The medical evidence relative to the duration of human pregnancy, given in the Gardner peerage cause, before the Committee for Privileges of the House of Lords in 1825-6 : with introductory remarks and notes / by Robert Lyall.

  • Great Britain. Parliament. House of Lords. Committee for Privileges
Date:
1826
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The medical evidence relative to the duration of human pregnancy, given in the Gardner peerage cause, before the Committee for Privileges of the House of Lords in 1825-6 : with introductory remarks and notes / by Robert Lyall. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Mr. Tindal was heard in support of the evidence. The counsel were informed, that it might stand for the present, with a query against it. Is the lady alive ?—She is not. Did you continue to attend this lady up to the time of her de- livery ?—She required hut little attendance ; what attendance she did require I gave. The child you say was born on the night of the 23d of August ?— Ves, under my own care. Do you recollect the precise day on which you first attended her ?~ I do not. Have you no note from which you could discover it ?—I have a note, but not one that would lead me to that. State any other instance that has occurred in the course of youi- own practice ?—There is but one instance within my personal knowledge. Have you any other mode by which you have formed a judgment, that the period ordinarily assigned to gestation may be extended ?— I have. Upon what grounds is that opinion formed ?...My physiological opinions, and my opinion upon this point among the rest, where I specifically examine and think for myself, are drawn frovi facts, from observations [of others'] on the human subject, and experiments [of others] upon brutes resembling, especially in their organization, and the laws that regulate their actions, the human structure. Have there been any actual experiments tried on brutes, which lead to that result?...In this country but few experiments have been instituted; but in France Tessier has bestowed, I believe, from thirty to forty years of his life in collecting facts from different observations made on different genera of the mammalia or womb animals, in order to show that in them prolongations of pregnancy do occur*. * The subsequent remarks would firmly establish the certainty of pro- tracted gestation in the human female, if we were to judge from analogy :— “ Pass in review,” says Dr. CoUins, “ the animal kingom, and you will find the exceptions to the ordinary laws of pregnancy as extraordinary, and more frequent than perhaps you suppose. Bitches pup usually in ten (two) months, others in a much shorter or longer period. Sheep generally pro- duce their lambs in five months, yet some exceed or fall short of that period. Cows, horses, and other animals, present in the same circumstances similar irregularities, as the experiments and observations of Mr. Tessier, which were communicated in 1817 to the Academy of Sciences in Paris, so irre- fragably attest. To illustrate the subject of this memoir, I will briefiy state their result. “ In 575 cows, 21 calved between the 240th and 270th days, average 259 ; 544 between the 270th and 299th days, average 282; and 10 between the 299th and 321st days, average 306; average of the whole 282 days ; so that, from the shortest to the longest period, there is a difference of 81 days, that is more than one-fourth of the average time. “ In 277 mares with foal for the first time, 23 foaled between the 287th and 329th days, average 322 days; 226 between the 329th and 360th days, average 346 ; and 28 between the 360th and 419th days, average 372;