together with an

Appendix by W. LAWRENCE, Esq. ibid. vol. II, p. 201.

Footnote 458:

_Bell’s_ Surgery, vol. 5, p. 300.

Footnote 459:

We have already alluded to this opinion, see _Midwifery_, p. 82. The

same superstition will explain the origin of the jurisdiction which

the priesthood have enjoyed in deciding upon the propriety of

performing the _cæsarean section_; the doctors of the _Sorbonne_, and

the heads of theological schools and colleges have freely given

decisions upon it, and have ruled, that it ought to be performed

whenever it is known that the child is living, and it is impossible by

other means to extract it alive; for they assert that it is a deadly

sin (_péché mortel_) to perforate the head of a living child in the

womb. The clergy are instructed, in the event of a mother refusing to

submit to the operation, to omit no means of persuading her; they are

to point out all its advantages, and to intimate, that the operation

is not so cruelly painful as might be thought; they are directed to

speak of submission to it, as an act of the greatest love to God, and

resignation to his will, that can possibly be shewn: it is even

suggested, that under some circumstances, the patient might be

forcibly confined, and the operation performed against her will. It is

further declared, that physicians or surgeons refusing to recommend or

to perform the operation, when they should think it necessary, would

thereby render themselves guilty of a deadly sin, and ought to be

reprimanded by the magistrates; and praise is given to an edict, in

force in Sicily, which declares that no person shall be admitted to

practise as a surgeon, until he has been carefully examined as to the

manner of performing the _cæsarean_ operation on the living mother.

See _Merriman’s_ work already cited; _Cangiamila_ Embryologia sacra

passim; _Raynaud_ de ortu Infantis contra Naturam.

Footnote 460:

Amongst these cases, the following appears as an interesting instance.

“Wednesday, July 15th, at Eddescastle, Staffordshire, the wife of Mr.

Prescott, an exciseman, being killed by a flash of lightning, was

opened, and a living male child taken out, which was immediately

christened _Jonah_, and is like to live.” _Gentleman’s Magazine_,

1747. See also _Spence’s Midwifery_, 1784, p. 495. _Viardel_ cxxiv.

_Embryologia sacra._ SCHURIGII _Embryologia_, p. 122.

Footnote 461:

_Digest._ Lib. 11, Tit. 8, L. 2.

Footnote 462:

_Van Swieten_ (Com. in Boerh. Aph. tom vi, p. 403) has the following

observation upon this subject, “_Non desperandum tamen est de fœtus

vita, licet post mortem matris notabile tempus effluxerit, uti

pluribus constat observatis_.”

Amongst the different proposals which have been submitted to the

profession with a view to supersede the necessity of the Cæsarean

section, that proposed by _M. Sigault_, a surgeon at Paris, in the

year 1768, deserves some notice. The operation, which from the name of

its inventor was called the _Sigaultian_, consisted in making a

section of the _Symphysis Pubis_; perhaps, says _Dr. Merriman_, there

never was a surgical operation more enthusiastically received and

commended than this. The operator was immediately honoured with a

pension from the French government, and a medal was struck to

commemorate the invention; at length, however, the ill success of the

practice occasioned it to sink into complete desuetude, and the

remembrance of it can now be beneficial only as it may serve to

caution us against the inconsiderate and hasty adoption of modes of

practice unsupported by just reasoning, and unsanctioned by

experience. _Merriman_, Op. citat. p. 168.

Footnote 463:

See a most interesting case of Ovario-gestation, by _Dr. Granville_,

published in the Phil. Trans. 1820.

Footnote 464:

_See a description of an Extra-Uterine Fœtus contained in the

Fallopian Tube_, by GEORGE LANGSTAFF, Esq. Medico-Chirurg. Trans. vol.

7, p. 437.

Footnote 465:

_Fourcroy_, Système, tom. x, p. 83. See also our observations and

references upon this subject at page 96.

Footnote 466:

See _the History of a Woman who bore a seven months Fœtus for seven

years, and was delivered of it per anum, and completely recovered_, by

Dr. ALBERS. Med-Chirurg. Trans. vol. 8, p. 507.

Footnote 467:

See _Burn’s_ Midwifery, edit. 4, p. 189.

Footnote 468:

_Baillie_ Phil. Trans. vol. 79.

Footnote 469:

Anthropolog. Lib. 2, c. 34.

Footnote 470:

_Medico-Chirurg. Trans._ vol. 10, p. 269.

Footnote 471:

The Greek word Ἑρμαφροδιτος is a compound of Ἑρμης, _Mercury_, and

Αφροδιτη, _Venus_—a mixture of Mercury and Venus, i. e. of Male and

Female. The Greeks also called Hermaphrodites Ανδρογυνοὶ, i.e.

_men-women_.

