The plan of M. Thury was also tried on the farms of the late Emperor of the French, with, it is asserted, the most unvarying success.
What is the result of the application of this law to the human race? Dr. F. J. W. Packman, of Wimborne, has stated in the Lancet, that, 'in the human female, conception in the first half of the time between menstrual periods produces female offspring, and male in the latter. When a female has gone beyond the time she calculated upon, it will generally turn out to be a boy.'
In the Philadelphia Medical and Surgical Reporter for February 8, 1868, a respectable physician writes that, in numerous instances that have come under his observation, Professor Thury's theory has proved correct, 'Whenever intercourse has taken place in from two to six days after the cessation of the menses, girls have been produced; and whenever intercourse has taken place in from nine to twelve days after the cessation of the menses, boys have been produced. In every case I have ascertained not only the date at which the mother placed conception, but also the time when the menses ceased, the date of the first and subsequent intercourse for a month or more after the cessation of the menses,' etc.
Again, a physician writes to the same journal for June 20, 1868, recording the result of his own experience.
A farmer in Louisiana states, in the Turf, Field, and Farm, in support of this law, that 'I have already been able in many cases to guess with certainty the sex of a future infant. More than thirty times, among my friends, I have predicted the sex of a child before its birth, and the event proved nearly every time that I was right.'
The wife, therefore, who would wish, as Macbeth desired of his, to
'Bring forth men-children only,'
should avoid exposing herself to conception during the early part of the time between her menstrual periods.
The prediction of the sex of the child before birth can now be with some accuracy made by the intelligent and skilful physician. The method of doing so will be mentioned in treating of pregnancy.