916 OF GENERATION ACTION OF THE FEMALE. 



who has recorded the period of gestation of 62 cows. The longest period 

 was 836 days; the shortest, 213 days. The average period for male calves 

 was 288 days ; and for females 282 days. On the whole it may be consid- 

 ered, that in regard to the Human female, the French law is a very reason- 

 able one; there being quite sufficient analogical evidence to support the 

 assertions of females of good character, having no motive to deceive, which 

 lead to the conclusion that a protraction of at least four weeks is quite pos- 

 sible, and that a protraction of six weeks is scarcely to be denied. 1 



766. There is another question regarding the function of the Female in 

 the Reproductive act, which is of great interest in a scientific point of view, 

 and which may become of importance in Juridical inquiries; namely, the 

 possibility of Superfcetation, that is, of two distinct conceptions at a-n in- 

 terval of greater or less duration ; so that two foetuses of different ages, the 

 offspring perhaps of different parents, may exist in the uterus at the same 

 time. The simplest case of Superfcetation, the frequent occurrence of which 

 places it beyond reasonable doubt, is that in which a female has intercourse 

 on the same day with two males of different complexions, and bears twins 

 at the full time ; the two infants resembling the two parents respectively. 

 Thus, in the Southern States of America, it is not uncommon for a black 

 woman to bear at the same time a black and a mulatto child ; the former 

 being the offspring of her black husband, and the latter of her white para- 

 mour. The converse has occasionally, though less frequently, occurred ; a 

 white woman bearing at the same time a white and a mulatto child. There 

 is no difficulty in accounting for such facts, when it is remembered that 

 nothing has occurred to prevent the uterus and ovaria from being as ready 

 for the second conception as for the first; since the orifice of the former is 

 not yet closed up ; and, at the time when one ovum is matured for fecunda- 

 tion, there are usually more in nearly the same condition. But it is not 

 easy thus to account for the birth of two children, each apparently mature, 

 at an interval of five or six months; since it might have been supposed that 

 the uterus was so completely occupied with the first ovum, as not to allow 

 of the transmission of the seminal fluid necessary for the fecundation of the 

 second. In cases where two children have been j^'odiiced at the same time, 

 one of which was fully formed, whilst the other was small and seemingly 

 premature, there is no occasion whatever to imagine that the two were con- 

 ceived at different periods ; since the smaller foetus may have been " blighted," 

 and its development retarded, as not un frequently happens in other cases. 

 Nor is it necessary to infer the occurrence of Superfcetation in every case in 

 which a living child has been produced a month or two after the birth of 

 another; since the latter may have been somewhat premature, whilst the 

 former has been carried to the full term. But such a difference can scarcely 

 be, at the most, more than 2^ or 3 months ;' 2 and there are several cases now 

 on record, in which the interval was from 110 to 170 days, whilst neither of 

 the children presented any indication of being otherwise than mature. 3 



767. Whatever be the precise nature and history of the Fecundating pro- 

 cess, there can be no doubt that the properties of the Germ depend upon 

 conditions, both material and dynamical, supplied by both Parents. This is 



1 See especially two case?, 183 and 184, detailed by Dr. Murphy in his Report of 

 the Obstetric Practice of University College Hospital for 1844; and another case 

 since published by him in the Medical Gazette for 1849, vol. xlviii, p. 683. 



2 For an interesting case of superfu'tation, where the difference in the age of the 

 two ((rinses was about three months, see a Report made by Drs. Harley and Tanner 

 to the Obstetrical Sm-iety, Lancet, vol. ii, 18112. 



3 See the Article Superfcetation, in Dr. Beck's Elements of Medical Jurisprudence, 

 and K. B. Schultxe in the Jenaische Zcits., Bd. ii, 18lj5, p. 1. 



