Anomalies And Curiosities Of Medicine Part 2

Late Dent.i.tion. Late Late Male. Female. Lactation. Menstruation.

Between 40 and 50 0 4 0 0 " 50 " 60 1 4 2 1 " 60 " 70 3 2 1 0 " 70 " 80 3 2 0 7 " 80 " 90 6 2 0 0 " 90 " 100 1 1 0 1 Above 100 ..... 6 1 0 1 -- -- -- -- 20 16 3 10

These statistics seem to have been made with the idea of ill.u.s.trating the marvelous rather than to give the usual prolongation of these functions. It hardly seems possible that ordinary investigation would show no cases of menstruation between sixty and seventy, and seven cases between seventy and eighty; however, in searching literature for such a collection, we must bear in mind that the more extraordinary the instance, the more likely it is that it would be spoken of, as the natural tendency of medical men is to overlook the important ordinary and report the nonimportant extraordinary. Dewees mentions an example of menstruation at sixty-five, and others at fifty-four and fifty-five years. Motte speaks of a case at sixty-one; Ryan and others, at fifty-five, sixty, and sixty-five; Parry, from sixty-six to seventy seven; Desormeux, from sixty to seventy-five; Semple, at seventy and eighty seven; Higgins, at seventy-six; Whitehead, at seventy-seven; Bernstein, at seventy-eight; Beyrat, at eighty-seven; Haller, at one hundred; and highest of all is Blancardi's case, in which menstruation was present at one hundred and six years. In the London Medical and Surgical Journal, 1831, are reported cases at eighty and ninety-five years. In Good's System of Nosology there are instances occurring at seventy-one, eighty, and ninety years. There was a woman in Italy whose menstrual function continued from twenty-four to ninety years.

Emmet cites an instance of menstruation at seventy, and Brierre de Boismont one of a woman who menstruated regularly from her twenty-fourth year to the time of her death at ninety-two.

Strasberger of Beeskow describes a woman who ceased menstruating at forty-two, who remained in good health up to eighty, suffering slight attacks of rheumatism only, and at this late age was seized with abdominal pains, followed by menstruation, which continued for three years; the woman died the next year. This late menstruation had all the sensible characters of the early one. Kennard mentions a negress, aged ninety-one, who menstruated at fourteen, ceased at forty-nine, and at eighty-two commenced again, and was regular for four years, but had had no return since. On the return of her menstruation, believing that her procreative powers were returning, she married a vigorous negro of thirty-five and experienced little difficulty in satisfying his desires. Du Peyrou de Cheyssiole and Bonhoure speak of an aged peasant woman, past ninety-one years of age, who menstruated regularly.

Petersen describes a woman of seventy-nine, who on March 26th was seized with uterine pains lasting a few days and terminating with hemorrhagic discharge. On April 23d she was seized again, and a discharge commenced on the 25th, continuing four days. Up to the time of the report, one year after, this menstruation had been regular.

There is an instance on record of a female who menstruated every three months during the period from her fiftieth to her seventy-fourth year, the discharge, however, being very slight. Thomas cites an instance of a woman of sixty-nine who had had no menstruation since her forty-ninth year, but who commenced again the year he saw her. Her mother and sister were similarly affected at the age of sixty, in the first case attributable to grief over the death of a son, in the second ascribed to fright. It seemed to be a peculiar family idiosyncrasy. Velasquez of Tarentum says that the Abbess of Monvicaro at the very advanced age of one hundred had a recurrence of catamenia after a severe illness, and subsequently a new set of teeth and a new growth of hair.

Late Establishment of Menstruation.--In some cases menstruation never appears until late in life, presenting the same phenomena as normal menstruation. Perfect relates the history of a woman who had been married many years, and whose menstruation did not appear until her forty-seventh year. She was a widow at the time, and had never been pregnant. Up to the time of her death, which was occasioned by a convulsive colic, in her fifty-seventh year, she had the usual prodromes of menstruation followed by the usual discharge. Rodsewitch speaks of a widow of a peasant who menstruated for the first time at the age of thirty-six. Her first coitus took place at the age of fifteen, before any signs of menstruation had appeared, and from this time all through her married life she was either pregnant or suckling.

