Wonderful trial of Caroline Lohman, alias Restell : with speeches of counsel, charge of court, and verdict of jury : reported in full for the National police gazette.
- Madame Restell
- Date:
- [1847]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Wonderful trial of Caroline Lohman, alias Restell : with speeches of counsel, charge of court, and verdict of jury : reported in full for the National police gazette. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
22/48
![Dr.B.—I wish distinctly to be understood, and to state only facts, and well received doctrines, as I know I am reported. Q. You are right, sir! I now renew the question. A. The general rule is that women quicken at four, or four and a half months; women will sometimes quicken at three months, and such is the difference as re- gards the time, that it is an accepted doctrine with the profession, that from ten to sixteen weeks are the two limits, within which quicken- ing can or will take place. Montgomery is the best writer on this special subject; the old general rule of four months has a multitude of excep- tions, and they are so numerous as almost to swallow up. Q. Do you know Dr. Evans, and if so, what importance would you attach to his opinion ? A. What is his christian name ! Dr. Edwin Evans ? A. Yes I do, he graduated with great credit at our University. [Looking round.] Yes, there he is in the crowd; he was a very respectable and talented student. Q. Is the are- ola considered by standard writers an evidence of pregnancy ? A. It is considered as the most striking evidence ; it is regarded by the best au- thorities as the most distinct and special evi- dence, so much so that I will briefly relate an anecdote from the celebrated Doctor Hunter. Dr. Bedford here related a singular anecdote recorded by the celebrated Dr. Hunter, who af- ffirmed respecting a certain subject in his Dis- secting Booms, a young lady, whose bosom pre- sented the areola most distinctly marked. Dr. H. asserted, that she had been or was then preg- nant, though during life she was regarded strict- ly as a virgin, and also the membrane, called the hymen, was not ruptured. Dr. Hunter's diag- nosis on this most improbable case turned out perfectly correct, as the young female on exam, mation proved to be enciente, and a child ex- isted. Q. Dr. Bedford, *an you depend with confi- dence upon this areola? A. We can rely with almost absolute certainty upon it when distinctly marked; it usually shows itself about the 4th month of utero-gestatjon. Dr. Bedford.—I here wish to remark to the Court and Counsel that I have read no testimony in this case; I give my opinion quite abstracted- ly and irrespective of any thing which may have been previously said. Q. Doctor, would the mere suppression of the menses, unaccompanied by pregnancy, ever pro- duce this distinct appearance on the breast ?— A. Certainly it could not produce the full and dis- tinct appearance. Q. When does this mark or areola leave the female? A. It never entirely disappears ; the breast never perfectly assumes its virgin color, but the areola diminishes after delivery, the cause of its existence having ceased, the effect declines. Q. Supposing a wo- man to'have been pregnant, and abortion to have been produced, what would be the immediate effects of this violence ? Describe if you please. A. It would depend on the degree and man- ner in which the force had been applied. In an abortion generally, as it happens, the pain would be about the same as in natural labor. The womb contracts upon the expulsion of its contents, and if rudeness or hasty violence have been used, it rap- idly contracts, a discharge of blood comes on, sometimes most fearful, for abortion is almost al- ways succeeded, or accompanied, hy extraordina- ry flooding. Thishasmorrhage, or flooding, would be greater or less, according to the age of the foetus. A woman in early pregnancy will flood more than a person further advanced. A female who is two months gone, and aborts, would have heavier flooding than one five months advanced. Q. What would be the character of the dischar- ges after abortion ? A. At the first gush, fluid, then it would be clogged, coagulated, a soft red mass in clots, and undoubtedly there would be an after-birth; of course. If much force were used, and an abortion procured by violence, the after-birth might come away entire, or in shreds, it would depend on circumstances, but most like- ly it would come away in shreds, fragments, se- parate pieces, and it only comes away entire when nature is properly assisted. If the after- birth were retained it would decay, liquefy, be- come putrid, offensive. Hoffman.—What substance would the clots you speak of, most resemble, that you can recol- lect ? A. The liver that you see in market cut up in lumps, would resemble this closely; but the afterbirth would be more friable. Q. If a woman who was delivered by this operation, say on a Sunday, or rather on the Tuesday, would she be fit to go on a journey on Thursday, and then go about her regular housework ; or, rather to complete the question, how long would the flooding, in such a case, probably continue ? A. 1 cannot define any period when it would termi- nate; it would run on, sometimes lessening, then recurring, until it destroyed life, if not arrested by proper medical treatment. Cross-examined by Mr Brady—Dr. Bedford, yeu edited, I think, an edition of Chally's Mid- wifery, some three or four years ago, and there have been recent editions of this book; now in that work is the areola mentioned as an infallible sign? A. I have not mentioned it as an infallible sign, but the best accepted writers regard it as a strong evidence of pregnancy. In fact, Mr. Bra- dy, if I were to see a female, whether married or not, and I noticed on her breast such an areo- la as described, withpapillce distinctly developed around it, I shonld care for no other opinion, and regard no other testimony ; I should say, deci- dedly, she was pregnant. The appearance could be produced by no other cause whatever. Q. Doctor, there is a disease which you call dysme- norrhoea, which I understand is difficulty of men- struation, does that ever produce a change ? A. It sometimes does, but the appearances are wide- ly different Q. What do you think of Kenne- dy on Auscultation in Pregnancy ? A. Why, it is a respectable work, but I would rather not be asked an opinion unless f can praise highly. I thought Ohally well adapted for the ordinary practical details of the lying-in-room, a good ele- mentary work aR a companion, or I would not have edited it for my pupils, but I do not regard it as the highest standard work. Q. Now, what do good authors state as the shortest time of quickening? A. The accepted authorities state numerous cases where it has occurred at the expiration of the third monthi Some instances have happened of quickening at ten weeks. Ev- ery practical man who is an accoucheur knows of them. Q,. When a woman has been pregnant three months, how much open is the mouth of the uterus in her first pregnancy ? A. It depends on the constitution, and the relative size of the in- dividual. The os tincaj would vary according to](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21150102_0022.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
