Anomalies and Curiosities of MedicineGould, George M. (George Milbrey)
Science
Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine
Gould, George M. (George Milbrey)
Abnormalities, Human; Medicine -- Anecdotes
Baudeloque speaks of a case of superfetation observed by Desgranges in
Lyons in 1780. After the birth of the first infant the lochia failed to
flow, no milk appeared in the breasts, and the belly remained large. In
about three weeks after the accouchement she had connection with her
husband, and in a few days felt fetal movements. A second child was
born at term, sixty-eight days after the first; and in 1782 both
children were living. A woman of Arles was delivered on November 11,
1796, of a child at term; she had connection with her husband four days
after; the lochia stopped, and the milk did not flow after this
intercourse. About one and a half months after this she felt quickening
again, and naturally supposed that she had become impregnated by the
first intercourse after confinement; but five months after the first
accouchement she was delivered of another child at term, the result of
a superfetation. Milk in abundance made its appearance, and she was
amply able to nourish both children from the breasts. Lachausse speaks
of a woman of thirty who bore one child on April 30, 1748, and another
on September 16th in the same year. Her breasts were full enough to
nourish both of the children. It might be remarked in comment on this
case that, according to a French authority, the woman died in 1755, and
on dissection was found to have had a double uterus.
A peculiar instance of superfetation was reported by Langmore in which
there was an abortion of a fetus between the third and fourth months,
apparently dead some time, and thirteen hours later a second fetus; an
ovum of about four weeks and of perfect formation was found adherent
near the fundus. Tyler Smith mentions a lady pregnant for the first
time who miscarried at five months and some time afterward discharged a
small clot containing a perfectly fresh and healthy ovum of about four
weeks' formation. There was no sign of a double uterus, and the patient
menstruated regularly during pregnancy, being unwell three weeks before
the abortion. Harley and Tanner speak of a woman of thirty-eight who
never had borne twins, and who aborted a fetus of four months'
gestation; serious hemorrhage accompanied the removal of the placenta,
and on placing the hand in the uterine cavity an embryo of five or six
weeks was found inclosed in a sac and floating in clear liquor amnii.
The patient was the mother of nine children, the youngest of which was
three years old.
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