An Extract of a Relation Printed at Paris, Containing a Remarkable History of a Faetus without the Womb, Made by Dr. Fern

III. An Extract of a Relation Printed at Paris, containing a remarkable History of a Fætus without the Womb, made by Dr. Fern. In the Journal des Savans, of Monday the 26th of November, there was an Account published of this Fact from a Letter of M. Saviard, which was Printed in the Transactions: But our Author finding that deficient in many Particulars, and not agreeable to Truth in divers others, thought himself able to oblige all Lovers of Natural History, by a more exact Relation of so remarkable an Accident. A certain Goldsmith's Wife, whose Husband had been reduced to Poverty by misfortunes in Trade, being near Nine Months gone with her Fifth Child, was constrained to seek Relief in the Hotel Dieu, where she was received the 20th of September. This Unfortunate Woman was then about Thirty four Years of Age, of a tender Constitution, had had Four Children before, all which had done very well; but with the present she had been very ill, and endured a great deal of Misery. The Midwife who examined her Body, found a considerable Rising on the Right-side near the Navel, which very much resembled a Child's Head, her Belly below that place bearing no Proportion to that above, or to the time of her Pregnancy. On the Left side there was nothing singular. The Midwife thought she felt through the Vagina, a thick Membrane filled and distended with Water, and in it the Heel of a Child, bent towards the Thigh; but she could not be assured whether this was within the Womb or not. not, by reason the inner Orifice was drawn so high, under the Os Pubis, she could not, without some difficulty, touch it with the extremity of her Finger. Upon trying some time after, she found the appearance of things very much changed, and at that time she could not discern any thing like the Fetus she had before felt. The oddness of the Case, made her desire of the Patient a particular Account of the Time and Circumstances of her being with Child: To this the other replied, That for the first six Weeks she had great and continual Pains, which shot towards the Navel, and terminated there, and these lasted till the third Month; that from thence to the Sixth she had frequent Convulsions, Apoplectic Fits, terrible Syncopes, which had very much Frightened those about her, and obliged them to give her the Sacraments, despairing of her Life; that from the Sixth to the Eighth Month, she had enjoyed a much better Health, which in some measure had strengthened both her and her Infant; that the Pains she had endured since that time seemed to be so many alternate Throes, (probably proceeding from the repeated strokes of the Child's Head in that Place, where the Teguments were so thin, by reason of their great Extension, that the hardness of the Cranium could plainly be discerned through them.) In this Condition was this miserable Woman when she was received into that Hospital, till her Affliction encreasing, she could not lie on her side or back, being forced to sit in a Chair, or Kneel in her Bed, with her Head resting on her Breast. These strange and unaccountable Symptoms rendered the Midwife very doubtful how to proceed, and obliged her to apply herself to M. Hemmerer, and M. Joney, the first of which was at that time Physician to the Hall, and the other a Master Surgeon of the House; these Gentlemen were were as unable to resolve what Method to take, as she had been before. The Woman's Term was now near expired, the Caesarean Operation seemed on one hand Cruel and Dangerous; on the other hand it was probable, there was some Hernia or Laceration of the Womb, and no hopes of a Natural Delivery. In these difficult Circumstances it was thought best to leave the Work to Nature, and prepare the Woman for her Labour, by opening a Vein in her Foot. The Evacuation was ordered to be small [in which regard was had to the Weakness of the Patient, and the nicety of her Constitution]. However, after this time the Child made no more efforts, and the Tumor subsided, there remaining only an Hydropick Indisposition, which might be perceived by the Fluctuation; and a great quantity of Water came away for several days, from the Orifice of the Vein; insomuch that she who seemed to have her lower Belly and Thighs extremely distended, was very much extenuated before her Death. After the Patient's Decease her Body was opened by M. Jouey; in the Presence of M. Colignon, Master-Surgeon, Madam Gouey the Midwife, and divers other Persons. Upon the first Incision through the Teguments, there came away two or three Pints [of Paris Measure] of Water and Blood, and there appeared the Head of a Child naked; and when the Parts were all laid open, there was found an entire Female Fetus contained in a sort of Cover or Bag, which at once served it both for a Womb and Membranes. M. Jouey took the Child with the Umbilical string out of the Mother's Bellie, tracing the string to the Placenta, into which it was