Her husband died when thirty-six years old, and ever since the catamenial flow had shown itself with great regularity. She had borne twins in her second, fourth, and eighth confinement, and altogether had 16 children. Holdefrund in 1836 mentions a case in which menstruation did not commence until the seventieth year, and Hoyer mentions one delayed to the seventy-sixth year. Marx of Krakau speaks of a woman, aged forty-eight, who had never menstruated; until forty-two years old she had felt no symptoms, but at this time pain began, and at forty-eight regular menstruation ensued. At the time of report, four years after, she was free from pain and amenorrhea, and her flow was regular, though scant. She had been married since she was twenty-eight years of age. A somewhat similar case is mentioned by Gregory of a mother of 7 children who had never had her menstrual flow. There are two instances of delayed menstruation quoted: the first, a woman of thirty, well formed, healthy, of good social position, and with all the signs of p.u.b.erty except menstruation, which had never appeared; the second, a married woman of forty-two, who throughout a healthy connubial life had never menstruated. An instance is known to the authors of a woman of forty who has never menstruated, though she is of exceptional vigor and development. She has been married many years without pregnancy.

The medical literature relative to precocious impregnation is full of marvelous instances. Individually, many of the cases would be beyond credibility, but when instance after instance is reported by reliable authorities we must accept the possibility of their occurrence, even if we doubt the statements of some of the authorities. No less a medical celebrity than the ill.u.s.trious Sir Astley Cooper remarks that on one occasion he saw a girl in Scotland, seven years old, whose pelvis was so fully developed that he was sure she could easily give birth to a child; and Warner's case of the Jewish girl three and a half years old, with a pelvis of normal width, more than substantiates this supposition. Similar examples of precocious pelvic and s.e.xual development are on record in abundance, and nearly every medical man of experience has seen cases of infantile masturbation.

The ordinary period of female maturity is astonis.h.i.+ngly late when compared with the lower animals of the same size, particularly when viewed with cases of animal precocity on record. Berthold speaks of a kid fourteen days old which was impregnated by an adult goat, and at the usual period of gestation bore a kid, which was mature but weak, to which it gave milk in abundance, and both the mother and kid grew up strong. Compared with the above, child-bearing by women of eight is not extraordinary.

The earliest case of conception that has come to the authors' notice is a quotation in one of the last century books from von Mandelslo of impregnation at six; but a careful search in the British Museum failed to confirm this statement, and, for the present, we must accept the statement as hearsay and without authority available for reference-purposes.

Molitor gives an instance of precocious pregnancy in a child of eight.

It was probably the same case spoken of by Lefebvre and reported to the Belgium Academy: A girl, born in Luxemborg, well developed s.e.xually, having hair on the pubis at birth, who menstruated at four, and at the age of eight was impregnated by a cousin of thirty-seven, who was sentenced to five years' imprisonment for seduction. The pregnancy terminated by the expulsion of a mole containing a well-characterized human embryo. Schmidt's case in 1779 was in a child who had menstruated at two, and bore a dead fetus when she was but eight years and ten months old. She had all the appearance and development of a girl of seventeen. Kussmaul gives an example of conception at eight.

Dodd speaks of a child who menstruated early and continued up to the time of impregnation. She was a hard worker and did all her mother's was.h.i.+ng. Her labor pains did not continue over six hours, from first to the last. The child was a large one, weighing 7 pounds, and afterward died in convulsions. The infant's left foot had but 3 toes. The young mother at the time of delivery was only nine years and eight months old, and consequently must have been impregnated before the age of nine. Meyer gives an astonis.h.i.+ng instance of birth in a Swiss girl at nine. Carn describes a case of a child who menstruated at two, became pregnant at eight, and lived to an advanced age. Ruttel reports conception in a girl of nine, and as far north as St. Petersburg a girl has become a mother before nine years. The Journal de Scavans, 1684, contains the report of the case of a boy, who survived, being born to a mother of nine years.

