Anomalies and Curiosities of MedicineGould, George M. (George Milbrey)
Science
Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine
Gould, George M. (George Milbrey)
Abnormalities, Human; Medicine -- Anecdotes
There is a case on record of a child viable at six months and twenty
days. The mother had a miscarriage at the beginning of 1877, after
which menstruation became regular, appearing last from July 3 to 9,
1877. On January 28, 1878, she gave birth to a male infant, which was
wrapped in wadding and kept at an artificial temperature. Being unable
to suckle, it was fed first on diluted cow's milk. It was so small at
birth that the father passed his ring over the foot almost to the knee.
On the thirteenth day it weighed 1250 grams, and at the end of a week
it was taking the breast. In December, 1879, it had 16 teeth, weighed
10 kilograms, walked with agility, could pronounce some words, and was
especially intelligent. Capuron relates an instance of a child born
after a pregnancy of six and a half months and in excellent health at
two years, and another living at ten years of the same age at birth.
Tait speaks of a living female child, born on the one hundred and
seventy-ninth day, with no nails on its fingers or toes, no hair, the
extremities imperfectly developed, and the skin florid and thin. It was
too feeble to grasp its mother's nipple, and was fed for three weeks by
milk from the breast through a quill. At forty days it weighed 3 pounds
and measured 13 inches. Before the expiration of three months it died
of measles. Dodd describes a case in which the catamenia were on the
24th of June, 1838, and continued a week; the woman bore twins on
January 11, 1839, one of which survived, the other dying a few minutes
after birth. She was never irregular, prompt to the hour, and this
fact, coupled with the diminutive size of the children, seemed to
verify the duration of the pregnancy. In 1825, Baber of Buxur, India,
spoke of a child born at six and a half months, who at the age of fifty
days weighed 1 pound and 13 ounces and was 14 inches long. The longest
circumference of the head was 10 inches and the shortest 9.1 inches.
The child suckled freely and readily. In Spaeth's clinic there was a
viable infant at six and a half months weighing 900 grams. Spaeth says
that he has known a child of six months to surpass in eventual
development its brothers born at full term.
In some cases there seems to be a peculiarity in women which manifests
itself by regular premature births. La Motte, van Swieten, and Fordere
mention females who always brought forth their conceptions at the
seventh month.
The incubator seems destined to be the future means of preserving these
premature births. Several successful cases have been noticed, and by
means of an incubator Tarnier succeeded in raising infants which at the
age of six months were above the average. A full description of the
incubator may be found. The modified Auvard incubator is easily made;
the accompanying illustrations (Figs. 5, 6, and 7) explain its
mechanism. Several improved incubators have been described in recent
years, but the Auvard appears to be the most satisfactory.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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