The medical evidence relative to the duration of human pregnancy, as given in the Gardner peerage cause, before the Committee for Privileges of the House of lords in 1825-26 / With introductory remarks and notes by Robert Lyall.

Robert Lyall

Date:: 1826

Credit: The medical evidence relative to the duration of human pregnancy, as given in the Gardner peerage cause, before the Committee for Privileges of the House of lords in 1825-26 / With introductory remarks and notes by Robert Lyall. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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$time for nude gestation is 290 days ?—In some cases; I will not state the number of days. I merely state the case of those two mares; one went a fortnif^ht lon<?er than the other. The question refers to the prestation of human bein.^s. Do you j state that the ordinary time of g-estation when the child is a male, is 290 days ?—It is viore t/ian 280, that I aju convinced of in my own \ mind. ! How many more?—I cannot say exactly; it may vary from 280 j to 290. The reason I state that is, that most of the woiiien I have j attended have never come regularly to their time. I {Mr. Solicitor General.) The people at Oakliampton do not | come regularly ?—It is owing to the cold weather. . j You seem to have particular customs at Oakhampton ; do they ^ j depend upon the dissolution of parliament at all?—We always find a ] great number more nine or ten months after that titne. ■ You say there is one season for male gestation, and another for i female; suppose the child is an hermaphrodite, what should you ' take as the time ?—That I should take between the two. {By a Lord.) You first said that the ordinary period of gesta- tion is 280 days ? — Yes. Then you said that the ordinary period of gestation of males was j ! 290 days }-^No ; that it extended to that time. \ But above 280?—Fes. Do you think the number of males that is born is greater than that of females ?—No ; there are more females than males*. {Mr. Attorney General.) Has your observation been so accurate as to know whether the same mother has gone longer for males than females ?—Yes. In what instances?—When she has mentioned the time to me to attend her she has in general gone some days over what she first mentioned to me. i Is that peculiar to the case of males ?—I have generally remarked j it has been a male child born after that. j That whenever a woman has been mistaken in the time of her I calculation, it is a male child that is born?—Yes; I think it has I generally been a boy ■\-. \ The witness was directed to withdraw. j I Doctor JOHN ELLIOTSON was called in; and having been j sworn, was examined as follows : j (jBy Counsel.) Are' you a physician ?—I am. j Where did you take your degree ?—At Cambridge. Are you also a lecturer on any subject in any of the institutions in London ?—I am physician to St. Thomas's Hospital; and I gave * We believe this assertion is contrary to the statistical accounts and the general calculations respecting' population. t According to Hippocrates, the male foetus became animated thirty days after conception, while the female required forty-two. The reader must at least have received much amusement by the perusal of the above evidence : thinking^ however, is not evidence.$