Beck has reported an instance of delivery in a girl a little over ten years of age. There are instances of fecundity at nine years recorded by Ephemerides, Wolffius, Savonarola, and others. Gleaves reports from Wytheville, Va., the history of what he calls the case of the youngest mother in Virginia--Annie H.--who was born in Bland County, July 15, 1885, and, on September 10, 1895, was delivered of a well-formed child weighing 5 pounds. The girl had not the development of a woman, although she had menstruated regularly since her fifth year. The labor was short and uneventful, and, two hours afterward, the child-mother wanted to arise and dress and would have done so had she been permitted. There were no developments of the mammae nor secretion of milk. The baby was nourished through its short existence (as it only lived a week) by its grandmother, who had a child only a few months old. The parents of this child were prosperous, intelligent, and worthy people, and there was no doubt of the child's age. "Annie is now well and plays about with the other children as if nothing had happened."

Harris refers to a Kentucky woman, a mother at ten years, one in Ma.s.sachusetts a mother at ten years, eight months, and seventeen days, and one in Philadelphia at eleven years and three months. The first case was one of infantile precocity, the other belonging to a much later period, the menstrual function having been established but a few months prior to conception. All these girls had well-developed pelves, large mammae, and the general marks of womanhood, and bore living children. It has been remarked of 3 very markedly precocious cases of pregnancy that one was the daughter of very humble parents, one born in an almshouse, and the other raised by her mother in a house of prost.i.tution. The only significance of this statement is the greater amount of vice and opportunity for precocious s.e.xual intercourse to which they were exposed; doubtless similar cases under more favorable conditions would never be recognized as such.

The instance in the Journal decavans is reiterated in 1775, which is but such a repet.i.tion as is found all through medical literature--"new friends with old faces," as it were. Haller observed a case of impregnation in a girl of nine, who had menstruated several years, and others who had become pregnant at nine, ten, and twelve years respectively. Rowlett, whose case is mentioned by Harris, saw a child who had menstruated the first year and regularly thereafter, and gave birth to a child weighing 7 3/4 pounds when she was only ten years and thirteen days old. At the time of delivery she measured 4 feet 7 inches in height and weighed 100 pounds. Curtis, who is also quoted by Harris, relates the history of Elizabeth Drayton, who became pregnant before she was ten, and was delivered of a full-grown, living male child weighing 8 pounds. She had menstruated once or twice before conception, was fairly healthy during gestation, and had a rather lingering but natural labor. To complete the story, the father of this child was a boy of fifteen. One of the faculty of Montpellier has reported an instance at New Orleans of a young girl of eleven, who became impregnated by a youth who was not yet sixteen. Maygrier says that he knew a girl of twelve, living in the Faubourg Saint-Germain, who was confined.

Harris relates the particulars of the case of a white girl who began to menstruate at eleven years and four months, and who gave birth to an over-sized male child on January 21, 1872, when she was twelve years and nine months old. She had an abundance of milk and nursed the child; the labor was of about eighteen hours' duration, and laceration was avoided. He also speaks of a mulatto girl, born in 1848, who began to menstruate at eleven years and nine months, and gave birth to a female child before she reached thirteen, and bore a second child when fourteen years and seven months old. The child's father was a white boy of seventeen.

The following are some Indian statistics: 1 pregnancy at ten, 6 at eleven, 2 at eighteen, 1 at nineteen. Chevers speaks of a mother at ten and others at eleven and twelve; and Green, at Dacca, performed craniotomy upon the fetus of a girl of twelve. Wilson gives an account of a girl thirteen years old, who gave birth to a full-grown female child after three hours' labor. She made a speedy convalescence, but the child died four weeks afterward from bad nursing. The lad who acknowledged paternity was nineteen years old. King reports a well-verified case of confinement in a girl of eleven. Both the mother and child did well.

Robertson of Manchester describes a girl, working in a cotton factory, who was a mother at twelve; de La Motte mentions pregnancy before twelve; Kilpatrick in a negress, at eleven years and six months; Fox, at twelve; Hall, at twelve; Kinney, at twelve years, ten months, and sixteen days; Herrick, at thirteen years and nine months; Murillo, at thirteen years; Philippart, at fourteen years; Stallcup, at eleven years and nine months; Stoakley, at thirteen years; Walker, at the age of twelve years and eight months; another case, at twelve years and six months; and Williams, at eleven.

