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To Calculate the Time of Confinement.There is in this method no pretense to absolute accuracy, as must be the case, indeed, when we consider the basis of this calculation; for this plan is based upon the assumption that conception usually occurs about a week after the cessation of the menstrual period; hence the addition of the seven days. ' Now, while as a matter of fact, conception does in perhaps a majority of cases occur about a week after menstruation, yet there is a considerable minority of instances in which conception does not occur at this date ; indeed it may happen at any time during the month, especially during the week preceding the menstrual discharge. In these latter cases the confinement will naturally occur, not at the date ascertained by the above rule of Naegele, but usually some two weeks later or a week earlier. There are several questions which might be discussed in this connection concerning the possibility of plural pregnancy. It is an established fact not only that two or more ova maybe impregnated about the same time, but also that a second ovum may be impreg nated during the earlier weeks after the establishment of pregnancy - that is, after the fecundation of the first ovum. It is not necessary to enter into any discussion of the conditions under which more than one ovum becomes fecundated ; it may suffice to say that we are quite unable to control such conditions, and indeed even to detect them until the results - plural pregnancy - become apparent. If we except the numerous cases in which two or more children are born during the same confinement - within a few hours or days - there remain comparatively few cases of plural pregnancy; in the majority of these the birth of the second infant occurs a few weeks after that of the firs't. In these cases it is usually evident that the first was a premature delivery, and that both children were conceived at the same menstrual epoch. There remain, however, a few cases in which a woman has given birth at an interval of three to five months to two children, each apparently at full term ; in these cases the most reasonable explanation is the assumption that a second pregnancy began during the continuation of the first. There is, indeed, in this assumption nothing opposed to facts ascertained with regard to conception. Another curious phenomenon, which has been already repeat edly observed, is the birth of a foetus within a foetus, a well authenticated instance of which recently occurred in Germany. In these cases the inclosed fætus is rarely, if ever, perfectly formed ; in fact, is usually but a portion of a child ; such cases are indeed apparently only examples of twin pregnancy in which one fætus is not developed in the usual way. In some instances of plural pregnancy, rare it is true, the explanation has been found in a peculiar conformation of the mother- a double womb. In these curious cases two pregnancies may, it is evident, occur quite independently of each other. One instance recorded by an English physician is sufficiently curious to justify repetition, since three children were born within four months. The mother was a woman 33 years of age, and in fourteen years of married life had given birth to six children. With one exception, when she was prematurely delivered of a seven months' child, her confinements had all been natural. In February, 1870, she ceased to menstruate ; on the 16th of July she had strong labor pains, and within twenty-four hours was delivered of twins, which the medical attendant considered to be of about six months' growth. A week afterward she again summoned her physician, and expressed her conviction that there was still another child present in the womb ; an examination confirmed her impression. Yet she began to menstruate and performed this function regularly for three months, at the end of which time, October 31st, she was delivered of a well-developed child. Subsequent examination showed that there was a well-defined partition between two cavities of the womb-in fact, a double womb. The curious features of this case became at once apparent: the two children born in July had been contained in one side of this double womb, the child born in August in the other side ; the menstruation from July to August had proceeded from the former cavity. The explanation of that not unusual occurrence (the birth of two or more children at one confinement) is to be found, doubtless, in the fact that two or more ova leave the ovaries at one menstrual period. In other cases it would seem that two ova, which have escaped from the ovaries at successive periods, have both been fecundated. This would doubtless be a more common occurrence, were it not that conception is usually followed at once by an arrest of activity in the ovaries, and therefore by an arrest of menstruation. Yet this arrest is not always immediate. Indeed, cases are known in which menstruation has continued uninterruptedly throughout pregnancy, and it seems by no means strange that one or more periods of ovarian activity should occur after conception; and in this occurrence lies, doubtless, the explanation of twin and triple pregnancy. It is scarcely necessary to remark that the conditions governing these accidents are practically beyond our control and our knowledge. Hence any detailed consideration of these accidents of conception and impregnation would be quite out of place in a treatise of this sort. One popular impression in regard to this subject may, however, be corrected. It is well known among stock breeders and farmers that if a cow gives birth to two calves, one of which is apparently a female, this latter animal, though to all appearances well-formed, is sterile. The reason for this sterility has been ascertained by dissection to be an incomplete development or even absence of the ovaries. These imperfect females are commonly known as " free-martins. " It has been assumed and believed by analogy that a human female born as a twin, the other child being a male, is also sterile. This, however, is a mistake. Numerous instances are on record (one having come under the personal observation of the writer), in which such females have become prolific mothers. The physician is often asked whether it is possible to detect the presence of twins before birth : also whether it is possible to avoid this accident. To the latter query one can return only an unqualified negative. As to the detection of twins before birth, there are no difficulties in the later months of pregnancy. And this leads us to the discussion of a question which agitates the mind during the early months or years of married life: Whether it is possible to regulate voluntarily the sex of the expected child, and whether it is possible to detect the sex before birth. The latter question can usually be decided during the last twTo or three months before confinement; and this not by the form or size of the mother, which - nurses to the contrary