A case[58] on this point is inserted in the _Edinburgh Medical Journal_ for April, 1810; we entirely concur in the sentiment of the editors; “we cannot,” they say, “avoid remarking the apparent inconsistency of the law of England, in having no statute to punish its actual perpetration by the only certain means of effecting it, while it punishes by death, without benefit of clergy, the attempting it by means which are very seldom effectual. Thus _Pizzy_ was tried for attempting to cause _Ann Cheney_ to abort, by giving her medicines, which had no effect; and his having actually perpetrated the crime by mechanical violence, was only brought forward as proving the intention with which the medicines were given.”[59] The act therefore requires amendment, framed however with such care, that the necessary practice of procuring premature labour by qualified practitioners may be defended, while the immoral and criminal use of instrumental abortion may be adequately punished. PHYSIOLOGICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. ABORTION. Abortion[60] may be procured by the administration of powerful medicines, or by the application of mechanical violence, such as blows, or pressure on the abdomen; or by the introduction of sharp instruments into the uterus, so as to rupture the membranes. We shall offer a few remarks upon each of these several modes of accomplishing the criminal object in question. From a very early period attempts have been made to devise means of procuring abortion by the administration of certain drugs, which were considered as capable of acting specifically upon the womb, and of occasioning the exclusion of its contents. It would be idle to enumerate the various substances which have, at different times, been employed for such a purpose, not a few of which were derived from the fertile sources of credulity and superstition; and yet we are bound to admit, that upon this occasion at least, credulity has proved a blessing to mankind, by suggesting the substitution of a harmless amulet, or an inefficacious drug, for an application of extreme violence and danger, and, perhaps of death. The physicians of the present age disclaim the existence of any specific class of _abortives_, but we are ready to admit that the administration of violent medicines, by involving the uterus in the general shock thus given to the system, will occasion abortion, provided there exist at the same time, a certain predisposition on the part of the female; should this latter condition, however, be wanting, the _poculum abortionis_ may, by the violence of its operation, destroy the life of the unhappy mother, or very materially injure her, without accomplishing the object for which it was administered. In the case of _Mrs. Robert Turner_, one of the persons poisoned by _Elizabeth Fenning_, notwithstanding the long and violent sufferings she had experienced during her pregnancy, brought forth a living child at the natural period.