The patient was the
mother of nine children, the youngest of which was three years
old.
Young speaks of a woman who three months previously had aborted a
three months' fetus, but a tumor still remained in the abdomen,
the auscultation of which gave evidence of a fetal heart-beat.
Vaginal examination revealed a dilatation of the os uteri of at
least one inch and a fetal head pressing out; subsequently a
living fetus of about six months of age was delivered. Severe
hemorrhage complicated the case, but was controlled, and
convalescence speedily ensued. Huse cites an instance of a mother
bearing a boy on November 4, 1834, and a girl on August 3, 1835.
At birth the boy looked premature, about seven months old, which
being the case, the girl must have been either a superfetation or
a seven months' child also. Van Bibber of Baltimore says he met a
young lady who was born five months after her sister, and who was
still living.
The most curious and convincing examples of superfetation are
those in which children of different colors, either twins or near
the same age, are born to the same woman,--similar to that
exemplified in the case of the mare who was covered first by a
stallion and a quarter of an hour later by an ass, and gave birth
at one parturition to a horse and a mule.
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