An editorial article in the Indian Medical Gazette of Sept., 1890, says:--

"The appearance of menstruation is held by the great majority of natives of India to be evidence and proof of marriageability, but among the Hindu community it is considered disgraceful that a girl should remain unmarried until this function is established. The consequence is that girls are married at the age of nine or ten years, but it is understood or professed that the consummation of the marriage is delayed until after the first menstrual period. There is, however, too much reason to believe that the earlier ceremony is very frequently, perhaps commonly, taken to warrant resort to s.e.xual intercourse before the menstrual flux has occurred: it may be accepted as true that premenstrual copulation is largely practised under the cover of marriage in this country.

"From this practice it results that girls become mothers at the earliest possible period of their lives. A native medical witness testified that in about 20 per cent of marriages children were born by wives of from twelve to thirteen years of age. Cases of death caused by the first act of s.e.xual intercourse are by no means rare. They are naturally concealed, but ever and anon they come to light. Dr. Chevers mentioned some 14 cases of this sort in the last edition of his 'Handbook of Medical Jurisprudence for India,' and Dr. Harvey found 5 in the medicolegal returns submitted by the Civil Surgeons of the Bengal Presidency during the years 1870-71-72.

"Reform must come from conviction and effort, as in every other case, but meantime the strong arm of the law should be put forth for the protection of female children from the degradation and hurt entailed by premature s.e.xual intercourse. This can easily be done by raising the age of punishable intercourse, which is now fixed at the absurd limit of ten years. Menstruation very seldom appears in native girls before the completed age of twelve years, and if the 'age of consent' were raised to that limit, it would not interfere with the prejudices and customs which insist on marriage before menstruation."

In 1816 some girls were admitted to the Paris Maternite as young as thirteen, and during the Revolution several at eleven, and even younger. Smith speaks of a legal case in which a girl, eleven years old, being safely delivered of a living child, charged her uncle with rape. Allen speaks of a girl who became pregnant at twelve years and nine months, and was delivered of a healthy, 9-pound boy before the physician's arrival; the placenta came away afterward, and the mother made a speedy recovery. She was thought to have had "dropsy of the abdomen," as the parents had lost a girl of about the same age who was tapped for ascites. The father of the child was a boy only fourteen years of age.

Marvelous to relate, there are on record several cases of twins being born to a child mother. Kay reports a case of twins in a girl of thirteen; Montgomery, at fourteen; and Meigs reports the case of a young girl, of Spanish blood, at Maracaibo, who gave birth to a child before she was twelve and to twins before reaching fourteen years.

In the older works, the following authors have reported cases of pregnancy before the appearance of menstruation: Ballonius, Vogel, Morgagni, the anatomist of the kidney, Schenck, Bartholinus, Bierling, Zacchias, Charleton, Mauriceau, Ephemerides, and Fabricius Hilda.n.u.s.

In some cases this precocity seems to be hereditary, being transmitted from mother to daughter, bringing about an almost incredible state of affairs, in which a girl is a grandmother about the ordinary age of maternity. Kay says that he had reported to him, on "pretty good"

authority, an instance of a Damascus Jewess who became a grandmother at twenty-one years. In France they record a young grandmother of twenty-eight. Ketchum speaks of a negress, aged thirteen, who gave birth to a well-developed child which began to menstruate at ten years and nine months and at thirteen became pregnant; hence the negress was a grandmother at twenty-five years and nine months. She had a second child before she was sixteen, who began to menstruate at seven years and six months, thus proving the inheritance of this precocity, and leaving us at sea to figure what degree of grandmother she may be if she lives to an advanced age. Another interesting case of this nature is that of Mrs. C., born 1854, married in 1867, and who had a daughter ten months after. This daughter married in 1882, and in March, 1883, gave birth to a 9-pound boy. The youthful grandmother, not twenty-nine, was present at the birth. This case was remarkable, as the children were both legitimate.

