they are so rare as to be great
curiosities. Neither are they apt to occur in the first pregnancy. In
this respect they differ from twins, who, as has just been said, are
peculiarly prone to make their appearance at the first childbirth. Only
four cases of treble births occurred among the 36,000 accouchements
which have taken place in the Hospice de Maternite of Paris in a
determined time. Out of 48,000 cases of labor in the Royal Maternity
Charity in London, only three triplets occurred. History informs us that
the three Roman brothers, the Horatii, were triplets. They fought and
conquered the three Curiatii of Alba (667 B. C.) who were likewise
triplets.

As an interesting fact in connection with this subject, we may mention
that in the St. Petersburg Midwives' Institute, between 1845-59, there
were three women admitted, who, in their fifteenth pregnancies, had
triplets, and each had triplets three times in succession. Happily, the
fifteenth pregnancy is not reached by most women.

FOUR AT A BIRTH.

Instances of quadruplets are fewer than triplets. But four vigorous
infants have been born at one birth.

FIVE AT A BIRTH.

The birth of _five_ living children at a time is very exceptional, and
is usually fatal to the offspring. A remarkable case of this kind is
reported in a late medical journal. A woman aged thirty, the wife of a
laborer, and the mother of six children, was taken in labor about the
seventh month of her pregnancy. Five children, and all alive, were given
birth to,--three boys and two girls. Four of the children survived an
hour, and died within a few moments of each other. The fifth, a female,
and the last born, lived six hours, and was so vigorous that,
notwithstanding its diminutive size, hopes were entertained of its
surviving.

Another case is reported in a recent French medical journal. The woman
was forty years old. She had had twins once, and single children five
times. On her seventh pregnancy, when five months gone, she was as large
as women usually are at the end of their full term. At the close of the
month she was delivered of five children. They were all born alive, and
lived from four to seven minutes. All five children were males, well
built and as well developed as foetuses of five and one-half months
usually are in a single birth. The woman made a good recovery. Other
cases of five at a birth might be quoted. They are known to medical
science as very singular and noteworthy o