miscarried frequently. These are circumstances which the juridical physician is, for obvious reasons, to keep in mind; females of disreputable character have been frequently known to miscarry repeatedly in succession; and in such cases we ought not, without very cogent reasons, to draw an inference that may subject them to accusation. We do not consider that any farther observations are required upon this subject, as the numerous works upon midwifery are ready to supply the practitioner with a solution of any problem which may present itself. Q. 11. _Under what circumstances, and by what means, is it morally, legally, and medically proper, to induce premature labour?_ That premature labour may be induced by a mechanical operation, is too well known to the practitioner in midwifery to require any explanation in this place, while, in a work calculated for circulation beyond the confines of the profession, it would be obviously imprudent to enter into any minute details. It becomes our duty, however, to state, that in those cases of distorted pelvis, through which a full grown fœtus cannot pass without mutilation, the operation may be performed with perfect safety, and with equal advantage both to the child and to the mother. We are informed by _Dr. Denman_[445] that there was in 1756 a consultation of the most eminent men in London at that time, to consider of the moral rectitude of, and advantages which might be expected from, this practice, which met with their general approbation; the morality of this mode of practice, however, says _Dr. Merriman_,[446] has been doubted by many other persons, but probably for want of considering the question in a proper point of view; for the proposal was, that labour should be prematurely induced, _in those cases only_, where it had been _decidedly proved_ that the pelvis was so much contracted in its dimensions, as to render it impossible for a full sized fœtus to pass undiminished; and it is supposed, that this proceeding, while it affords a chance of preserving the child, does not much implicate the life of the mother. _Mr. J. Barlow_[447] has given us the result of an extensive practice in inducing premature labour in cases of distorted pelvis, from which it appears that he has had recourse to this method of delivery _eighteen_ times, in five women, all of whom had been previously delivered once, or oftener, by the crotchet, and that premature labour occurred spontaneously once in two of this number. All the women recovered, a circumstance which adds a further confirmation to the opinion, that the life of the parent is exposed to very little hazard in this way; of the children thus brought into the world, _six_ were dead and _twelve_ were born alive, of which some died soon after birth, _one_ lived ten months, and _five_ were living at the time the account was published. _Mr. Barlow’s_ method consists in exciting premature labour _early_ in the _seventh_ month of pregnancy. _Dr.