Footnote 472:

In the _Memoirs of the French Academy_, there is an account of

hermaphrodite animals, that not only have both sexes, but do the

office of both at the same time; such are _earth-worms_; _round-tailed

worms found in the intestines of men and horses_; _land snails, and

those of fresh waters_; _and all the species of leeches_. And as all

these are reptiles, and without bones, _M. Poupart_ concludes it

probable, that all other insects which have these two characters, are

also hermaphrodites. Monstrous productions, having a mixture of the

male and female organs, and which have been termed _hermaphrodites_,

(although the _ovaria_ and _testes_ are always too imperfect to

perform their functions) appear to arise most frequently in neat

cattle, and are known by the name of _Free Martins_. The reader will

find much curious information upon this subject in a paper by _Mr.

John Hunter_, in the 69th vol. of the Philosophical Transactions.

_Pliny_ tells us that the chariot of _Nero_ was drawn by four

hermaphrodite horses.

Footnote 473:

The doctrine of hermaphrodites has nevertheless been warmly maintained

by foreign writers, among whom we may notice _Aldrovandus_, _Licetus_,

_Schurigio_, _Paul Zacchias_, and _Bauhin_.

Footnote 474:

_Comment. Soc. Reg. Scient. Gottingen._ T. 1.

Footnote 475:

Phil. Trans. vol. 89, A. D. 1799.

Footnote 476:

Anatomy of the human body, p. 314, and the plate. A similar case is to

be found in the _Sloane M.S._ in the British Museum, no. 4432, 5.

“_Hoc non satis animadvertantes mulierculæ nativitate ejus adstantes,

in dijudicatione sexus erravere, et Infans Elizabethæ nomine

baptizabatur._”

Footnote 477:

This observation applies to the irregular structure of quadrupeds as

well as to that of man; _Haller_ dissected a ram, in which the parts

had been supposed to be those of an hermaphrodite, whereas he found

the animal with the imperfections above related.

Footnote 478:

This appears to have been the fact in the case related by _Mr. Pring_.

See London Medical Repository, vol. 18.

Footnote 479:

_M. Ferrien_ observes, an erroneous opinion prevailed in France that

the greater number of miscarriages between three and four months, were

males; the mistake, says he, evidently arose from the size of the

clitoris at this period—Mem. de l’Acad. Royal des Sciences de Paris,

1767, p. 330. See also _Arnaud_ on Hermaphrodites. _Parsons_, Phil.

Trans. 1751, 142.

Footnote 480:

_Male’s_ Juridical Medicine, edit. 2, p. 266. _Baillie’s_ Morbid

Anatomy.

Footnote 481:

Hist. de l’Academie Royal, &c, 1720.

Footnote 482:

Principles of Forensic Medicine, p. 498.

Footnote 483:

We omitted to state in page 286 that an enlarged Clitoris is almost

endemial in some countries, particularly Egypt and Darfur, where the

excision of it is very commonly practised, and the operation is

performed a little before the period of puberty, or at about the age

of 8 or 9 years; this custom is mentioned by _Strabo_, and also by

_Albucasis_, who in his 7th chapter observes, that every parent knows

when a child has those parts longer than ordinary, and cut and burn

them off while the girls are very young. _De Graaf_ was also

acquainted with the fact, and observes, “Estque hujus partis chirurgia

orientalibus tam necessaria quam decora.”

Footnote 484:

In which case the finding of the jury should follow the words of the

commission, or the inquisition may be quashed. _Ex parte Cranmer_, 12.

_Ves._ 455.

Footnote 485:

The word MAD has been derived by Dr. Haslam from the Gothic MOD, which

signifies _rage_; he observes, “it is true, we have now converted the

O into A, but MOD is the ancient word.”

Footnote 486:

_Ideocy_, or _fatuity a nativitate, vel dementia naturalis_. Such a

one is described by _Fitzherbert_, who knows not to tell 20s, nor

knows who is his father or mother, nor knows his age; but if he knows

letters, or can read by the instruction of another, then he is no

ideot. _F. N. B._ 233. new edit. 517. These, though they may be

evidences, yet they are too narrow, and conclude not always; for

_ideocy_ or not is a question of fact triable by jury, and sometimes

by inspection. _Hale Pl._ 29. _Bl. Comm._ 304.

Footnote 487:

Hence the term LUNACY, from the supposed regulation of the intellect

in certain states, by the influence of the moon; and the distinction

between Idiot and Lunatic was formerly of the greatest importance, as

the King had the custody of an Idiot to his _own use_, not so of a

Lunatic. F.N.B. 530, n. _Dyer_, 25.

Footnote 488:

_Igiter si de insania ejusque variis generibus judicium ferendum est,

hoc ab iis potissimum fierio portet, quibus omnia pertinent, quæ ad

omnem hominis naturam proprius perspecta sunt, atque cognita, medici

igitur de dignoscendis insanis audiendi sunt.—Platner de Insanis et

furiosis._

Footnote 489:

The word is originally Greek, ιδιωτης, a _private person_, or one who

leads a private life, without any share or concern in the government

of affairs.

Footnote 490: