ON THE SIGNS OF DELIVERY. AN investigation into the proofs of delivery, whether undertaken with reference to circumstances of a social, professional, or legal nature, although not so frequently required, will be found no less important in its relations to society, nor less difficult in its details, than the examination of the proofs of pregnancy, a very clear and accurate knowledge of which latter is indispensably necessary to enable us to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion, when engaged in such an inquiry as that before us. It may, and indeed frequently does happen that a woman with an enlarged belly, arising from some purely accidental or morbid cause, becomes an object of suspicion, and afterwards the sudden reduction of her size may, however unjustly, affix upon her the imputation of clandestine delivery, at least; and, although such charge may never be made the subject of a legal or criminal investigation, its influences would be alike unjustly prejudicial to the character of the individual, and injurious to the moral interests of society. The writer once saw such an instance in the case of a woman who was separated from her husband, and became affected with what was considered ovarian dropsy, which enlarged the abdomen to the size of six months' pregnancy, some of the other symptoms of which state were also present. After an attack of inflammation, during which, it is to be presumed, the parietes of the tumor formed an adhesion with the upper part of the vagina, there took place suddenly a discharge of gelatinous fluid from that canal, and the abdomen completely subsided in the course of a day, and the previously entertained suspicion appeared to be confirmed beyond a doubt; but, on examination, the woman had not about her one of the signs of delivery; yet, had not the case been at once investigated, loss of reputation, at the least, would have inevitably, though most undeservedly, followed. In a very interesting case related by Fodéré, the life of an innocent woman was very near falling a sacrifice to the law, under circumstances somewhat similar. A young woman had her menses suddenly suppressed in consequence of a fright, and sought every aid to restore them, without effect; she was at length married, with a view to induce their return, which succeeded after a time, and she discharged a great quantity of fetid matters. This fact was proved by the husband and the medical attendants. It so happened, just at this period, that two children were found exposed and destroyed by cold; suspicion fell on this young woman, because she was known to have had an enlarged abdomen, which had very suddenly subsided. The judges of the district ordered her to be arrested, and examined by a physician, a surgeon, and two midwives, who reported that they had discovered marks of delivery. In consequence of this, the unfortunate woman was condemned to death, for concealing her preg nancy, and making away with her children. An appeal, however, was made to Parliament against this sentence, and, in consequence of two consultations, held by several physicians and surgeons of the greatest eminence, she was acquitted.' In the celebrated case of the Demoiselle Famin, published at Berlin and Paris by Valentin, in 1768, a charge of pregnancy and infanticide was erroneously instituted in consequence of an extreme case of ovarian dropsy. Delivery may be concealed with the hope of avoiding shame, or, still more criminally, with the intention of destroying the offspring; and, where infanticide is charged, the law requires proof of delivery, and the finding of the child. Or, again, delivery may be feigned, for the purpose of obtaining marriage with a paramour, to gratify the wishes of a husband, or to wrest property from the lawful heir. Perhaps the most singular case of the kind on record is that related by Capuron, in which a young woman, with a view to obtaining marriage with her lover, feigned preg Médecine Légale, tom. i. p. 476. Méd. Légale relat. aux Accouchemens, p. 110. nancy and then delivery, and, so far, succeeded completely in her attempt; but, after some time, being called on to produce the child, and refusing to do so, she was accused of infanticide, and brought before the criminal tribunal, where she confessed the fraud which she had practised, and the motives by which she had been actuated; but she was then called on to prove that she had never been delivered, and an investigation by medical examiners was ordered; the result of which was a report, that they could find no sign of delivery of either recent or ancient date; whereupon she was acquitted and discharged. A similar instance of pretended delivery appeared some years since in a Berlin journal, as having occurred at Sirakovo, in the circle of Posen, where a young woman, anxious to fulfil the ardent desire of her husband to have an heir, pretended to have been suddenly and unexpectedly delivered, and stole an infant to support the falsehood: the case was rendered more atrocious, from the real mother having, in consequence of the theft, been subjected to the accusation of infanticide; the fact was, however, happily discovered, and the culprit consigned to the punishment due to her crime.1 Dr. Male tells us that a surgeon was called to a pretended labor, and a dead child presented to him, but there was no placenta; he therefore proceeded immediately to examine the woman, when he found the os uteri in its natural state, nearly closed, and the vagina quite contracted: the fact was, that the woman had never been pregnant, and the dead child was the borrowed offspring of another: it appeared that she was induced to practise the artifice to appease the wrath of her husband, who frequently reproached her for her sterility. The following case occurred under my own observation: A young woman was admitted into Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital, affected with anasarca and dropsy in an extreme degree, which she attributed to hardship sustained in her passage from Edinburgh, where, she said, she had been delivered, about seven weeks before, of a child, which only lived two days; she sunk rapidly, and died within a few days. In the expectation of obtaining a specimen of the corpus luteum at that interval after delivery, I obtained the I See Paris and Fonblanque, vol. i. p. 250. uterus and appendages for examination through the kindness of Dr. Law; when, very much to my surprise, I found that there was not, in either ovary, the least appearance of a corpus luteum; and on extending my examination to the uterus itself, I found it presenting, both in form and size, completely the characters of the virgin uterus; with an os uteri so small, that it would not receive more than the head of an ordinary probe, and its margins perfectly smooth, and without the least appearance of notch or depression; which circumstances, conjoined with the unaltered state of the breasts, induced me to give it as my opinion, that it had never contained a full-grown child, and certainly not within the period stated by the woman. As this excited some curiosity about the case, an inquiry was made of her husband and other friends, who were all of opinion that she had never been pregnant; but it appeared that, having become dropsical before she went to Scotland, she mistoook her condition for pregnancy, and, not wishing to acknowledge her mistake, or dreading ridicule, she had persisted in her account, after her return. With reference to whatever object this inquiry may be entered on, it is very important to consider, in limine, what are the limits of time within which the signs of ordinary delivery, without physical injury, can be detected; and also, whether a woman who has given birth to a child, necessarily retains any permanent mark, or symptom, by which her delivery can be ascertained after an interval of many months or years. With regard to the first of these questions, it must be recollected, that there is a remarkable diversity in the effects produced by parturition on the system of different individuals, as well as in the merely physical changes made in the condition of the parts more immediately concerned in that process: a difference arising, partly from the greater strength or tonicity in the constitution of particular persons, and the consequent rapidity with which the parts restore themselves to their original state; and, partly depending on the period of pregnancy at which delivery took place, and the size of the ovum or foetus which has been expelled. As a general rule, however, it is agreed on, by all who have directed their attention carefully to the subject, that the time within which we may expect satisfactory information, has certainly expired when ten days have elapsed from the time of delivery; but, we are not |