A NOMA LIES IN GES TA TION. i ^ 7 



Demoussy speaks of a M. Mail lard, a wealthy farmer and breeder of horses, who had 

 occasion to observe a similar occurrence. 



In the Journal Veterinarie Pratique for 1826, there is an account of a Mare 

 which, covered on the same day by a male-ass and stallion, brought forth in eleven 

 months a well-formed, though weak mule foal, and a full-developed, but dead horse 

 foal. In the same journal for 1836, there is another case of this kind recorded. A Mare 

 had been put to an Ass stallion at St. Maixent, and was shut up in an enclosed space; 

 into this, however, a Horse stallion, two years old, broke, and covered this animal 

 several times in the course of the same day. The Mare obstinately refused to be 

 covered when afterwards put to the Horse, according to custom. At the usual period of 

 parturition it produced two foals, one evidently belonging to the equine species, and the 

 other a well-characterized mule. These two young creatures, when three months old, 

 were presented to M. de Vaublanc ; they were then being suckled by the Mare, and 

 were in perfect health. The fact was verified by the Mayor of the Commune, and 

 communicated to the administration of the Stallion depot of St. Maixent. 



In Moll and Gayot's " Connaissance General du Cheval," Ayrault states that in 

 Poitou, France, a Mare was put to a stallion Ass on March 7, 1855, ^'""^^ ^'"^ ^he 28th, 

 being still "in season," was put to a Horse. The following year, during the night of 

 April 14-15, this Mare produced a colt foal at eight o'clock, and a filly mule at eleven 

 o'clock ; so that the oldest foetus was born three hours after the youngest. 



In the Journal des Vetirinaires dii Midi for 1859, Dr. Chabaud relates that in the 

 Commune of VernioUe (Ariege), a Mare was put to a stallion Ass. As oestrum con- 

 tinued, it was put to a stallion fifteen days afterwards. Nothing unusual occurred during 

 gestation, and when parturition took place, a fine healthy foal was born, and after ten 

 minutes' straining, to the astonishment of the owner, a good well-formed mule. The 

 Mare suckled the two, and they did well. 



In the Journal des Veterinaires du Midi for 1864, M. Gilis gives a similar account of 

 a Mare that had been covered by a stallion, then some minutes afterwards by an Ass, 

 and in twelve months had two foals, perfect in their conformation — one, a mule, died, 

 soon after birth, and the other, a horse foal, did well. 



Lanzillotti-Buonsanti mentions a Mare which, on March 28, 1851, was put to an 

 English stallion, and on April 5, to a Barb; on February 28, 1852,11 produced two 

 foals, each resembling one of the stallions. Lessona speaks of a Mare which was put 

 to a Horse in 1852, and sixteen days afterwards to a Persian stallion ; at eight months' 

 pregnancy it dropped a horse foal, and in two hours after a mule foal* 



In the Veteritiarian (vol. xxx., p. 78), Mr. Evans refers to a Mare which was put three 

 times to the Horse, about six weeks intervening between each time. Two months prior 

 to the ordinary period of parturition from the last coitus, two foals were produced, 

 one alive and full grown, the other so immature that it died immediately. The same 

 journal (vol. xxxix., p. 444) contains another instance, in which a Mare was put to a 

 Cart-Horse on May 20, but showing symptoms of oestrum subsequently, was again put 

 to him on June 19. At the commencement of the following April, two foetuses were 

 born, each being in a different stage of development, and one of them apparently a month 

 older than the other. The same Mare had aborted the previous year. 



In the Journal Veterinaire Pratique for 1828, there is an instance given of what was 

 supposed to be superfoetation. A fine-woolled ewe, impregnated at the usual season in 

 1823, evinced in the following year, at the period of parturition, the ordinary signs of 

 giving birth ; but these subsided without any produce being born, and the animal quite 

 recovered. The foetus was in the abdomen, -and could be easily felt. In 1824, this ewe 

 was again impregnated; in the early days of March, 1825, the mammae contained milk, 

 and soon after the symptoms of parturition became manifest; but, as before, they dis- 

 appeared without any result. The animal then lost condition, became gradually weaker, 

 and was not long in succumbing. On opening it, a perfectly developed lamb was found 

 in the right horn of the uterus, and in the left another well-formed foetus of the male 

 sex was discovered. The latter, with its envelopes, as well as the uterine cavity, were 

 normal, except that a portion of the fluid had escaped and the foetus was dead; -the 

 cervix uteri, however, was constricted by the presence of a newly- formed mass of 



* All these instances are paralleled in the human female, by various authorities. Buffon, quoted by 

 Foder^ and Churchill, mentions a woman at- Charleston, South Carolina, who, in 1714, was delivered of 

 twins within a very short time of each other, the one being black, the other white. On examination, the 

 woman confessed that on a certain day, immediately after her husband had left her, a negro entered her 

 room, and by threatening to murder her in case of refusal, obtained connection with her. Dr. Moseley 

 alludes to the case of a negro woman who brought forth two children at a birth, both of a size, one of which 

 was a negro and the other a mulatto. On being interrogated upon the cause of their dissimilitude, she 

 said she perfectly well knew the cause of it ; which was that a white man belonging to the estate came to 

 her hut one morning before she was up, and she suffered his embraces almost instantly after her black 

 husband had quitted her. Similar illustrations are quoted by De Bouillon. Trotti. Guerarde, Delmas, 

 Dunglison, and others- 



