The secretion of milk, upon which such considerable stress has been laid in ancient as well as in modern times, it is now admitted may take place independently of pregnancy, and we are accordingly bound to reject the aphorism of Aristotle, “_Lac habet, ergo peperit_.” In the _Causes Celèbres_[397] there is an account of a girl, who, although a virgin, suckled an infant; and in the _Sloane_ collection of manuscripts in the British Museum, a case of a woman is related, who, although she had not borne children for more than twenty years, actually suckled her grand-children, one after the other, at the age of 68! but, what is still more extraordinary, instances have occurred where men have been able to perform this duty. The BISHOP OF CORK[398] has related a case in which a man suckled his child after the loss of his wife; and in the personal narrative of _Humboldt_ we have an analogous instance.[399] Q. 5. _Are there any, and what Diseases, whose effects may be mistaken for the traces of a recent delivery?_ Dropsical discharges from the uterus, uterine hæmorrhage, the expulsion of a mole, hydatid,[400] or polypus; or the removal of any of those diseases which constitute what has been termed a _false conception_, have been said to occasion effects which simulate the signs of parturition. It must be admitted that there are some signs which are common both to the diseases in question, and to the delivery, but there are at the same time others that exclusively indicate the occurrence of the latter; the irruption of fluids from the womb, menorrhagia, and leucorrhæa, may mimic the _lochial_ discharge, but they will not remain, nor will they present that characteristic odour by which the latter is so preeminently distinguished; so again, the relaxation of the soft parts may be the consequence of disease as well as of delivery, while the paleness of the visage is the usual concomitant of profuse evacuation; but then the distention of the vagina, and the state of the neck of the uterus, and the absence of all contusions, lacerations, and discolourations will obviate the possibility of deducing any erroneous conclusion from these phenomena; the wrinkles and marks upon the abdomen may certainly follow any considerable change in the reduction of its bulk, whether it be the result of parturition, ascitic discharges, or the absorption of fat; but we may easily disarm such signs of their treachery by a previous inquiry into the state of the woman’s health, and into that of her robustness and general strength. _Burns_ also remarks that other circumstances may concur in confirming the opinion of the practitioner, “as for instance, if the patient give an absurd account of the way in which her bulk suddenly left her, ascribing it to a perspiration, which never in a single night can carry off the size of the abdomen in the end of a supposed pregnancy.”[401]