Fecundity in the old seems to have attracted fully as much attention among the older observers as precocity. Pliny speaks of Cornelia, of the family of Serpios, who bore a son at sixty, who was named Volusius Saturnius; and Marsa, a physician of Venice, was deceived in a pregnancy in a woman of sixty, his diagnosis being "dropsy." Tarenta records the history of the case of a woman who menstruated and bore children when past the age of sixty. Among the older reports are those of Blanchard of a woman who bore a child at sixty years; Fielitz, one at sixty; Ephemerides, one at sixty-two; Rush, one at sixty; Bernstein, one at sixty years; Schoepfer, at seventy years; and, almost beyond belief, Debes cites an instance as taking place at the very advanced age of one hundred and three. Wallace speaks of a woman in the Isle of Orkney bearing children when past the age of sixty. We would naturally expect to find the age of child-bearing prolonged in the northern countries where the age of maturity is later. Capuron cites an example of child-birth in a woman of sixty; Haller, cases at fifty-eight, sixty-three, and seventy; Dewees, at sixty-one; and Thibaut de Chauvalon, in a woman of Martinique aged ninety years. There was a woman delivered in Germany, in 1723, at the age of fifty-five; one at fifty-one in Kentucky; and one in Russia at fifty. Depa.s.se speaks of a woman of fifty-nine years and five months old who was delivered of a healthy male child, which she suckled, weaning it on her sixtieth birthday. She had been a widow for twenty years, and had ceased to menstruate nearly ten years before. In St. Peter's Church, in East Oxford, is a monument bearing an inscription recording the death in child-birth of a woman sixty-two years old. Cachot relates the case of a woman of fifty-three, who was delivered of a living child by means of the forceps, and a year after bore a second child without instrumental interference. She had no milk in her b.r.e.a.s.t.s at the time and no signs of secretion. This aged mother had been married at fifty-two, five years after the cessation of her menstruation, and her husband was a young man, only twenty-four years old.

Kennedy reports a delivery at sixty-two years, and the Cincinnati Enquirer, January, 1863, says: "Dr. W. McCarthy was in attendance on a lady of sixty-nine years, on Thursday night last, who gave birth to a fine boy. The father of the child is seventy-four years old, and the mother and child are doing well." Quite recently there died in Great Britain a Mrs. Henry of Gortree at the age of one hundred and twelve, leaving a daughter of nine years.

Mayham saw a woman seventy-three years old who recovered after delivery of a child. A most peculiar case is that of a widow, seventy years old, a native of Garches. She had been in the habit of indulging freely in wine, and, during the last six months, to decided excess. After an unusually prolonged libation she found herself unable to walk home; she sat down by the roadside waiting until she could proceed, and was so found by a young man who knew her and who proposed helping her home. By the time her house was reached night was well advanced, and she invited him to stop over night; finding her more than affable, he stopped at her house over four nights, and the result of his visits was an ensuing pregnancy for Madame.

Multiple births in the aged have been reported from authentic sources.

The Lancet quotes a rather fabulous account of a lady over sixty-two years of age who gave birth to triplets, making her total number of children 13. Montgomery, Colomb, and Knehel, each, have recorded the birth of twins in women beyond the usual age of the menopause, and there is a case recorded of a woman of fifty-two who was delivered of twins.

Impregnation without completion of the copulative act by reason of some malformation, such as occlusion of the v.a.g.i.n.a or uterus, fibrous and unruptured hymen, etc., has been a subject of discussion in the works of medical jurisprudence of all ages; and cases of conception without entrance of the p.e.n.i.s are found in abundance throughout medical literature, and may have an important medicolegal bearing. There is little doubt of the possibility of spermatozoa deposited on the genitalia making progress to the seat of fertilization, as their power of motility and tenacity of life have been well demonstrated. Percy reports an instance in which s.e.m.e.n was found issuing from the os uteri eight and one-half days after the last intercourse; and a microscopic examination of this s.e.m.e.n revealed the presence of living as well as dead spermatozoa. We have occasional instances of impregnation by rectal coitus, the s.e.m.e.n finding its way into an occluded v.a.g.i.n.al ca.n.a.l by a fistulous communication.

