An Account of a Faetus, That Continued 46 Years in the Mother's Body. Communicated by Dr. Steigertahl, Honorary Fellow of the College of Physicians, and Fellow of the Royal Society

I. An Account of a Fœtus, that continued 46 Years in the Mother's Body. Communicated by Dr. Steigerthahl, Honorary Fellow of the College of Physicians, and Fellow of the Royal Society. Anna Mullern, a Woman of the Village of Leinzelle near Gemund in Swabia, of a dry and lean Constitution, but otherwise healthful and robust, died at the Age of 94, after she had lived a Widow 40 Years. Six and fourty Years before her death she declared herself to be with Child, and had all the usual Tokens of Pregnancy. At the end of her reckoning the Waters came away, and she was taken with the pains of Labour, which continued upon her about seven Weeks, and then went off upon the use of some Medicines given her by a Surgeon. Some time after this she recovered her perfect Health, except only that her Belly continued swell'd, and that now and then upon any Exercise she felt a little pain in the lower part of it. She was after this twice brought to bed, the first time of a Son, who is now a Huntsman at Bischoffshein, and afterwards of a Daughter, who is married to a Soldier. But notwithstanding this, she was firmly persuaded, that she was not yet delivered of what she first went with, and desired Dr. Wohlnixe the Physician of Gemund, and one Knaussen a Surgeon at Heubach, to open her Body after her death. Accordingly after her Death, which happen'd happen'd on the 11th of March 1720, after four days illness, her body was open'd by the Surgeon, the Physician before-mention'd being then dead. He found within her a hard mass of the form and size of a large Ninepin-Bowl, but had not the precaution to observe, whether it lay in the Uterus, or without it, and for want of better Instruments broke it open with a blow of a Hatchet. This Ball with the Contents of it, are expressed in the following Figures. Plate I. Fig. I. A A part of the Tegument, which had adher'd to a spongy fleshy Substance. This at first seem'd to be a Mass of Cartilage, but was afterwards found to be entirely bony. B. B. B. C. C. C. Shews the membranous Part, which was bloody. D. D. D. D. The opening made by the Hatchet. E. E. E. E. E. Another part of the Tegument appearing entirely bony, with several prominences. F. A Contusion occasion'd by the rude manner of opening it, where there appear'd some putrified Membranes. Fig. II. A. A. A. The Tegument, or Substance enclosing the Fœtus. B. The Fœtus. C. A depression, or hollowness on the right Cheek. α. The Nose turning up. β. The Mouth flatted, but not so wide, as it is here represented. γ. The Eye closed up. δ. The Ear. D. D. The Arms, of which the right was the larger, and the two Joints of that Thumb were plainly to be seen. E. The protuberance of the Knee. F. Part of the Funiculus Umbilicalis torn, but still adhering to the Navel. G.G. Part of the same Funiculus, fasten'd to the bony part of the Tegument. H. The Breast. I. The mark of an Incision into the left side, where the Flesh appear'd red, but was dry, and look'd like smoked Beef. Fig. III. Represents two Ribs from the left Side, of their natural Substance, colour and bigness. A.A. The part joining to the Vertebrae. B.B. to the Sternum. This Piece is preserv'd in the Cabinet of Rarities of his most Serene Highness the Duke of Wirtemberg. Dr. Camerarius, Professor at Tubingen, in a Letter upon this Subject, takes notice, that the Surgeon found this Mass in a cavity on the Woman's left side, and that it adhered to the Membranes of that cavity by the intervention of a spongy, fleshy Substance. From which particular, and the Woman's having had two Children during the time that this large Mass lay in her, that learned Professor conjectures, that it was not lodged in the Womb, but in the left Fallopian Tube, which by this means had been very much dilated and thickened in its Substance.