ninterrupted. Bates mentions a twin pregnancy in which an
abortion took place at the second month and was followed by a natural
birth at full term. Hawkins gives a case of miscarriage, followed by a
natural birth at full term; and Newnham cites a similar instance in
which there was a miscarriage at the seventh month and a birth at full
term.

Worms in the Uterus.--Haines speaks of a most curious case--that of a
woman who had had a miscarriage three days previous; she suffered
intense pain and a fetid discharge. A number of maggots were seen in
the vagina, and the next day a mass about the size of an orange came
away from the uterus, riddled with holes, and which contained a number
of dead maggots, killed by the carbolic acid injection given soon after
the miscarriage. The fact seems inexplicable, but after their expulsion
the symptoms immediately ameliorated. This case recalls a somewhat
similar one given by the older writers, in which a fetus was eaten by a
worm. Analogous are those cases spoken of by Bidel of lumbricoides
found in the uterus; by Hole, in which maggots were found in the vagina
and uterus; and Simpson, in which the abortion was caused by worms in
the womb--if the associate symptoms were trustworthy.

We can find fabulous parallels to all of these in some of the older
writings. Pare mentions Lycosthenes' account of a woman in Cracovia in
1494 who bore a dead child which had attached to its back a live
serpent, which had gnawed it to death. He gives an illustration showing
the serpent in situ. He also quotes the case of a woman who conceived
by a mariner, and who, after nine months, was delivered by a midwife of
a shapeless mass, followed by an animal with a long neck, blazing eyes,
and clawed feet. Ballantyne says that in the writings of Hippocrates
there is in the work on "Diseases", which is not usually regarded as
genuine, a some what curious statement with regard to worms in the
fetus. It is affirmed that flat worms develop in the unborn infant,
and the reason given is that the feces are expelled so soon after birth
that there would not be sufficient time during extrauterine life for
the formation of creatures of such a size. The same remark applies to
round worms. The proof of these statements is to be found in the fact
that many infants expel both these varieties of parasites with the
first stool. It is difficult to know what to make of these opinions;
for, with the exception of certain cases i