VIABILITY OF THE FCETUS. 220 



In the matter of proof, does not seem to be very difficult, speaks of a 

 certain Julius Modie, born in the year V, at five months and a half, 

 and who was so small and weak that at first he could not suck at all. 

 This child, however, grew very well. Have we not also had, as 

 proof of anticipated viability, the history of the famous Bebe de 

 Nanci, who only weighed one pound at birth, whose first cradle was 

 a sabot, says the Count de Tressan, and of which there is a wax mo- 

 del in the caljinets of the school of Medicine at Paris. But I ask, 

 what conclusion can we draw from observations so imperfectly sub- 

 stantiated, from facts encompassed with so many marvels, and -cita- 

 tions so improbable. 



589. While admitting with Chaussier, M. Orfila, and some others, 

 that none of the facts related by the authors demonstrate beyond 

 reply that the foetus is viable before the seventh, month, I cannot, 

 however, agree with them that the thing is impossible. A woman 

 came in 1825 to be delivered at my amphitheatre, after she had had 

 a fall; her last child was six months and three days old; she sup- 

 posed herself to be only five months gone with child, and if she had 

 had commerce with her husband fifteen or even twelve days after 

 her lying-in, it was at any rate impossible for her to have entered 

 on her seventh month. Now this woman brought into the world a 

 little girl that weighed two pounds, which beside presented all the 

 appearances of a fcetus of about five months, whose cries were so 

 weak they could scarcely be heard, who notwithstanding breathed, 

 and lived in this state for four days. 



590. In the course of the same year, a young woman miscarried 

 at the Hospital de Perfectionnement; having been delivered of a child 

 at term five months and twelve days before, in the same hospital, it 

 was impossible for her to be more than five months pregnant. The 

 foetus she brought forth weighed only one pound and a quarter, its 

 skin was of a bright rose color, and had on it no down nor seba- 

 ceous matter; its length from the vertex to the sole of the foot was 

 only nine inches. Notwithstanding this, my attention and that of the 

 pupils was attracted to it by some stretchings and slight movements 

 of its limbs; we wrapped the delicate creature in cotton, and placed 

 it near its mother, who was told to pour a few drops of milk into its 

 mouth from time to time; but as she thought such an abortion could 

 not live, she did not judge it proper to do any thing to prevent it 

 from dying. It expired in fact the next morning, twenty-eight hours 

 after it was born. 



591. My object is not by any means to maintain that these foetuses 

 were viable; I merely wish to show that it is not strictly correct to 



