" The fetus, removed after death, on the whole not very
imperfectly formed, was of the size of about six or seven months'
gestation. Bury cites an account of a child that had a second
imperfectly developed fetus in its face and scalp. There was a
boy by the name of Bissieu who from the earliest age had a pain
in one of his left ribs; this rib was larger than the rest and
seemed to have a tumor under it. He died of phthisis at fourteen,
and after death there was found in a pocket lying against the
transverse colon and communicating with it all the evidences of a
fetus.
At the Hopital de la Charite in Paris, Velpeau startled an
audience of 500 students and many physicians by saying that he
expected to find a rudimentary fetus in a scrotal tumor placed in
his hands for operation. His diagnosis proved correct, and
brought him resounding praise, and all wondered as to his reasons
for expecting a fetal tumor. It appears that he had read with
care a report by Fatti of an operation on the scrotum of a child
which had increased in size as the child grew, and was found to
contain the ribs, the vertebral column, the lower extremities as
far as the knees, and the two orbits of a fetus; and also an
account of a similar operation performed by Wendt of Breslau on a
Silesian boy of seven.
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