Southern States, there was quite a
prevalence of this kind of imposters. Many instances of the exhibition
of fetal movements in the bellies of old negro women have been noticed
by the lay journals, but investigation proves them to have been nothing
more than an exceptional control over the abdominal muscles, with the
ability to simulate at will the supposed fetal jerks. One old woman
went so far as to show the fetus dancing to the music of a banjo with
rhythmical movements. Such imposters flourished best in the regions
given to "voodooism." We can readily believe how easy the deception
might be when we recall the exact simulation of the fetal movements in
instances of pseudocyesis.

The extraordinary diversity of reports concerning the duration of
pregnancy has made this a much mooted question. Many opinions relative
to the longest and shortest period of pregnancy, associated with
viability of the issue, have been expressed by authors on medical
jurisprudence. There is perhaps no information more unsatisfactory or
uncertain. Mistakes are so easily made in the date of the occurrence of
pregnancy, or in the date of conception, that in the remarkable cases
we can hardly accept the propositions as worthy evidence unless
associated with other and more convincing facts, such as the appearance
and stage of development of the fetus, or circumstances making
conception impossible before or after the time mentioned, etc. It will
be our endeavor to cite the more seemingly reliable instances of the
anomalies of the time or duration of pregnancy reported in reputable
periodicals or books.

Short Pregnancies.--Hasenet speaks of the possibility of a living birth
at four months; Capuron relates the instance of Fortunio Liceti, who
was said to have been born at the end of four and a half months and
lived to complete his twenty-fourth year. In the case of the Marechal
de Richelieu, the Parliament of Paris decreed that an infant of five
months possessed that capability of living the ordinary period of
existence, i.e., the "viabilite," which the law of France requires for
the establishment of inheritance. In his seventh book Pliny gives
examples of men who were born out of time. Jonston gives instances of
births at five, six, seven, and eight months. Bonnar quotes 5 living
births before the one hundred and fiftieth day; 1 of one hundred and
twenty-five days; 1 of one hundred and twenty days; 1 of one hundred
and thirty-three days, surviv