Guillemeau, the surgeon of the French king, tells of a girl of eighteen, who was brought before the French officials in Paris, in 1607, on the citation of her husband of her inability to allow him completion of the marital function. He alleged that he had made several unsuccessful attempts to enter her, and in doing so had caused paraphimosis. On examination by the surgeons she was found to have a dense membrane, of a fibrous nature, entirely occluding the v.a.g.i.n.a, which they incised. Immediately afterward the woman exhibited morning sickness and the usual signs of pregnancy, and was delivered in four months of a full-term child, the results of an impregnation occasioned by one of the unsuccessful attempts at entrance. Such instances are numerous in the older literature, and a mere citation of a few is considered sufficient here. Zacchias, Amand, Fabricius Hilda.n.u.s, Graaf, the discoverer of the follicles that bear his name, Borellus, Blegny, Blanchard, Diemerbroeck, Duddell, Mauriceau, a Reyes, Riolan, Harvey, the discoverer of the circulation of the blood, Wolfius, Walther, Rongier, Ruysch, Forestus, Ephemerides, and Schurig all mention cases of conception with intact hymen, and in which there was no entrance of the p.e.n.i.s. Tolberg has an example of hymen integrum after the birth of a fetus five months old, and there is recorded a case of tubal pregnancy in which the hymen was intact.

Gilbert gives an account of a case of pregnancy in an unmarried woman, who successfully resisted an attempt at criminal connection and yet became impregnated and gave birth to a perfectly formed female child.

The hymen was not ruptured, and the impregnation could not have preceded the birth more than thirty-six weeks. Unfortunately, this poor woman was infected with gonorrhea after the attempted a.s.sault. Simmons of St. Louis gives a curious peculiarity of conception, in which there was complete closure of the v.a.g.i.n.a, subsequent conception, and delivery at term. He made the patient's acquaintance from her application to him in regard to a malcondition of her s.e.xual apparatus, causing much domestic infelicity.

Lawson speaks of a woman of thirty-five, who had been married ten months, and whose husband could never effect an entrance; yet she became pregnant and had a normal labor, despite the fact that, in addition to a tough and unruptured hymen, she had an occluding v.a.g.i.n.al cyst. Hickinbotham of Birmingham reports the history of two cases of labor at term in females whose hymens were immensely thickened. H. Grey Edwards has seen a case of imperforate hymen which had to be torn through in labor; yet one single act of copulation, even with this obstacle to entrance, sufficed to impregnate. Champion speaks of a woman who became pregnant although her hymen was intact. She had been in the habit of having coitus by the urethra, and all through her pregnancy continued this practice.

Houghton speaks of a girl of twenty-five into whose v.a.g.i.n.a it was impossible to pa.s.s the tip of the first finger on account of the dense cicatricial membrane in the orifice, but who gave birth, with comparative ease, to a child at full term, the only interference necessary being a few slight incisions to permit the pa.s.sage of the head. Tweedie saw an Irish girl of twenty-three, with an imperforate os uteri, who had menstruated only scantily since fourteen and not since her marriage. She became pregnant and went to term, and required some operative interference. He incised at the point of usual location of the os, and one of his incisions was followed by the flow of liquor amnii, and the head fell upon the artificial opening, the diameter of which proved to be one and a half or two inches; the birth then progressed promptly, the child being born alive.

Guerard notes an instance in which the opening barely admitted a hair; yet the patient reached the third month of pregnancy, at which time she induced abortion in a manner that could not be ascertained. Roe gives a case of conception in an imperforate uterus, and Duncan relates the history of a case of pregnancy in an unruptured hymen, characterized by an extraordinary ascent of the uterus. Among many, the following modern observers have also reported instances of pregnancy with hymen integrum: Braun, 3 cases; Francis, Horton, Oakman, Brill, 2 cases; Burgess, Haig, Hay, and Smith.

Instances in which the presence of an unruptured hymen has complicated or r.e.t.a.r.ded actual labor are quite common, and until the membrane is ruptured by external means the labor is often effectually obstructed.

Among others reporting cases of this nature are Beale, Carey, Davis, Emond Fetherston, Leisenring, Mackinlay, Martinelli, Palmer, Rousseau, Ware, and Yale.

