And let the angel, whom thou still has serv’d,
Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother’s womb
Untimely ripp’d.
Act v, sc. viii.
The circumstance merits our observation, in as much as it has furnished a subtlety for disputation, as we have already noticed at page [225].
OF EXTRA-UTERINE CONCEPTION.
It sometimes happens, that instead of the impregnated ovum passing into the womb, it is either retained in the ovarium,[[463]] or it stops in the fallopian tube, or it misses the tube and falls amongst the bowels. Of these, the tubal is by far more frequent than the ventral conception. We learn from the numerous cases which are recorded of extra-uterine pregnancy, that it may terminate in several different ways; in some cases sudden death occurs from hemorrhage;[[464]] in others, the unfortunate woman survives for a long period; and it has occurred that the fœtus has been converted into a substance somewhat analogous to the gras de cimetières,[[465]] in which case very little inconvenience is felt beyond that which must attend the tumour of the belly for so many years. Nature, however, more generally institutes a process to get rid of the extraneous body; the sac adheres to the peritoneum or intestines, and, after an uncertain period, varying from a few weeks to several years, it either opens externally, or communicates with the abdominal viscera, and highly offensive matter, together with putrid flesh, bones, and coaguli, are discharged through the abdominal integuments, or by the rectum,[[466]] vagina, or bladder.[[467]]
The most extraordinary circumstance in the history of these conceptions is the sympathetic enlargement of the uterus, and even in some cases, the formation of the Membrana Decidua.[[468]] Riolanus[[469]] was the first person who noticed these conceptions. Vesalius observed a tubal conception at Paris in 1669; the fœtus was four months old, and the tube was so enlarged, that he mistook it for a second uterus, and actually published an account of it, under the title of “Demonstration d’une double Matrice.” De Graaf, and afterwards a learned German by the name of Elshotius commented upon this case in a tract entitled “De Conceptione Tubaria, qua humani fœtus extra uteri cavitatem in tubis quandoque concipiuntur,” in which is given the figure of the two supposed uteri, and the fœtus in the distended tube. In the Journal des Sçavans, A. D. 1678, a case is recorded of a woman at Paris who carried an extra-uterine fœtus in the omentum for twenty years; and in the Philosophical Transactions there is an account of a fœtus of this description, by Dr. Steigerthal, that remained in the body of the mother for upwards of forty years. In the present state of our physiological knowledge it is impossible to offer any explanation of the cause of these anomalies in the law of Nature, but we recommend to the attention of the student a paper by Dr. Blundell, on the Physiology of Generation, to which we have before taken occasion to allude[[470]] in terms of high commendation.
OF HERMAPHRODITES.
The term Hermaphrodite[[471]] signifies an animal in which there exists a mixture of the male and female organs, and which is therefore capable of begetting or conceiving. There can be no doubt but that some of the lower orders of animals[[472]] are, in the strict sense of the term, Hermaphrodites; but it is now universally admitted that, in the human species, no such phenomenon ever existed; indeed, if we only consider the osteology of the pelvis, to the bones of which the organs of generation are connected, it is impossible to imagine how the complete parts of the male and female could be placed distinct from each other; nor is there upon record a single case which can be considered authentic;[[473]] numerous are the instances of preternatural structure, which gives the appearance of a double sex, and it is on the nature of such monstrous productions, that the medical man is frequently called upon to decide. Baron Haller has industriously collected in one point of view, the histories of reputed hermaphrodites, from almost every author that has preceded him; and from this memoir,[[474]] and the interesting paper by Sir E. Home, entitled “An account of the Dissection of an Hermaphrodite Dog, to which are prefixed some observations on Hermaphrodites in general,”[[475]] we acknowledge ourselves principally indebted for the following remarks.