notwithstanding - does not vary uniformly with the sex of the fætus; nor is it true that the movements of a male fætus are necessarily more vigorous than those of a female. It has been ascertained, however, by many observations, that the heart of the female fætus beats more rapidly, on the average, than that of the male ; indeed, that the heartbeats of the unborn female infant are usually more than 135 per minute, and those of the male fætus usually less than that number. Yet it must be understood that this is not an invariable rule, since exceptions have been noted on both sides of the dividing line. Yet it may be assumed, with almost positive certainty, that if the pulse-rate do not exceed 118 or 120 per minute the child is a male; while if it do not fall below 142 the infant is a female. The chances of accuracy decrease the nearer the pulse-rate approaches 133 or 135. This detection of the pulse-rate in the fætus must, of course, be referred to the physician, and even he not infrequently finds difficulty in solving the problem. For the voluntary determination of the sex of the child in advance there exist several popular rules. Many women, and not a few physicians, believe that if conception occur just before the time for a menstrual period, the child will be a male ; and that conception just after a menstrual epoch produces a female child. This may be true, but we have no evidence to establish its accuracy, unless we accept as conclusive the results furnished by Thury, of Geneva. It had been noticed that the first eggs laid by queen-bees produced females, the later ones males. A similar assertion has been made with regard to hens. Thury, assuming these facts as a basis, proposed a law for the determination of sex in stock-raising, asserting that if conjunction occurred during the early part of heat, female offspring would be produced ; if during the later part, male offspring. This plan was submitted to somewhat meager tests in Switzerland and France ; the results though not invariable seem to sustain Thury's proposition. Thus one observer says : " In the first place, on twenty-two successive occasions I desired to have heifers. My cows were of Schurtz breed and my bull a pure Durham. I succeeded in these cases. Having bought a pure Durham cow it was very important for me to have a new bull to supersede the one I had bought at great expense without leaving to chance the production of a male. So I followed accordingly the prescription of Professor Thury, and the success has proved once more the truth of the law. I have obtained from my Durham bull six more bulls for field work ; and having chosen cows of the same color and height I obtained perfect matches of oxen. My herd amounted to forty cows of every age. In short I have made in all twenty-nine experiments after the new method, and in every one I succeeded in the production of what I was looking for-male and female. I have not one single failure. " Several other stock-raisers have reported limited observations to the same effect, and several physicians have asserted that the same law applies to the human animal; thus one writes : u Whenever intercourse has taken place in from two to six days after the cessation of the menses, girls have been produced ; and whenever intercourse has taken place in from nine to twelve days after the cessation of the menses, boys have been produced." He neglects to state what the result was when conjunction had occurred at both of these periods. When we consider the number of in stances in which the observance of this rule has utterly failed to produce the desired result; and when we further remember that, as there are but two sexes, any conceivable rule would by the laws of probability be successful in about one-half of the cases, it is evident that Thury's law has just about as much and no more claim upon our credence than any other that might be proposed. The most recent sensation in this direction is the report of a Texas stock-raiser, who, having tried and abandoned Thury's plan, devised one of his own. His theory is that the sex of the foetus is determined by the relative ardor of the parents at the time of conjunction - the offspring taking the sex of the less ardent of the two. According to his experience female offspring may be procured by imposing a period of abstinence upon the male previous to intercourse; and male offspring by the converse method. He, too, produces an array of experiments upon cattle by himself and others to prove the correctness of his proposition, but does not succeed in convincing one familiar with the general principles underlying the facts of reproduction. The popular idea ascribes a tendency to female offspring to a union in which the wife is older than the husband. For this belief there is no other foundation than the general fact that more male children are born than female, and that husbands are usually older than their respective wives. Others again assert that more females are born during warm years, more males in cold years. This, too, is a pure assumption, so far at least as the human race is concerned. Indeed, we may sum up this entire matter by saying that we have no exact knowledge by which we can fix at will the sex of desired offspring. Upon the possible causes which determine sex there has been endless fanciful speculation, and there are indeed many curious and interesting facts concerning the relative numbers of the two sexes at different periods of life and under different social conditions. More males are born than females, the proportion being usually stated at 103 or 104 of the former to 100, yet among the adult populations women are almost invariably in considerable excess. In England there are said to be 105 women, in London even 112 to every 100 men. In newly-settled countries this ratio is of course liable to great variation ; in some of our own Western States the men outnumber the women eight, ten or twelve to one. This of course results from the peculiarity of social relations and business pursuits, which necessarily exclude most women from these sections. Yet the fact remains that the adult population averaged throughout the world, displays an excess of females, notwithstanding the general excess already stated of male over female infants. The relatively excessive mortality among males indicated in this reversal of numerical majority between the sexes, occurs not alone, as we might suppose, in early adult life from the accidents, injuries and diseases to which masculine occupations necessarily expose men, but occurs also largely in infancy; for during the first and second years of life a larger number of males die than of females, so that in the fifth or sixth year of life females are already in excess. But first, if you want to come back to this web site again, just add it to your bookmarks or favorites now! Then you'll find it easy! Also, please consider sharing our helpful website with your online friends.
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