276 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
about the sixth month the pulsations became double, and averaged 
from 130 to 160. The sound of the foetal heart was generally 
first heard about the period of quickening; in other cases before 
it. He had heard it ten days or a fortnight before the quicken¬ 
ing. It could not be well mistaken for any other sound. Re¬ 
garding the mode in which the examination was to be conducted, 
the use of the stethescope was better, in both cases, than the 
direct application of the ear. 
Dr. Reid agreed with the opinion of Dr.Williams ; but the ute¬ 
rine murmur was with difficulty detected before the fourth month, 
and the sound of the foetal heart was not distinct until much later. 
He thought we should be cautious in giving a decided opinion. 
Dr. a. T. Thomson said that at the later periods it was not 
so difficult to decide on the presence of pregnancy; it was in 
the early stages that the use of the stethescope, as a means of 
diagnosis, was the most valuable. The importance of this early 
knowledge could not be over-rated, particularly in some medico¬ 
legal cases. 
Dr. Chowne had heard the placental murmurs very early. 
He differed from Dr. Williams in thinking that the murmur 
belonged to the vessels of the uterus generally, for he (Dr. C.) 
considered that it was only to be heard in that part of the uterus to 
which the placenta was attached. He had been confirmed in 
this opinion lately in a case of twins. After the first child was 
born, he was enabled to pass his finger up to the placenta, and 
ascertain its attachments. Over this part he heard the pla¬ 
cental murmur very distinctly ; but it was not by any means clear 
in other parts of the abdomen. After the placentae were removed, 
he could detect no murmur whatever. 
The absence of the sound of the foetal heart was not decisive 
evidence of the death of the child. In the case alluded to, he 
failed to detect the sound of the heart of the second child. It 
was a footling case, and the child was born alive. The absence 
of the sound might arise from extreme debility of the foetal cir¬ 
culation, or the peculiar position of the child in the uterus. 
Dr. Williams said that the observations which had been 
made on the uterine murmur by Dr. Kennedy had sufficiently 
proved that it was not always loudest over the situation of the 
placenta. Lancet, April 14,1838. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
It was Professor Renault from whose letter an extract was read at the 
meeting of the Veterinary Medical Association on February the 20th. 
We much regret such an error of the press. 
That, with regard to which several of the Editor’s kind friends inquire, 
will not be decided until the 1st of September. 
L.—We really do not know; if we did, we would eagerly join our Cor¬ 
respondent in exposing so rascally a transaction. 
