_Motion of the child._ The sensation of the child's movements to the mother is a symptom of very little value, and is liable to mislead the practitioner if he place much reliance upon it; for the passage of the flatus along the bowels, or little spasmodic flickerings of the abdominal muscles, will produce a very similar sensation, and will even completely deceive a patient who has been the mother of several children; but when they become perceptible to the experienced hand of the practitioner, this may also be looked upon as a certain indication that pregnancy exists. The foetal movements can seldom be felt distinctly until the beginning of the seventh month, and even then it requires some caution before we can venture upon a positive opinion. Their activity varies considerably in different cases; in some their nature is almost immediately evident; whereas, in others they are so few and feeble, as to make it very difficult to decide. It has been recommended to put the head in cold water previous to applying it upon the abdomen, as, by this means, a considerable shock is produced which excites these movements more distinctly. We cannot say that we have found this proceeding of any use, since, by this means, the abdominal muscles are rendered so irritable as frequently to obstruct the examination considerably: it is rather desirable to have them in as perfect a state of repose as possible, in order that no movement of the foetus, however slight, should escape our notice. It is in cases of abdominal enlargement from disease; that this means of diagnosis is occasionally very difficult, and where men, even of great experience, have been led to form a very erroneous opinion. The celebrated Peter Franck has related a case of this sort which occurred to himself, where the patient was supposed pregnant, and where he imagined that he had felt the motions of the child: she died shortly afterwards, and the examination of the body showed it to have been a case of ascites complicated with hydatids. Dr. Dewees has given a still more remarkable case of a similar error having occurred to himself. A young lady had her menses suppressed for several months; the abdomen swelled very much, the breasts became enlarged, she had nausea and vomiting in the morning, and other indications of pregnancy; "examining the abdomen carefully, I found it," says Dr. Dewees, "considerably distended; there was a circumscribed tumour within it, which I was very certain was an enlarged uterus. While conducting this examination I thought I distinctly perceived the motions of a foetus. The case proved to be one of accumulation of menstrual fluid in the uterus." (Dewees's _Essays on several Subjects connected with Midwifery_, p. 337-8.)