An Extract of a Letter Written by Mr. Savard, Sworn Surgeon at Paris, Giving an Account of a Foetus Lying without the Uterus in the Belly; Taken from the Journal Des Scavans, of the 26th of Nov. 1696

V. An Extract of a Letter Written by Mr. Savard, Sworn Surgeon at Paris, giving an Account of a Foetus lying without the Uterus in the Belly; taken from the Journal Des Scavans, of the 26th of Nov. 1695. A Woman big with Child came to l'Hotel-Dieu Six Weeks ago, there to Ly-inn of her third or fourth Child; about a Fortnight before her Death, she found excessive Pains about the Navel and the lower part of the Belly, by the different Motions of the Child, which made her ask present Relief, and that her Side might be opened, but they did not hearken to her, thinking it a business of dangerous Consequence. On the Thirteenth of October last she dyed upon which Mr. Colignon and Jou, assisted by Madam De Goue the chief Midwife, did quickly open her to draw out the Child dead or alive, as is usual in such occasions: They understood by this opening, that the Child was Dead, and further, that it was not in the Matrix, which they found whole near to it; they deferred a further Search till the next Day, and sent for Mr. Emmeray a Physician, Mr. Mauricceau a Sworn Surgeon, and a very skillful Man-midwife, Mr. De Verney, Physician and Anatomist of the King's Garden, Mr. Mery a Surgeon, and myself, and many other Surgeons, both of Hotel-Dieu and the City. We Examined with Attention the Body of this Woman, and found what follows: All the Parts that compose the Matrix, both inward and outward, as also the Vagina were very found. It was as big as it uses to be in Women Ten or Twelve Days, after they are brought to Bed. The Internal Orifice was of a livid Colour, occasioned by the several touchings ings of it, both before and after her Death. There was no mark of a Cicatrice or Hole, but those of the Processes, called Tuba Faloppianæ, which yet were hardly wide enough to admit of a Hogs Britle. All the Company did agree, that the Child was never conceived in the Matrix, and that it had never staid there. The right Testicle or Ovary was very sound, but the Tuba and its Fringe were Rotten in the place where 'tis fastened to the Membranes of the Peritoneum, which form'd the Bag in which the Child was wrapped. The left Testicle was of the bigness of a Hens Egg, full of a stinking Serum, and the Ligaments large, the Tuba and its Fringe was Rotten. This Bag was placed betwixt the Matrix and the streight Gut, in the Cavity which is formed by the bending of the Os Sacrum, the Child was on his Knees, lying towards the right side, and seemed to have been dead Seven or Eight Days; for the Scarf-skin, or Epidermis did easily separate from the Parts under it. The Child had left its Placenta, tho' still fastened to it by the Umbilical Vessels; and the Placenta being out of the Bag was on the left side, whence was voided a great quantity of Blood into the Capacity: Its edges being brought near to one another, represented a Bowl such as they play at Nine Pins with: All the Membranes that formed this Bag, and these that encompass it were Gangreen'd. I believe that the bigness which we observed in the Matrix proceeded only from a Reflux of Blood, and the Spirits which carryed the Nourishment to the Fœtus when it lived.