VOL. XII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 435 



SO rough as to be ready to strangle one. But being then gathered and kept 

 till October, they eat as well as any medlar. 



Of a Child which remained Tiuenty-six Years in the Mother's Belly y out of the 

 Uterus. By Mans. Bayle,"^ M.D. N° 139, P- 979- 



Margaret Mathew, wife of John Puget, shearman, being with child l652, 

 perceived about the end of the ninth month of her bearing such pains as women 

 usually have when about to fall in labour. Her waters also broke, but no child 

 followed. For the space of 20 years she perceived this child to stir, with 

 liiany troublesome symptoms. Which made her from time to time to desire the 

 surgeon to open her belly, and take out this grievous burthen. But for the last 

 six years she perceived not the child to move. Being lately fallen sick she re- 

 quested the surgeon to open her when she should be dead. She died June 18, 

 this year 1678. She was opened the next day, and a child was found in her 

 belly, out of the womb, no way attached to it. The head was downward; and 

 the buttocks hanging toward the left side. All the back part of this child was 

 covered with the omentum, which was about two fingers thick, and stuck hard 

 to divers parts of the body of it, not to be separated without a knife ; which 

 being done, very little blood issued. This infant weighed 8 pounds avoirdupois. 

 The skull was broken into several pieces. The brain of the colour and con- 

 sistence of ointment of roses. The flesh red where the omentum adhered, 

 other parts whitish, yellowish, and somewhat livid, except the tongue, which 

 had the natural softness and colour. All the inward parts were discoloured 

 with a blackishness, except the heart, which was red, and without any issuing 

 blood. The forehead, ears, eyes, and nose, were covered with a callous sub- 

 stance, as thick as the breadth of a finger. The gums being cut, the teeth ap- 

 peared in the adultness of those in grown persons. The body had no bad smell, 

 though kept 3 days out of the mother's belly. The length of the body from 

 the buttocks to the top of the head about 1 1 inches. The mother died about 

 the 64th year of her age. 



An Account of some Books, N° 1 39, p. 98O. 



I. Johannis Wallisii, S.T.D. in Celeberr. Academia Oxoniensi Geometriae 

 Professoris Saviliani, Exercitationes Tres. 1. De Cometarum Distantiis investi- 



* This physician, Francis Bayle, held a medical professorship in the university of Toulouse, and 

 was much esteemed for his learning and probity. He died in 1709 in the 87th year of his age. He 

 was a man of a philosophical turn of mind, and was author of several other tracts besides the above- 

 mentioned} which he republished collectively in 1700, in 4 vols. 4to. 



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