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
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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![Notwithstanding'these great authorities, there are eminent phy- siologists who maintain, that regular menstruation is not incon- sistent with pregnancy. Haller, Heberden, Daventer, Capuron, and many others, seem to be of this opinion*. Some prac- titioners, who advocate the same doctrine, assert, that the os uteri is not always closed by a gelatinous plug ; and that the fluid discharged has the precise characters of the catamenia. We should, however, strongly suspect, that the periodical discharges, to which they allude, have been singular coincidences of hemorrhage, either from the uterus or vagina, that in reality did not possess the qua- lities of the menstrual fluid. In a state of nature, we question whether any periodical discharges of blood ever occur during preg- nancy. We have never met with any bloody discharges at all among the rude peasant females of Russia, which did not arise from accident, and were evidently hsemorrhages from the organs of gene- ration. We also suspect, that in a state of barbarism, at least in a cold climate, women rarely become pregnant while sucklingf. durinn^ the menstrual discharge, and has ascertained that it differs from com- mon blood, only in containing little or no fibrine.”—Anderson’s Quarterly Journal of the Medical Sciences, No. IV, p. 624. * A notion has been entertained, that the state of pregnancy may go on, and the menstrual flux be continfted. This has arisen from the observation of an occasional draining from the vagina during gestation. The catamenia decidedly flow from the cavity of the uterus ; and besides the closure of the 03 uteri, already alluded to, its cavity is lined throughout with an impervious membrane.”—Smith’s Forensic Medicine, ]). 484. “ As the mouth of the pregnant uterus is sealed up with gelatinous matter from the moment of conception, it is, under ordinary circumstances, incapable of allowing any passage for the catamenia, although exceptions to this law are frequently mentioned by men of science, which have probably arisen from the observation of an occasional sanguineous discharge from the vessels of the vagina.” — Paris and Fonbtanque’s Medical Jurisprudence, p. 2.32. “ Suppression of the menses may take place from disease, without the presence of pregnancy; and again it is asserted, that the menses have con- tinued in certain cases during pregnancy. Dr. Denman and others, however, conceive that this symptom is a never-failing consequence of conception; and the former, in particular, intimates, that a contrary, opinion has its origin in credulity or vanity. It is certainly a strong argument, that an individual of the extensive practice of this accoucheur, never met with a case invalidating this rule; but it is no less true, that observers of equal eminence have occasionally witnessed deviations from it. Dr. Heberden knew a female, who never ceased to have regular returns of the menses during four pregnancies, quite to the time of delivery. Daventer mentions one who became pregnant before menstruating, and immediately after con- ception, this discharge returned periodically until her delivery, and this was the case during several successive pregnancies—inverting as it were the usual order of nature. Dr. Francis states, that Dr. Hosack had a patient, who during her last three pregnancies menstruated until within a few weeks of her delivery, and, notwithstanding, brought forth a healthy child at each labour. Dr. Francis also mentions a similar case in his own practice ; and Capuron observes on this sign, “ Quelquefois I’ecoulement periodique des menstrues dans le primier mois mCme pendant tout le temps de la grossesse” (p. 63). Belloc (p. 62) makes a similar'remark. Those, who deny the presence of the menses, consider the discharge as a h'ccmorrhage from the vagina.” — Beck’s Elements of Medical Jurisprudence, p. 77. t Professor Hamilton was accustomed to mention in his lectures, that](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22333368_0015.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
