Such cases differ from craniotomy, or the direct killing of a foetus (which were formally forbidden by the Holy Office on May 28, 1884, and August 19, 1888, and always forbidden by the natural law) in several factors: first, in craniotomy the child is _directly_ killed, although it is not an aggressor, in the hysterectomy it is permitted to die, it is _indirectly_ killed; secondly, in craniotomy there is a viable child, in the hysterectomy, an unviable child; thirdly, in craniotomy there is a killing that is a means toward the end of saving the mother's life, in the hysterectomy there is a permitted hastening of the foetus's death, and this is only a circumstance inseparably joined to the act; fourthly, in craniotomy the killing is utterly {43} uncalled for, because the caesarean section, or symphyseotomy (a temporary dividing of the pubic joint to get more room) will do instead, in the hysterectomy, because the child is not viable, there is no alternate way out of the difficulty; fifthly, formal judgment has been pronounced by the Holy Office in craniotomy, no formal judgment has been made as regards this hysterectomy. Suppose A and B are on a boat hoisting a weighty object to a ship; the tackle breaks, the falling weight mortally hurts B, and wedges him fast to the wrecked boat. The boat is about to sink and drown both men, but if A tips off the weight, and with it unavoidably the entangled B, A can float to safety. A will indirectly hasten the inevitable death of B by throwing off the weight which will drag him down. May A do so? Very probably he may. Two swimmers, A and B, are trying to save C, who dies in the water, and as he dies he grips A and B so tightly they can not shake the corpse off. A is weak, and he will soon sink and drown owing to the weight of the corpse; B also will later go down with A and C. A, however, cuts his clothing loose from the grip of the corpse (or some one in a boat does so who can do no more) and A is saved; but thus immediately B is drowned, owing to the fact that the full weight of the corpse is upon him. Is A, or the man in the boat, justified? Probably they are. A is the mother, B the foetus, C the diseased uterus, the man in the boat is the surgeon. The mother has herself cut away from the uterus and the foetus's death is hastened.