An Account of a Monstrous Faetus, Resembling a Hooded Monkey: Communicated by Mr. William Gregory of Rochester

by the Use of emollient Fomentations. He now is perfectly sound, and in a good State of Health, walks strait, and his Thigh is not any shorter than the other. This is the true State of the Case. I am, SIR, Bradford, Jan. 15. 1739. Your humble Servant, William Wright. III. An Account of a monstrous Foetus, resembling a hooded Monkey: Communicated by Mr. William Gregory of Rochester. A Woman, aged 44, of an athletic Body, conceived with Child a little before Christmas 1730. upon which ensued all the usual Symptoms of Pregnancy. Soon after Conception, some Fellows who travel the Country, with a Bear and a Monkey, placed themselves before the Woman's Door, in order to make Diversion for the Populace. The Monkey had a Hood on, which reached to his Shoulders, of which the Woman took prodigious Notice; and all the time the Monkey was playing his Tricks, in turning over a Stick, &c. the Woman could not keep her Eyes off from him. Some small time after, the Woman met a Man of a thin, pale, dismal Aspect, upon whom she looked very earnestly, and thought his Face to be (to a Tittle) like the Monkey's Face. When the Woman was quick with Child, and the Foetus began to move, the Woman felt it turn over and and over, many times successively, just as the Monkey turned over the Stick; and as often as it moved, it was in the same Manner. In the Seventh Month of her Pregnancy, she was taken ill, with a Vomiting, Gripes, and Looseness, which soon ceased without the Help of Medicine; upon which the Woman's Belly began to grow less, and the Fœtus did not move so often, nor so strong, as before. The Woman began to be very uneasy, thought her Case dangerous, and that she was not with Child; upon which she consulted me. I examined how she was from the Beginning, and found her Case as above related: I then gave it as my Opinion, that she was with Child, and begged she would not take any Medicine, until her Time of Reckoning was expired, which (with much Difficulty) I prevailed upon her to consent to. I was sent for in a Month after, and was desired to give her something to bring down her great Belly, she believing herself not with Child. I was still of Opinion she was with Child, and told her, that what she felt move in her Belly, was in all Probability a Child; and the Fulness of her Breasts, and other Symptoms, were strong Proofs of her being with Child. I endeavoured to convince her, that there was no Danger in her Case, as far as I could apprehend; she being then in tolerable good Health, and able to attend the Affairs of her Family. I again prevailed upon her to desist from taking Medicine for a Month longer: The Month elapsed, and no great Alteration. She felt something move faintly about the Expiration of the Ninth Month, when I visited her, and was then in tolerable good Health, though very uneasy at her great Belly: I told her, that she might be mistaken in her her Reckoning, and that she would go a Month longer: She was positive she was not mistaken, for that she had missed her Menstrua some time before Christmas, which she never used to miss, but when with Child; and now she could not believe herself with Child, by reason her full Time of Pregnancy was expired. I told her the Danger of taking purging Medicines, whilst she was with Child; and gave her Instances in the Neighbourhood, of the fatal Consequences of some Mens Practice in the like Case; by which I again prevailed upon her to tarry another Month, at the Expiration of which I gave my Patient a Visit, and found her much as she was when I saw her before. Now Ten Lunar Months were elapsed, and my Patient felt nothing move in her Belly for Six Weeks past: I then confessed I had mistook her Case, but gave her Hopes there was still a Probability of removing her Distemper, and restoring her to Health; in order to which I immediately sent her an Infusion of Sena, Rhubarb, Sal. Tartar. &c. cum Syr. de Rhamno, which she did not take for Two Days after, being the 5th of September 1731. My Patient took the Potion about Five in the Morning, and before Six she was taken with the most exquisite Travail-pains: A Messenger was dispatched for me, but, before I could come to her Assistance, she was delivered; the Fœtus came, with the Placenta, Membranes, and Humours, all whole, which were preserved until I came, which was soon after; and, to my great Surprize, found the Fœtus as before-mentioned. I took out my Incision-knife, and divided the Membranes; so took out the Fœtus, with the Twist in the Navel-string, as it now appears; the Mem- Membranes were very strong, but the Humours were very foul, and but small in Quantity, though not fetid. My Patient, who is a Woman of Probity and good Understanding, declared, from strong Reasons, that she conceived at the Time above-mentioned, and was delivered as mentioned before; the Twists in the Navel-string are Demonstration, that the Fœtus moved in the Matrix, in the manner my Patient described. The Oddness of the Case made me more particular in giving a true History of it, which, I hope, will be an Excuse for my Prolixity. I need not here mention the exact Resemblance of the Fœtus to a hooded Monkey: The Fœtus itself will shew it more particularly than I can relate it. I aver the above Case to be strictly true, to the best of my Knowledge, as witness my Hand this 30th Day of April 1733. From Rochester. William Gregory. IV. The Case of Mary Howell, who had a Needle run into her Arm, and came out at her Breast. Mary Howell, late of Oswaldestry in Shropshire, Spinster, had on the 3d Day of March 1732. a small Needle, which she had stuck upon the Sleeve of her Gown, by her accidentally running against a Door, drove, with some Thread twisted about it, into her Left Arm, about Six Inches below her Shoulder; and a young Woman, (one Mary Price)