In answer to the above, it will only be necessary to refer to what has been already said with regard to the difficulty of inflation, and the more probable event of the condition of the lungs being the result of respiration. Casper thus sums up the result of his views with regard to the probative value of the _docimasia pulmonaris_: “=That a child has certainly lived during and after its birth=-- “1. When the diaphragm stands between the fifth and sixth ribs. “2. When the lungs more or less completely occupy the thorax, or at least do not require to be sought for by artificial separation of the walls when cut through. “3. When the ground colour of the lungs is broken by insular marblings. “4. When the lungs are found by careful experiment to be capable of floating. “5. When a bloody froth flows from the cut surface of the lung on slight pressure.” =The Lung Test is unnecessary when=-- 1. The umbilical cord has dropped off, and cicatrisation has followed. 2. Where food is found in the stomach. 3. Where there are evident signs of putrefaction _in utero_. 4. Also in the case of the birth of monsters, or where, from congenital malformation, the possibility of live birth is excluded. Besides the hydrostatic test, the following have been proposed: Ploucquet‘s Test.--This test is based on the relative weight of the lungs, before and after respiration, to that of the entire body of the child. The variations found in practice between the relative weights render the test worse than useless. Absolute Weight of the Lungs.--This test consists in a comparison of the weight of the lungs before and after respiration, and it may be stated here that the lungs, prior to respiration, vary in weight from about 400 to 650 grains; but so much depends on the maturity or immaturity of the child, and degree of respiration, that, like the last, the test is unworthy of confidence. Wredin‘s Test.--Dr. Wredin, of Petrograd, states that the gelatinous substance found in the middle ear of infants before birth, gradually disappears, to be replaced by air on the subsequent establishment of respiration. Wendt, of Leipzig, from an examination of 300 cases, declares that the gelatinous substance can only be expelled by the establishment of full respiration. The value of this test has been questioned, as some observers have found that in different cases intervals of from a few hours to five weeks have occurred, before the replacement of the gelatinous material by air. Table Showing the Signs of Maturity of Child At Birth As regards: