120 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [ANNO 1781. 



or 1 in 23 of the whole number, were dead-born.* Of these, 49, or nearly £, 

 were boys, and 35 were girls. 



Of 1400 women who returned their letters, or of whom a certain account 

 could be obtained, 85, or nearly 1 in 16, had buried their children before the 

 end of 2 months. Of this number 53, or 5 in 8, were boys, and 32 girls. 

 This singular circumstance of there being a greater number of males than females, 

 among the still-born children, and of a greater number of male children dying 

 in infancy than of females, has been remarked by Dr. Price and other writers on 

 calculations; and Dr. Haygarth has shown, that at Chester more husbands die 

 in a given period than wives. This naturally suggests an inquiry, whether the 

 lives of males are at all ages more precarious than those of females. 



To be enabled to assist in answering this question, I add, says Dr. B., the 

 following article to my register, viz. of the children that shall be living when 

 the women apply for their letters, how many will be boys, and how many girls? 

 Table of the ages at which women begin and cease to be capable of bearing children, and of the inter- 

 mediate periods at which they are most so. 

 Of 'J 102 pregnant women, Years of age. 



36 or 1 in 5S were from 15 to iy 1 S5, or 1 in 25, from 



4y or 1 in 43 were 20 J 15 to 20 inclusive. 



578 or 5 in 19 were from 21 to 25 "| l6S4, or four-fifths 



6'yy nearly 1 in 3 were from 26' to 30 > were from 21 to 



407 nearly 1 in 5 were from 31 to 35 J 35 inclusive. 



291 or 3 in 22 were from 36' to 40 



36 or 1 in 58 were from 41 to 45 \ 42, or 1 in 50, from 



6 or 1 in 350 were from 46 to 4.9 J 4 1 to 49. 



2T02 

 those on the left, which latter were very small. There were 2 stomachs, 2 sets of intestines, which, 

 at length uniting, terminated in one rectum and anus. There was but one urinary bladder. — Orig. 



+ Of this singular production, to which Dr. B. had not ventured to give a name, die following is the 

 history and description. The woman who produced it was about 27 years of age ; this was her first 

 pregnancy. She was, after a natural labour, delivered of a female foetus, and its placenta, in which 

 nothing uncommon was observed; and though the uterus remained of an unusual size, yet the pains, 

 not recommencing, there was no suspicion entertained but that its bulk was occasioned by coagulated 

 blood. On the 3d day the pains became violent, and this monster was born. Its shape was spherical, 

 but somewhat flattened. It measured in its largest diameter 5 inches, and weighed about 1 8 ounces. 

 It received its nourishment by an umbilical chord, to which was attached a portion of membranes, 

 and though no placenta was found, it is probable it had a small one, and that it was inclosed in its 

 own involucrum. It was completely covered with a cuticula, and a little above the part where the 

 navel-string terminated, there was a hairy scalp covering a bony prominence, somewhat resembling 

 the arch of the cranium. On dissection it was found to be plentifully supplied with blood-vessels, 

 proceeding from the navel-string, and branching through every part of it. It had a small brain and 

 medulla spinalis continued into a bony theca, with nerves passing from thence through die foramina 

 of the bones; but no resemblance of any thoracic or abdominal viscera. The rest of its bulk was 

 made up of fat. — Orig. 



* By dead-born children Dr. B. means those that die after they have been perceived to move, thatis, 

 generally after 4 months. Abortions, or deaths before that period, may reasonably be estimated at 

 double this number; so that perhaps 1 child in 8 dies in the womb, or in the act oi (Mining into the 

 world. — Orig. 



