It would be no difficult matter to devise a multitude of ingenious theories of the manner in which this operation may be accomplished, but inasmuch as no practically good effect could arise from it, we content ourselves by simply quoting the concluding remarks of Dr. Maunsell upon the theory of conception, as expressed in Dr. Gilman’s edition: “At present it will be sufficient for our purpose to state simply the facts known and indulge as little as possible in hypotheses which must be more the product of fancy than of reason.” In offering this instrument to the public, the Editor is aware that his motives may be misconceived and misjudged, and that he may subject himself to be censured by that class of persons who think this too delicate a subject to be even mentioned, much less to be publicly discussed, and a remedy offered in this publication. He will be told by some that the operations of nature ought not to be interfered with, be the consequences what they may. It is well known by every person who is at all conversant with writers upon midwifery, that in consequence of deformity of the pelvis, recourse must be had in many instances to the use of instruments to destroy the child, that the life of the mother may be saved; and where the deformity is very great, resort is had to that most desperate of all remedies, the Cæsarean operation. Dr. Gilman, in the work from which we have already quoted, tells us that this last mentioned operation was performed five times upon the same woman, by Michaelis, of Kiel. It has also been performed twice by Dr. Gibson, of Philadelphia, and once by Dr. R. K. Hoffman, of New York, and by other operators, on the continent of Europe, and in the United States. The same Author tells us, that “A British writer suggest the propriety of dividing the Fallopian tubes when this operation is performed, that thus the women being rendered barren, might be guarded against the possibility of requiring a repetition of this terrible Cæsarean section.”