Without doubt some of the stories of monsters are fabulous, but we hesitate not to state that we believe many of them to be true. Nearly every accoucheur has, at some time or other, had cases when they have had to assist in bringing into the world specimens of the freaks of nature, either deficient of their natural properties, or a superabundance of them. It frequently happens that these prodigies exist but for a short time—death speedily putting an end to what must otherwise be a miserable existence, and little is said about them. The surgical museums in our country contain sufficient proof of the birth of monsters: and there is no denying the fact, that there are cases in which people are born into the world, and from certain peculiarities in their structure have been exhibited to the public as monsters. CHAPTER VI. OF THE WOMB IN GENERAL. Herein I propose to treat of the womb, and the various maladies to which it is subject. By the Grecians it is called metra, the mother; adelphos, says Priscian, because it makes us all brothers. It is placed in the hypogastrium, or lower part of the body, in the cavity called pelvis, having the strait gut on one side, to keep it from the other side of the backbone, and the bladder on the other side to defend it from blows. It is divided into the neck and the body. The neck consists of a hard fleshy substance, much like cartilage, at the end whereof is a membrane transversely placed, called hymen, or engion. Near to the neck there is a prominent pinnacle, which is called by Montinus the door of the womb, because it preserves the matrix from cold and dust; by the Grecians it is called clytoris; by the Latins, præputium muliebre.