been sent as a female when dead to the workhouse; he had been there received as such, and his body afterwards conveyed to the hospital, where the imposture was first detected.

These facts have led many to believe that it was a case of sexual ambiguity; but so far from this, a simple inspection of the exterior of the body would have sufficed to remove all doubts upon the subject. The features were somewhat of a feminine character; the hair was long, and like that of a female, parted in the middle of the forehead. These were the only points in which any resemblance to the other sex could be traced. A great part of the beard and whiskers had evidently been plucked out, and the hair which grew under the chin had been dexterously concealed by the peculiar headdress which he wore during life.

The deceased was about thirty-four years of age at the time of death, and it appears that his voice had been remarked by several witnesses to be hoarse and peculiar, though not unlike that of many females at the middle period of life.

On the twenty-fourth of January, I was called upon officially to examine the body of the deceased, in order to ascertain the cause of death. With the exception of the appearances already described, it had every character of that of a full-grown male. There were no mammæ, the male sexual organs were perfectly developed, and the lower extremities exhibited those prominencies of the muscles and bones characteristic of the male sex. The upper extremities were somewhat slender and tapering, and the hands had evidently been unused to hard manual labour. Having laid open the thorax, the lungs were found considerably diseased, and adhering to the internal parieties of that cavity, they felt hard and tuberculated, and upon making a section through each, it presented a series of small abscesses filled with matter. There was scarcely a portion of the organs which could be termed healthy: the pericardium contained a larger quantity of serous fluid than usual; but the heart was free from any appearances of disease, although somewhat large. Upon opening the abdomén, the liver was found greatly enlarged, of a pale nutmeg colour, and presenting the appearance commonly observed in the bodies of individuals who have been addicted to the use of

spirituous liquors. The stomach was distended with about a pint of fluid, presenting nothing remarkable in smell or colour; its coats, both internally and externally, were healthy. No trace of inflammation could be perceived in any part of the alimentary canal, nor was there any poison to be discovered in the fluid contents of the viscera; indeed, the suspicion of poisoning was clearly negatived by the history of the symptoms immediately preceding the death of the deceased, and by the fact of his having been attended to the last by a physician who prescribed for him, and watched the progress of his case. The other viscera of the abdomen were found in a healthy state; the internal organs of generation were perfect, and the contents of the pelvis presented no ambiguity either in form or disposition.

It is the opinion of those who were present on the examination, that the deceased had been living for nine years in the lowest state of infamy, and that he had probably assumed and maintained the disguise of a female in order more effectually to conceal his nefarious practices.

Before the Coroner, it was simply stated that he had died from disease of the lungs; and, after some irrelevant evidence had been gone into, the Jury returned a verdict accordingly.

Another Singular Case of a Reputed Hermaphrodite.

The following case may be put in juxta-position with that of Lavinia Edwards :-" At a Quarter-Sessions at Taunton, in Somersetshire, Mary Hamilton, otherwise Charles, otherwise George Hamilton, was tried for pretending to be a man, and marrying fourteen wives, the last of whom, Mary Price, deposed in court, that she was married to the prisoner, and bedded and lived as a man and wife a quarter of a year, during which time she thought the prisoner a man, owing to her vile and deceitful practices. After a debate upon the nature of the crime, and what to call it, the court agreed that she was a most infamous and notorious cheat, and sentenced her to be whipped in Taunton, Glastonbury, Wells, and Shepton Mallett; to be imprisoned for six months, and to find security for her good behaviour for so long a period as the justices at the

next Quarter Sessions should think fit.-From Boyle's Chronicle, 1746.

