ACTION OF THE FEMALE. 609 



A vast amount of contradictory evidence was adduced on this trial ; but, on the 

 general rule of accepting positive in preference to negative testimony, it seems 

 that we ought to consider it possible, that a child may live for some months, 

 which has been born at the conclusion of 24 weeks of gestation. In the case 

 in question, the Presbytery decided in favour of the legitimacy of an Infant 

 born alive within 25 weeks after marriage. A very interesting case is on 

 record,* in which the mother (who had borne five children) was confident that 

 her period of gestation was less than 19 weeks ; the facts stated respecting 

 the development of the child are necessarily very imperfect, as it was imporr- 

 ant to avoid exposing his body, in order that his temperature might be kept 

 up ; but at the age of three weeks, he was only 13 inches in length, and his 

 weight was no mor^e than 29 oz. At that time he might be regarded, accord- 

 ing to the calculation of the mother, as corresponding with an infant of 22 

 weeks or 5 months ; but the length and weight were greater than is usual at 

 that period, and he must have been probably born at about the 25th week. It 

 is an interesting feature in this case, that the calorific power of the Infant was 

 so low, that artificial heat was constantly needed to sustain it ; but that, under 

 the influence of the heat of the fire, he evidently became weaker, whilst the 

 warmth of a person in bed rendered him lively and comparatively strong. 

 During the first week it was extremely difficult to get him to swallow ; and It 

 was nearly a month before he could suck. At the time of the report, he was 

 four months old, and his health appeared very good. Another case of very 

 early viability has been more recently put on record by Mr. Dodd :t in this, 

 as in the former instance, the determination of the child's age rests chiefly on 

 the opinion of the mother ; but there appears no reason for suspecting any 

 fallacy. The child seems to have been born at the 20th or 27th week of 

 gestation; and having been placed under judicious management, it has thriven 

 well. One of the most satisfactory cases on record, is that detailed by Dr. 

 Outrepont (Professor of Obstetrics at Wurtzburgh), and stated by Dr. Chris- 

 tison in his evidence on the case just alluded to.J The evidence is as complete 

 as it is possible to be in any case of the kind ; being derived not only from the 

 date assigned by the Mother to her Conception, but also from the structure and 

 history of the Child. The Gestation could have only lasted 27 weeks, and 

 was very probably less. The length of the child was 13 inches, and its 

 weight was 24 oz. Its development was altogether slow ; and at the age of 

 eleven years, the child seemed no more advanced in body or mind than most 

 other lads of seven years old. In this last point there is a very striking* 

 correspondence with the results of other observations upon very premature 

 children, made at an earlier age : and these all harmonize with the general 

 principle already more than once alluded to, *that the shorter the period 

 during which the early development of the embryo takes place at the expense 

 of nourishment supplied by the parent, the lower is the degree of development 

 it will ultimately attain ( 54). To these may be added another case of recent 

 occurrence in America ; in which a woman, who believed herself to be in the 

 sixth month of pregnancy, was prematurely delivered in consequence of a 

 fall. The child seemed barely alive, showing scarcely any motion, and being 

 too feeble to cry. It had no nails on its hands or feet, nor hair on the scalp ; 

 and the cranium was imperfectly ossified. At the end of seven weeks it was 

 weighed for the first time, and found to weigh only 26 oz. When ten months 

 old, it was playful, lively, and healthy ; and weighed lOj Ibs. The reporter 

 of this case regrets that he did not take more particular notice of the state of 



* Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. xi. 



f Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. ii. p. 474. 



$ Report of Proceedings against the Rev. Fergus Jardine, Edinb., 1839. 



