Anomalies and Curiosities of MedicineGould, George M. (George Milbrey)
Science
Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine
Gould, George M. (George Milbrey)
Abnormalities, Human; Medicine -- Anecdotes
The instance in the Journal decavans is reiterated in 1775, which is
but such a repetition 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.
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