There are many cases of stricture or complete occlusion of the v.a.g.i.n.a, congenital or acquired from cicatricial contraction, obstructing delivery, and in some the impregnation seems more marvelous than cases in which the obstruction is only a thin membranous hymen. Often the obstruction is so dense as to require a large bistoury to divide it, and even that is not always sufficient, and the Cesarean operation only can terminate the obstructed delivery; we cannot surmise how conception could have been possible. Staples records a case of pregnancy and parturition with congenital stricture of the v.a.g.i.n.a. Maisonneuve mentions the successful practice of a Cesarean operation in a case of congenital occlusion of the v.a.g.i.n.a forming a complete obstruction to delivery. Verdile records an instance of imperforate v.a.g.i.n.a in which rectov.a.g.i.n.al wall was divided and the delivery effected through the r.e.c.t.u.m and a.n.u.s. Lombard mentions an observation of complete occlusion of the v.a.g.i.n.a in a woman, the mother of 4 living children and pregnant for the fifth time. Thus, almost incredible to relate, it is possible for a woman to become a mother of a living child and yet preserve all the v.a.g.i.n.al evidences of virginity. Cole describes a woman of twenty-four who was delivered without the rupture of the hymen, and Meek remarks on a similar case. We can readily see that, in a case like that of Verdile, in which rectal delivery is effected, the hymen could be left intact and the product of conception be born alive.

A natural sequence to the subject of impregnation without entrance is that of artificial impregnation. From being a matter of wonder and hearsay, it has been demonstrated as a practical and useful method in those cases in which, by reason of some unfortunate anatomic malformation on either the male or the female side, the marriage is unfruitful. There are many cases constantly occurring in which the birth of an heir is a most desirable thing in a person's life. The historic instance of Queen Mary of England, whose anxiety and efforts to bear a child were the subject of public comment and prayers, is but an example of a fact that is occurring every day, and doubtless some of these cases could be righted by the pursuance of some of the methods suggested.

There have been rumors from the beginning of the century of women being impregnated in a bath, from contact with cloths containing s.e.m.e.n, etc., and some authorities in medical jurisprudence have accepted the possibility of such an occurrence. It is not in the province of this work to speculate on what may be, but to give authoritative facts, from which the reader may draw his own deductions. Fertilization of plants has been thought to have been known in the oldest times, and there are some who believe that the library at Alexandria must have contained some information relative to it. The first authentic account that we have of artificial impregnation is that of Schwammerdam, who in 1680 attempted it without success by the fecundation of the eggs of fish.

Roesel, his scholar, made an attempt in 1690, but also failed; and to Jacobi, in 1700, belongs the honor of success. In 1780, Abbe Spallanzani, following up the success of Jacobi, artificially impregnated a b.i.t.c.h, who brought forth in sixty-two days 3 puppies, all resembling the male. The ill.u.s.trious John Hunter advised a man afflicted with hypospadias to impregnate his wife by v.a.g.i.n.al injections of s.e.m.e.n in water with an ordinary syringe, and, in spite of the simplicity of this method, the attempt was followed by a successful issue. Since this time, Nicholas of Nancy and Lesueur have practised the simple v.a.g.i.n.al method; while Gigon, d'Angouleme (14 cases), Girault (10 cases), Marion Sims, Thomas, Salmon, Pajot, Gallard, Courty, Roubaud, Dehaut, and others have used the more modern uterine method with success.

A dog-breeder, by syringing the uterus of a b.i.t.c.h, has succeeded in impregnating her. Those who are desirous of full information on this subject, as regards the modus operandi, etc., are referred to Girault; this author reports in full several examples. One case was that of a woman, aged twenty-five, afflicted with blenorrhea, who, chagrined at not having issue, made repeated forcible injections of s.e.m.e.n in water for two months, and finally succeeded in impregnating herself, and was delivered of a living child. Another case was that of a female, aged twenty-three, who had an extra long v.a.g.i.n.al ca.n.a.l, probably accounting for the absence of pregnancy. She made injections of s.e.m.e.n, and was finally delivered of a child. He also reports the case of a distinguished musician who, by reason of hypospadias, had never impregnated his wife, and had resorted to injections of s.e.m.e.n with a favorable result. This latter case seems hardly warranted when we consider that men afflicted with hypospadias and epispadias have become fathers. Percy gives the instance of a gentleman whom he had known for some time, whose urethra terminated a little below the frenum, as in other persons, but whose glans bulged quite prominently beyond it, rendering urination in the forward direction impossible. Despite the fact that this man could not perform the ejaculatory function, he was the father of three children, two of them inheriting his penile formation.

