A Short Narrative of an Extraordinary Delivery of Rabbets, Perform'd by Mr. John Howard Surgeon at GuilfordSt. André, Nathanael
History
A Short Narrative of an Extraordinary Delivery of Rabbets, Perform'd by Mr. John Howard Surgeon at Guilford
St. André, Nathanael
Factitious disorders; Fraud; Obstetrics -- Early works to 1800; Toft, Mary, 1703-1763
The first Animal did not appear to be a perfect Rabbet, in all its
Parts, three of the Feet being like the Paws of a Cat, the Stomach and
Intestines like those Parts in the same Animal, as also the Shape and
Figure of the _Thorax_; the Lungs and Heart of which were entirely out
of their natural Situation, and squeezed out between the upper Ribbs and
_Vertebræ_ of the Neck, to which Parts they strongly grew and adhered.
The Lungs of this Creature, had they been placed in their natural Cavity,
would not have filled above a sixth Part of it: The Bones of this
Creature being also different in Substance and Structure, from those of
common Rabbets, the Head and one Paw only excepted.
All the other thirteen Animals were, in every Particular, like well
formed, common, natural Rabbets, from the Size of two Months Growth to
four. They were all broken in Pieces, and much in the same Manner. I
shall describe these pieces in the Order that Mr. _Howard_ told us they
had commonly been brought away. First the four Paws with the Furr on;
then the Liver and Intestines; the Trunk and Shoulders in another Part:
In three or four Animals the Loyns separated from the _Os Sacrum_; and in
the rest, the _Ischium_ and Thighs in one piece, with the Loyns; the Head
with its Furr, and lastly the Skin.
When all these several Parts were put together in their proper Order,
they manifestly made up, and appeared to belong to the above-mentioned
Animals: But the _Viscera_ were wanting in four or five of them. One
remarkable Circumstance is, that most of these Animals were Females, as
far as I could judge.
The Heart and Liver of those which we examined, appeared much larger than
usual, when compared with the _Lungs_ and _Intestines_ which belonged
to them; which on the contrary were extremely small. The _Cœcum_ and
_Colon_, which are remarkably large in Rabbets, appeared not to exceed in
bigness the other Intestines, and the spiral Structure of the _Cœcum_ was
not yet unfolded; the Stomach was in like manner much contracted, and its
_Pilorus_ very streight and narrow. I cou’d not discover, in any of the
Livers that I examin’d, the _Ductus Venosus_, nor the implantation of
the _Umbelical_ Vein in that Organ.
I open’d three or four of the Hearts, and found in every one of them
the _Foramen Ovale_, and the _Ductus Arteriosus_ fully open, the two
Trunks of the Descendant _Cava_ united at the right Auricle of the Heart,
agreeable to that Structure which is peculiar to natural Rabbets, and
some few other Animals.
The Flesh of these Creatures, particularly of that which I extracted, had
the smell of Rabbets just killed: and the Substance of their Bones were,
in all respects, like the Bones of _Fœtus_ Rabbets; in several of them
the _Epiphyses_ were separated from the Bones themselves.
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