she has since borne three children at the expiration of the ninth month; the three last children have been considerably smaller than the two intermediate children.-I have also had, under my immediate observation, the case of a lady who has borne nine children, and who, on some account or another, has been able five times to determine exactly the day on which she should be confined, and her predictions have been verified in some cases; but in one confinement she exceeded the time by a month and two days, and this woman brought forth by far the largest child I had ever seen, after a very protracted labour; her labours in general being so slight, that in by far the majority of cases, the children have been born before either nurse or medical attendant could be at hand. -After labour has commenced I have known the time for its perfection to be extended by mental agitation, in at least fifty cases. I have also known cases of gestation protracted by mental agitation,-cases in which the mental affection has been so great as to destroy the vitality of the child.

John Sabine, Esq. and Doctor Samuel Merryman said, that although the usual period of gestation was two hundred and eighty days or nine months, that instances had occurred in which this period had been considerably extended.

On the other side of this question, there is also a great weight of evidence. In the last edition

of Dr. Beck's Elements of Medical Jurisprudence, the subject is fully treated of. The author when speaking of protracted delivery, says, "It is astonishing, and I will add ridiculous, to view the ardour with which writers have advocated this doctrine. I shall devote this section principally to the statement of some cases which have occurred at various times, and been made the subject of legal investigation." After referring to a variety of cases, he mentions one," that enlisted all the medical talent of France in its discussion."

"The opinion of Louis was asked, and he declared that the offspring was illegitimate: among the arguments which he adduces, are the following:-That the laws of nature on the subject are immutable;—that the fœtus at a fixed period has received all the nourishment of which it is susceptible from the mother, and becomes, as it were, a foreign body;-that married females are very liable to error in their calculation,—that the decision of tribunals in favour of protracted gestation, cannot overturn a physical law;—and finally, that the virtue of females is a very uncertain guide for legal decisions. If we admit,' says he, all the facts reported by ancient and modern authors, of delivery from eleven to twenty-three months, it will be very commodious for females, and if so great a latitude is allowed for the production of posthumous heirs, the collateral ones may in all

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cases abandon their hopes, unless sterility be actually present.'

"This reasoning appears to me," says Dr. Beck, ❝ to carry great weight; and Mahon in his chapter on the subject, adds several sensible remarks in confirmation of it. He observes that if the doctrine be true, that the children of old people are longer in coming to maturity, it would have been confirmed by experience, which it is not. Grief, also, and the depressing passions are much relied on as possessing a delaying power, but certainly, these are more apt to produce abortion than protracted gestation. He accounts for the mistakes of married women by suggesting that the menses may be suppressed, not only from disease, but from affections of the mind, or accidental causes which do not immediately impair the health while the increase of volume in the abdomen may originate from this or from numerous other causes. Towards the conclusion of his remarks, he states a difficulty which I believe cannot be readily overcome. If the doctrine be allowed, how shall we distinguish a delayed child from one that is born at nine months; and by what means are wẻ to detect fraud in such cases? Certainly, as far as we can judge from the narratives given, the infants born after protracted gestation were not distinguished for size, or other appearances of maturity.

"A calm and deliberate examination of these histories must certainly, I think, lead to a total disbelief of the doctrine of protracted gestation.

"There are many that evidently bear the impress of vice, while the most favourable are so liable to have arisen in error, that scepticism must appear unavoidable. That a limited variation may from extraordinary circumstances sometimes occur, I shall allow so far as to believe it proper that legislation should make allowances for it. The best and most accurate observers have sometimes met with cases where the period seemed to be somewhat prolonged, but I will venture to add, that the more closely they are investigated, the less will the number appear. Dr. Smellie mentions two instances in which the females exceeded their reckoning by eight weeks, and Dr. Bartley confirms them by a similar case in his own practice. All these, however, were calculated from the cessation of the menses, and is it not possible the same peculiar circumstances might have caused this, particularly as it was the first pregnancy in two of them?

"Dr. Hunter, in answer to a question on this subject, observed that he had known a woman bear a living child in a perfectly natural way, fourteen days later than nine calendar months; and believed two women to have been delivered of children alive, in a natural way, above ten calendar months from the hour of conception.

"I will add, that in England, and certainly in America, cases of protracted gestation, are rarely heard of, They appear to have occurred in countries where the administration of justice was arbitrary, or at least fickle and unsteady."

Some of the most celebrated and experienced physicians are of opinion that these supposed prolonged pregnancies are more rationally and probably explained in other ways. Indeed what Dr. Jemmat said in giving evidence in the great Annesley cause, may fairly be applied on the present occasion. On being asked, On your oath, sir, are there any rules in your profession, by which a pregnancy can be discerned from a tympany, or any other like disorder?" He answered,

By virtue of my oath, that question would puzzle not only the Colleges of Physicians of England and Ireland, but the Royal Society into the bargain."