498 NARROW PELVIS. 



distinguished physicians of London decided that, in women affected 

 with deformity of the pelvis, it is proper to solicit delivery as soon 

 as the viability of the child is well established; according to the 

 statement of Kelly, Macaulay was the first person who had recourse 

 to this operation which resulted favorably in his hands ; since 

 then, Dr Barlow has published a memoir in which he essays to prove 

 that artificial abortion ought to be substituted for the sigaultian and 

 cesarean operations in all cases. Ramsbothan says he brought on 

 abortion three times with success in a woman in whom the perfora- 

 tion of the foetal head had been deemed necessary in a preceding 

 pregnancy; Drs Davis, Clough, Wigand, and very recently. Bang, 

 and Dr Blundell, have supported the doctrine advanced by Barlow. 

 M. Costa has even inquired whether it is proper to resort to it in the 

 cases of women affected with aneurism of. the heart. 



1111. Li France, this question has been considered under a point 

 of view which has not admitted of its value being discussed. It has 

 been said that no one has a right to destroy a living fostus, even in 

 the first months of its existence. But delivery, when provoked pre- 

 viously to the seventh month, kills it inevitably, and rarely fails to 

 cause its death in the seventh and eighth. Besides, if it must be 

 destroyed, why not wait for the term of labor; by so doing we shall 

 at least not destroy the few chances we have of seeing the labor 

 come to a favorable conclusion. 



For my own part, I confess I cannot possibly balance the life of a 

 foetus of three, four, five, or six monhs, a being which so far scarcely 

 differs from a plant, and is bound by no tie to the external world, 

 against that of an adult woman whom a thousand social ties engage 

 us to save; so that in a case of extreme contraction, if it were ma- 

 thematically demonstrated that delivery at full term would be impos- 

 sible, I would not hesitate to recommend abortion in the first months 

 of gestation. 



But the case is different whenever there is a space of two inches, 

 and a half, at least, between the sacrum and the pubis: as in that 

 case the ovum has been seen to come away without assistance, and 

 the foetus born alive, the honor of the art and humanity combine to 

 forbid the employment of any destructive instrument, or any attempt 

 that must end in the death of the child. 



1113. The inducing of labor at the seventh month would be par- 

 ticularly applicable where the pelvis is two inches and a half at least 

 and two inches and three-quarters at the utmost, because it is clear, 

 from measurements taken by Madame Lachapelle, that at seven 

 months the bi-parietal diameter is at most not over three inches, 

 and may be much less in extent; Avhich gives the same chances as 



