the quantity discharged regularly diminished after the fourth month, a circumstance perhaps not difficult of explanation." (_Compendious System of Midwifery_, § 235.) It occasionally happens that the first appearance of the catamenia after conception is more abundant than usual, a circumstance which had been noticed by Dr. W. Johnson in 1769, and confirmed by Dr. Montgomery in his admirable work on the signs of pregnancy, who also confirms the general fact of the menses occasionally appearing during pregnancy by his own experience, and by very ample references. (_Op. cit._ p. 46.) The rarest and most extraordinary deviation of this kind from the usual course of things is the appearance of the menses _only during pregnancy_. Cases of this sort have been recorded by authors of the highest respectability, so that there can be no doubt as to the correctness of their statements. Thus, for instance, Baudelocque says, "I have met with several women, who assured me that they had not had their menses periodically except during their pregnancies; their testimony appeared to me to deserve more credit, because they only applied for an explanation of this extraordinary phenomenon."[34] By far the most interesting and detailed case of this nature is one described by Dr. Dewees. "A woman applied for advice for a long standing suppression of the menses; indeed she never had menstruated but twice. She had been married a number of months, and complained of a good deal of derangement of stomach, &c. We prescribed some rhubarb and steel pills; about six months after this she called to say that the medicine had brought down her courses, but that she was more unwell than before. The sickness and vomiting had increased, besides swelling very much in her belly; we saw this pretty much distended and immediately examined it, as we suspected dropsy; but from the feel of the abdomen, the want of fluctuation and the solidity of the tumour, we began to think it might be pregnancy, and told the woman our opinion. On mentioning our impression she submitted to an examination per vaginam; this proved her to be six months advanced in pregnancy. After this she had the regular returns of the catamenial period, until the full time had expired; during suckling she was free from the discharge. She was a nurse for more than twelve months; she weaned her child, and shortly after was again surprised by an eruption of the menses, which as on a former occasion proved to be a sign of pregnancy." (_Op. cit._ § 237.)