inserted. This last appeared like a great round lump of Flesh, and adhered so firmly to the Mesentery and Colon on the left side, that it could not be separated from them without some trouble. On one side of this Lump was a lesser, about the size of a Kidney, which principally adhered to the Mesentery, and received several Branches of the String into it. The larger Lump was round, and the greatest part of it adhered to the Bag or Case which contained the Child. As for the Case, it was Corrupted and Mortified in part, which probably might proceed from the frequent strokes of the Infants head. This Case or Bag sprung from the edges of the Tube, or Fimbria of the Right Ovary, which was more entire than the Left, and proceeded obliquely to the Left side, terminating at the bottom of the Pelvis. In its descent it sent out a small Portion between the Womb and the Rectum. This Bag, by compressing the Neighbouring Parts, had gained a considerable space in the above-mentioned Cavity; in such manner, that a great part of the Child’s Body was lodged at the bottom of it, in a bended Posture, with the Head Projecting forwards which formed the Prominence near the Navel. This Bag seemed to be nothing else than an Elongation and Distension of the Tube, and an Expansion or Production of the broad Ligament on the Right side, which was evident from its continuity to those Parts, and the Distribution of the Spermatick Vessels, which were larger than usual, and passed from the extremity of the Tube to the larger Lump. In the next place viewing the Womb he found it entire, and in its natural State, except that it was something larger than ordinary, being about the size of that of a Woman Ten or Twelve Days after her Delivery, and no marks that the Child had been lodged in it. M. Joney having observed this, thought fit to desist for the present, being desirous to have some eminent Witnesses of so extraordinary an Accident, or any Rarity he might happen to discover in his further Enquiries. According to his Desire, about Two a Clock in the Afternoon, M. Hemmerer, Doctor of Physick, M. Du Verney, Professor of Anatomy and Chirurgery in the Royal Garden, M. Mauriceau a famous Man-Midwife, and M. Merry, Surgeon and Anatomist of the Academy of Sciences came to the Hotel Dieu, and the Womb being carefully Dissected in the Presence of these Gentlemen, together with the Senior Surgeons of that House, and divers others, whose Curiosity had drawn them thither; it was unanimously agreed, that the Fœtus had never been in it, [it being as was noted above, in the same state as in Women, who are not with Child, except the small Dilatation of its Bulk, which might arise from a Compression of the Vessels, and interception of the Refluent Blood, by the unnatural Position of the Fœtus. In thrusting a long and slender Probe through the Right Horn of the Womb, it easily past into the Tube of the same side, for Three Fingers breadth in length, but it could not be thrust further by reason of the Constriction of the Tube in that part. The Capacity of the Tube could not be distinguished, the Parietes of it, by their Coalition with the Chorion and Amnios of the Child, forming the Bag in which the Child was included, which extended from the Tube on the Right side to that on the Left, and was agglutinated to the Viscera of the lower Belly, the Rectum, and to the back part of the Womb, as appeared by some Fragments remaining on those Parts after the Separation. Our Author Annexes some Reflections on this extraordinary Subject, which we shall not here Recite; however it must not be omitted what this Gentleman informs informs us, That formerly in Dissecting the Body of a Woman, who supposed her self to be Three Months gone with Child; he found the Womb very small, not larger than in Virgins, and a hard Substance in the Right Horn, which being opened, appeared to be the Skeleton of an Infant, with the Navel-string, smeared round with a white Matter, not unlike Plaster, which he shewed to M. Du Verney, and other curious Persons. IV. An Observation of some Parelii seen at Canterbury. By Mr. Stephen Gray. February the 26th, 1695, being Sunday, about half an Hour after Three in the Afternoon, chancing to look out of a Window that faced South-East, I saw not far from the South to the Westward, an Appearance of somewhat not much unlike the Sun, when seen through Clouds, viz. with its Periphery not exactly defined, from which it likewise differed, in that one half of it was coloured deep Red and Yellow, the other White. I went immediately into the Garden, taking a Theodolite with me, in order to take its distance from the Sun, which the room would not permit; but was then presented with an Appearance exactly like the former, but on the opposite side of the Sun; I took the distance of this from the Sun, which was 23 degrees to the Westward; but before I could take the distance of the Eastern one, it Vanished, but soon after Re-appear'd, and then I perceived manifestly, that they were both situate in the extremities of a Semi-circle