Watering of Maregnac speaks of the simultaneous birth of 8
children at one time. When several months pregnant the woman was
seized with colicky pains and thought them a call of nature. She
went into a vineyard to answer it, and there, to her great
astonishment, gave birth to 8 fetuses. Watering found them
enclosed in a sac, and thought they probably had died from mutual
pressure during growth. The mother made a good recovery.
In 1755 Seignette of Dijon reports the simultaneous birth of nine
children. Franciscus Picus Mirandulae, quoted by Pare, says that
one Dorothea, an Italian, bore 20 children at 2 confinements, the
first time bearing 9 and the second time eleven. He gives a
picture of this marvel of prolificity, in which her belly is
represented as hanging down to her knees, and supported by a
girdle from the neck. In the Annals, History, and Guide to Leeds
and York, according to Walford, there is mention of Ann Birch,
who in 1781 was delivered of 10 children. One daughter, the sole
survivor of the 10, married a market gardener named Platt, who
was well known in Leeds. Jonston quotes Baytraff as saying that
he knew of a case in which 9 children were born simultaneously;
and also says that the Countess of Altdorf gave birth to twelve
at one birth.
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