The Case of a Woman, from Whom the Bones of a Foetus Were Extracted. By Mr. Thomas Debenham, Surgeon, at Debenham in Suffolk. Communicated by the Rev. Mr. J. Clubb, Vicar of That Parish, to William Battie M. D. F. R. S.

the flesh: in which case, either the animal dies not at all, or at least with great difficulty: as it happen'd to me at M. de Reaumur's house, with regard to a young wolf, which did not die, tho' the arrow above-mentioned was stuck into one of his thighs; because the poison, which it retained from the dip, continued liquid, and remained on the outside of the wound made by the arrow in piercing the flesh. Wherefore time must be allowed to the poison to grow hard on the instrument, which is intended to be used; that so, entering into the wound together with the weapon, it may be there diluted, and carried in the course of the circulation to those parts which it must affect, in order to cause death. XIII. The Case of a Woman, from whom the Bones of a Fœtus were extracted. By Mr. Thomas Debenham, Surgeon, at Debenham in Suffolk. Communicated by the Rev. Mr. J. Clubb, Vicar of that Parish, to William Battie M. D. F. R. S. Read Febr. 7. On the 25 of April 1749, the wife of one Benjamin Laft, a cooper, in the parish of Debenham, in the county of Suffolk, aged about 34 years, being pregnant of her eighth child, had all the symptoms of a woman in labour. labour. Accordingly, a midwife was sent for; who, from the violence of the pains, expected, that she would soon be delivered; but, to her great surprise, nothing ensued but a loss of blood, and the pains were considerably abated. A fever immediately came on, which cast her into an excessive faintness, and loss of strength, accompanied with a nausea. On the 26 of May, I was desired by her husband to visit her; and, by the account she gave me, I much suspected, that she must have miscalculated with regard to her time; and I proposed to examine her: but she, out of a mistaken modesty, not complying, I contented myself with cooling injections, mild cathartics, and cordial powders, &c.; by the use of which medicines she grew better; and, on the 26 of March following, undertook to walk a journey of 15 miles. I heard no more of her for the present; but, on the 27 of April 1750, the pains returned, very much like those of labour; which obliged her husband to call me out of bed. I immediately gave her an anodyne, which abated her pains, and composed her to rest. On the 14 of May, she felt a pricking pain in her navel, with a swelling and redness, which, in a few days, appear'd like a boil; when, being desired to inspect the tumour, I applied an emollient cataplasm. The next morning, upon removing my dressings, a fetid matter ensued; whereupon, dilating the small sinus with my scissors, the scapula of a fetus presented itself. On the 25 of July, by the direction of of a physician, I undertook, by making a circular incision round the navel, to enlarge the orifice into the cavity of the abdomen, in order to extract the fetus that way: but the woman being very weak, and much emaciated, I could now only take off the scapula. The next day, I extracted one whole arm, some ribs, part of the vertebrae, &c. and, the day following, the greatest part of the remaining fetus, except the cranium, which seem'd to adhere to the intestines. This determined me to proceed very cautiously, and not to attempt the removal of it at once, but piecemeal, and by degrees, as opportunity would give me leave; which I did with my forceps: but, notwithstanding all my care, the sharp edges of the broken pieces of the cranium tore the intestines, so that the faces issued from the wound at every dressing for several weeks together. The wound was daily dress'd with dry lint, spirituous fomentations, and cataplasms. Injections, made of sack and warm water, were found of great use, thrown in in large quantities; and (what is well worth observation) several parts of the bones, as the tibia, fibula, &c. were discharg'd by the vagina. By the means above-mention'd, and proper bandages, the wound was thoroughly deterged, incarned, and, by the use of epulotics, completely cicatrized; and the woman is now perfectly recovered, and since grown fat." N. B. N. B. After the discharge of the whole fetus, the patient had milk in her breasts, as upon a natural delivery. Debenham, Jan. 18. 1750-51. Tho. Debenham. XIV. New Discoveries relating to the History of Coral, by Dr. Vitaliano Donati. Translated from the French, by Tho. Stack, M. D. F. R. S. Read Feb. 7. § 1 CORAL is known to be a marine vegetation, which in shape nearly resembles a shrub stripped of its leaves. § 2. It has no roots, but is supported on a broad foot, or basis, which adapts itself, as wax well-press'd, and sticks to any body in all its parts, with such firmness, that it is utterly impossible to disengage it. The shape of this foot is not always the same; but, for the most part, it approaches to rotundity (Tab. III. Fig. i. n, n). The only use of this part is to hold the coral fixed, and support it; not to nourish it: since there are found pieces of coral, with their feet broken off, and separated from the place that supported them; which pieces nevertheless continue to live, to grow, and to propagate, at the bottom of the sea. § 3. From this foot arises a trunk, generally single, the greatest thickness of which seldom exceeds an inch Paris measure, as I have been assured by old coral-fishers. § 4.