610 OF REPRODUCTION. 



the Child at birth, which he was prevented from doing by the daily expecta- 

 tion of its death.* 



758. 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 an interval 

 of greater or less duration ; so that two fetuses of different ages, the offspring 

 perhaps of different parents, may exist in the Uterus at the same time. The 

 simplest case of Superfetation* 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 

 slave-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 paramour. The converse has occa- 

 sionally, 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 fecundation, there are usually more in 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 pro- 

 duced 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 conceived at different periods; since the smaller fetus may have 

 been " blighted," and its development retarded, as not unfrequently happens 

 in other cases. Nor is it necessary to infer the occurrence of Superfetation 

 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 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 three months ; and there are several cases 

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

 of the children were premature in appearance; so that the possibility of a 

 second Conception, when the Uterus already contains an Ovum of several 

 months, can scarcely be denied, however improbable it may seem. 



IV. Development of the Embryo. 



757. Under this head it is intended to state, not so much the details of the 

 process of Development, as those leading facts, the knowledge of which is 

 desirable in itself, as well as essential to the due comprehension of the former. 

 It is difficult to see what practical benefit can result from a minute acquaint- 

 ance with all the steps of the evolution of the Embryo, however interesting 

 these may be in a scientific point of view ; and the time of the ordinary Stu- 

 dent, on which there are so many pressing calls, may be much better occu- 

 pied than in committing them to memory. In the following sketch, little 

 will be said respecting the later stages of the process, or the development of 

 particular organs, since these have been already noticed under their several 

 distinct heads. Our attention will first be given to the formation of the Em- 



* American Journal of the Medical Sciences, April, 1843. 



