Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine [18]
ceased to menstruate nearly ten years before. In St. Peter's Church, in East Oxford, is a monument bearing an inscription recording the death in child-birth of a woman sixty-two years old. Cachot relates the case of a woman of fifty-three, who was delivered of a living child by means of the forceps, and a year after bore a second child without instrumental interference. She had no milk in her breasts at the time and no signs of secretion. This aged mother had been married at fifty-two, five years after the cessation of her menstruation, and her husband was a young man, only twenty-four years old.
Kennedy reports a delivery at sixty-two years, and the Cincinnati Enquirer, January, 1863, says: "Dr. W. McCarthy was in attendance on a lady of sixty-nine years, on Thursday night last, who gave birth to a fine boy. The father of the child is seventy-four years old, and the mother and child are doing well." Quite recently there died in Great Britain a Mrs. Henry of Gortree at the age of one hundred and twelve, leaving a daughter of nine years.
Mayham saw a woman seventy-three years old who recovered after delivery of a child. A most peculiar case is that of a widow, seventy years old, a native of Garches. She had been in the habit of indulging freely in wine, and, during the last six months, to decided excess. After an unusually prolonged libation she found herself unable to walk home; she sat down by the roadside waiting until she could proceed, and was so found by a young man who knew her and who proposed helping her home. By the time her house was reached night was well advanced, and she invited him to stop over night; finding her more than affable, he stopped at her house over four nights, and the result of his visits was an ensuing pregnancy for Madame.
Multiple births in the aged have been reported from authentic sources. The Lancet quotes a rather fabulous account of a lady over sixty-two years of age who gave birth to triplets, making her total number of children 13. Montgomery, Colomb, and Knehel, each, have recorded the birth of twins in women beyond the usual age of the menopause, and there is a case recorded of a woman of fifty-two who was delivered of twins.
Impregnation without completion of the copulative act by reason of some malformation, such as occlusion of the vagina or uterus, fibrous and unruptured hymen, etc., has been a subject of discussion in the works of medical jurisprudence of all ages; and cases of conception without entrance of the penis are found in abundance throughout medical literature, and may have an important medicolegal bearing. There is little doubt of the possibility of spermatozoa deposited on the genitalia making progress to the seat of fertilization, as their power of motility and tenacity of life have been well demonstrated. Percy reports an instance in which semen was found issuing from the os uteri eight and one-half days after the last intercourse; and a microscopic examination of this semen revealed the presence of living as well as dead spermatozoa. We have occasional instances of impregnation by rectal coitus, the semen finding its way into an occluded vaginal canal by a fistulous communication.
Guillemeau, the surgeon of the French king, tells of a girl of eighteen, who was brought before the French officials in Paris, in 1607, on the citation of her husband of her inability to allow him completion of the marital function. He alleged that he had made several unsuccessful attempts to enter her, and in doing so had caused paraphimosis. On examination by the surgeons she was found to have a dense membrane, of a fibrous nature, entirely occluding the vagina, which they incised. Immediately afterward the woman exhibited morning sickness and the usual signs of pregnancy, and was delivered in four months of a full-term child, the results of an impregnation occasioned by one of the unsuccessful attempts at entrance. Such instances are numerous in the older literature, and a mere citation of a few is considered sufficient here. Zacchias, Amand, Fabricius Hildanus, Graaf,
Kennedy reports a delivery at sixty-two years, and the Cincinnati Enquirer, January, 1863, says: "Dr. W. McCarthy was in attendance on a lady of sixty-nine years, on Thursday night last, who gave birth to a fine boy. The father of the child is seventy-four years old, and the mother and child are doing well." Quite recently there died in Great Britain a Mrs. Henry of Gortree at the age of one hundred and twelve, leaving a daughter of nine years.
Mayham saw a woman seventy-three years old who recovered after delivery of a child. A most peculiar case is that of a widow, seventy years old, a native of Garches. She had been in the habit of indulging freely in wine, and, during the last six months, to decided excess. After an unusually prolonged libation she found herself unable to walk home; she sat down by the roadside waiting until she could proceed, and was so found by a young man who knew her and who proposed helping her home. By the time her house was reached night was well advanced, and she invited him to stop over night; finding her more than affable, he stopped at her house over four nights, and the result of his visits was an ensuing pregnancy for Madame.
Multiple births in the aged have been reported from authentic sources. The Lancet quotes a rather fabulous account of a lady over sixty-two years of age who gave birth to triplets, making her total number of children 13. Montgomery, Colomb, and Knehel, each, have recorded the birth of twins in women beyond the usual age of the menopause, and there is a case recorded of a woman of fifty-two who was delivered of twins.
Impregnation without completion of the copulative act by reason of some malformation, such as occlusion of the vagina or uterus, fibrous and unruptured hymen, etc., has been a subject of discussion in the works of medical jurisprudence of all ages; and cases of conception without entrance of the penis are found in abundance throughout medical literature, and may have an important medicolegal bearing. There is little doubt of the possibility of spermatozoa deposited on the genitalia making progress to the seat of fertilization, as their power of motility and tenacity of life have been well demonstrated. Percy reports an instance in which semen was found issuing from the os uteri eight and one-half days after the last intercourse; and a microscopic examination of this semen revealed the presence of living as well as dead spermatozoa. We have occasional instances of impregnation by rectal coitus, the semen finding its way into an occluded vaginal canal by a fistulous communication.
Guillemeau, the surgeon of the French king, tells of a girl of eighteen, who was brought before the French officials in Paris, in 1607, on the citation of her husband of her inability to allow him completion of the marital function. He alleged that he had made several unsuccessful attempts to enter her, and in doing so had caused paraphimosis. On examination by the surgeons she was found to have a dense membrane, of a fibrous nature, entirely occluding the vagina, which they incised. Immediately afterward the woman exhibited morning sickness and the usual signs of pregnancy, and was delivered in four months of a full-term child, the results of an impregnation occasioned by one of the unsuccessful attempts at entrance. Such instances are numerous in the older literature, and a mere citation of a few is considered sufficient here. Zacchias, Amand, Fabricius Hildanus, Graaf,