C "8 ] 
Received December 20, 1766 . 
X\ . Hiflory of a Feet us born with a very 
imperfeSl Brain ; to which is fubjomed a 
Supplement of the EJfay on the Ufe of 
Ganglions , publifhed in Philof. Eranf, for 
1 7O4 .• By James Johnfton, M. D. 
■R c ad March s,y N 0 < 3 ober 27, ,765, a monftrous birth 
‘ X was brought me by a midwife of this 
place. It was a female child come to its full time, in 
which the whole fcull excepting its balls was wanting : 
this was covered with fomething which had the ap- 
pearance of red flefh. I found it to confift of different 
membranes ; and in a fmall deprefiion, in a back 
part of the bafis of the fkull, lay the brain, fuch as 
it was, not exceeding the fize of the kernel of a 
filberd nut, flaccid and membranous. I could not 
have politively pronounced it brain, had I not traced 
its continuation into fpinal marrow, down the channel 
of the vertebrae. The eyes were perfect and found. 
The optic nerve of one eye I examined, though not 
large enough, yet in thicknefs was almoft equal to 
one third of the fpinal marrow, which was too fmall 
like wife. 
Upon opening the bread: and abdomen, all the 
organs contained therein feemed in ttru&ure perfect, 
properly fituated and full grown. The heart in par- 
ticular was plump and firong. This infant had not 
breathed. 