A gentleman, now resident in Taunton, had an account of the evidence in the case from two persons who attended the trial, one of them as a juryman. The arts which the impostor practised were as curious as revolting, but of course are unfit for publication. Her object was to obtain the property the females possessed; and that being accomplished, she disappeared to practise her arts in other situations, and which she did successfully for some years. At the trial, those of the first thirteen wives who gave evidence, deposed that they entertained no doubt whatever but that the prisoner was of the male sex but Mary Price, the fourteenth, who was the first widow whom the prisoner married, discovered the imposition after three months' cohabitation. The motive for reviving this ancient and extraordinary case, is compassion for the respectable individuals whose names have been introduced to the public in the investigation as to Lavinia Edwards, and to show the possibility of imposition as much in one case as the other, though their conduct was so horrible.

Colonel Anne Gulstrade, in the Imperial Austrian service, is another singular instance of assumed sex. There are also examples of women who assumed the attire of sailors, and performed all the labours of such persons. One of these is now receiving a pension from our gracious sovereign, King William IV. and her history is fresh in the recollection of the British public.

R

CHAPTER II.

UTERO-GESTATION.—PREGNANCY.

THIS is a subject which requires great attention from the medical jurist, on account of the numerous relations it has to civil and criminal proceedings. It affects the honour and reputation of husband and wife, the peace of families, and the moral character of society; it arrests the administration of justice, when offered as a plea for reprieve; it aggravates an assault when abortion occurs, which renders the crime a felony; it may be pretended, and deception attempted on the medical attendant, and others; or the woman may accuse a person of causing abortion; it may be concealed, and it may affect the honour and property of parents and children, as in its protracted state, which involves legitimacy.

Under this section we have to consider the age at which pregnancy is possible, and after which it cannot occur; and that at which the male is capable of procreation. Decisions on these points may be called for in cases of disputed paternity, bastardy, or infanticide. Sir E. Home describes cases of pregnancy in this country at twelve and thirteen years, and I have known one at twelve years and a half. Dr. Montgomery describes the case of a lady of fifteen, who was the mother of twins. There was a girl, aged nine years, a mother in France; and during the sanguinary revolution in that country, girls of ten and eleven years were pregnant, and admitted into the Maternity. Again, a question may arise as to the latest period of pregnancy, and whether it is possible for a woman to bring forth an infant at the age of sixty years, in this or other climates. Such a case was tried in the Court of Chancery in 1834.

There is a case related in the Edinburgh Annual Register of 1816, of a woman aged fifty-four, who was delivered of female twins. Dr. Mosse, of Dublin, describes a similar case; and Marra, an Italian physician, treated a woman, aged

sixty, for dropsy, but he was deceived, for she was pregnant. Haller mentions cases of pregnancy at the age of It seventy. is also on record that a boy, aged seven years, who was precociously developed, was capable of performing the genital function; and Thomas Parr was compelled to do penance at one of the churches at the age of one hundred and twenty, for an amour, the result of which was a bastard.

Again, women have married a few days after the death of their husbands, which now rarely happens, but in one case of an Italian, whose husband died of plague two days after his marriage, the wife obtained a dispensation and married; and in two hundred and seventy-three days after the death of her first husband, and two hundred and sixty-eight days after the marriage she brought forth an infant, apparently full grown, and the question was examined in a court of law, whether the first or second husband was the father. It was decided, though I do not perceive on what grounds, that the second husband was the father. The first husband might have been in good health the day of his marriage, though destroyed by plague the day after, and there is no reason to doubt but he might be the father. Suppose a man in excellent health and vigour cohabited with his wife, who was also healthy, on a certain day, on which he was murdered, drowned, or died suddenly by apoplexy, or any other cause, no physiologist could doubt but impregnation might follow; and if she were delivered at the expiration of two hundred and seventy-three days from the time of his death, which period is seven days less than the usual duration of pregnancy, but that he might be, and if the wife was a virtuous woman, was really and truly the father of her infant. Before deciding on such cases, the age, strength, temperament, and fecundity of both parties ought to be most carefully and rigidly examined, according to strict and modern physiology.

In some cases a woman, convicted of felony, and ordered for execution, pleads pregnancy in stay of execution. The English law is, that the woman must be quick with child, or feel the infant move in her womb, and in such case the punishment is deferred until after delivery, as an innocent infant