On January 28, 1878, she gave birth to a
male infant, which was wrapped in wadding and kept at an
artificial temperature. Being unable to suckle, it was fed first
on diluted cow's milk. It was so small at birth that the father
passed his ring over the foot almost to the knee. On the
thirteenth day it weighed 1250 grams, and at the end of a week it
was taking the breast. In December, 1879, it had 16 teeth,
weighed 10 kilograms, walked with agility, could pronounce some
words, and was especially intelligent. Capuron relates an
instance of a child born after a pregnancy of six and a half
months and in excellent health at two years, and another living
at ten years of the same age at birth. Tait speaks of a living
female child, born on the one hundred and seventy-ninth day, with
no nails on its fingers or toes, no hair, the extremities
imperfectly developed, and the skin florid and thin. It was too
feeble to grasp its mother's nipple, and was fed for three weeks
by milk from the breast through a quill. At forty days it weighed
3 pounds and measured 13 inches. Before the expiration of three
months it died of measles. Dodd describes a case in which the
catamenia were on the 24th of June, 1838, and continued a week;
the woman bore twins on January 11, 1839, one of which survived,
the other dying a few minutes after birth.
Pages:
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133