[75]. Tanner, On Signs and Diseases of Pregnancy.
[76]. I say usually, for the duration of gestation is very uncertain. Dr. Reid gives (in The Lancet of July 20th, 1850) an interesting table of the duration of pregnancy. The table comprises 500 cases; out of which numbers, nearly the half terminated in labor in the fortieth and forty-first weeks. The following is the order in which they occurred:
| 23 | cases | in the | 37th | week. |
| 48 | „ | „ | 38th | „ |
| 81 | „ | „ | 39th | „ |
| 131 | „ | „ | 40th | „ |
| 112 | „ | „ | 41st | „ |
| 63 | „ | „ | 42d | „ |
| 28 | „ | „ | 43d | „ |
| 8 | „ | „ | 44th | „ |
| 6 | „ | „ | 45th | „ |
The above is merely a summary of Dr. Reid’s valuable table.
[77]. We are informed by Jourdan and other French writers that Fernel acted on the knowledge of this fact when consulted by Henry II. of France as to the best means of rendering his queen, Catherine de Medicis, fruitful. He advised the king to visit her only immediately after the cessation of the menstrual discharge, the adoption of which advice was attended with success, and the queen, after years of disappointment, gave birth to a son.—Dr. Montgomery.
[78]. On the Signs and Diseases of Pregnancy.
[79]. Braithwaite’s Retrospect. A Synopsis of Dr. Packman’s Paper on Impregnation, in The Lancet, July 18th, 1863.
[80]. Belforest. A Tale of English Country Life. By the author of Mary Powell. London: Richard Bentley.
[81]. Not Proven. London: Hurst & Blackett.
[82]. “He that goeth about as a tale-bearer revealeth secrets.”—Prov. xx 19.