The fundamental condition of fecundity being the union of a spermatozoid and an ovum, the object of artificial impregnation is to further this union by introducing s.e.m.e.n directly to the fundus of the uterus. The operation is quite simple and as follows: The husband, having been found perfectly healthy, is directed to cohabit with his wife, using a condom. The s.e.m.e.n e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed is sucked up by an intrauterine syringe which has been properly disinfected and kept warm.

The os uteri is now exposed and wiped off with some cotton which has been dipped in an antiseptic fluid; introduced to the fundus of the uterus, and some drops of the fluid slowly expressed into the uterus.

The woman is then kept in bed on her back. This operation is best carried out immediately before or immediately after the menstrual epoch, and if not successful at the first attempt should be repeated for several months. At the present day artificial impregnation in pisciculture is extensively used with great success.

{footnote} The following extraordinary incident of accidental impregnation, quoted from the American Medical Weekly by the Lancet, is given in brief, not because it bears any semblance of possibility, but as a curious example from the realms of imagination in medicine.

L. G. Capers of Vicksburg, Miss., relates an incident during the late Civil War, as follows: A matron and her two daughters, aged fifteen and seventeen years, filled with the enthusiasm of patriotism, stood ready to minister to the wounds of their countrymen in their fine residence near the scene of the battle of R----, May 12, 1863, between a portion of Grant's army and some Confederates. During the fray a gallant and n.o.ble young friend of the narrator staggered and fell to the earth; at the same time a piercing cry was heard in the house near by.

Examination of the wounded soldier showed that a bullet had pa.s.sed through the s.c.r.o.t.u.m and carried away the left t.e.s.t.i.c.l.e. The same bullet had apparently penetrated the left side of the abdomen of the elder young lady, midway between the umbilicus and the anterior superior spinous process of the ilium, and had become lost in the abdomen. This daughter suffered an attack of peritonitis, but recovered in two months under the treatment administered.

Marvelous to relate, just two hundred and seventy-eight days after the reception of the minie-ball, she was delivered of a fine boy, weighing 8 pounds, to the surprise of herself and the mortification of her parents and friends. The hymen was intact, and the young mother strenuously insisted on her virginity and innocence. About three weeks after this remarkable birth Dr. Capers was called to see the infant, and the grandmother insisted that there was something wrong with the child's genitals. Examination showed a rough, swollen, and sensitive s.c.r.o.t.u.m, containing some hard substance. He operated, and extracted a smashed and battered minie-ball. The doctor, after some meditation, theorized in this manner: He concluded that this was the same ball that had carried away the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.e of his young friend, that had penetrated the ovary of the young lady, and, with some spermatozoa upon it, had impregnated her. With this conviction he approached the young man and told him the circ.u.mstances; the soldier appeared skeptical at first, but consented to visit the young mother; a friends.h.i.+p ensued which soon ripened into a happy marriage, and the pair had three children, none resembling, in the same degree as the first, the heroic pater familias.

Interesting as are all the anomalies of conception, none are more so than those of unconscious impregnation; and some well-authenticated cases can be mentioned. Instances of violation in sleep, with subsequent pregnancy as a result, have been reported in the last century by Valentini, Genselius, and Schurig. Reports by modern authorities seem to be quite scarce, though there are several cases on record of rape during anesthesia, followed by impregnation. Capuron relates a curious instance of a woman who was raped during lethargy, and who subsequently became pregnant, though her condition was not ascertained until the fourth month, the peculiar abdominal sensation exciting suspicion of the true nature of the case, which had previously been thought impossible.