ecessarily pregnant. The tests which afford
conclusive evidence of the existence of a foetus in the uterus
are--Ballottement, the uterine souffle, intermittent uterine
contractions, foetal movements, and, above all, the pulsation of the
foetal heart. The uterine souffle is synchronous with the maternal
pulse; the foetal heart is not, being about 120 beats per minute.

Evidence of pregnancy may also be afforded by the discharge from the
uterus of an early ovum, of moles, hydatids, etc. Disease of the uterus
and ovarian dropsy may be mistaken for pregnancy. Careful examination is
necessary to determine the nature of the condition present. Pregnancy
may be pleaded in bar of immediate capital punishment, in which case the
woman must be shown to be 'quick with child.' A woman may also plead
pregnancy to delay her trial in Scotland, and both in England and
Scotland, in civil cases, to produce a successor to estates, to increase
damages for seduction, in compensation cases where a husband has been
killed, to obtain increased damages, etc. A woman may become pregnant
within a month of her last delivery.

In cases of rape and suspected pregnancy, it must be borne in mind that
a medical man who examines a woman under any circumstances against her
will renders himself liable to heavy damages, and that the law will not
support him in so doing. If, on being requested to permit an
examination, the woman refuse, such refusal may go against her, but of
this she is the best judge. The duty of the medical man ends on making
the suggestion.

XXIV.--DELIVERY

The signs of recent delivery are as follows: The face is pale, with dark
circles round the eyes; the pulse quickened; the skin soft, warm, and
covered with a peculiar sweat; the breasts full, tense, and knotty; the
abdomen distended, its integuments relaxed, with irregular light pink
streaks on the lower part. The labia and vagina show signs of distension
and injury. For the first three or four days there is a discharge from
the uterus more or less sanguineous in character, consisting of blood,
mucus, epithelium, and shreds of membrane. During the next four or five
days it becomes of a dirty green colour, and in a few days more of a
yellowish, milky, mucous character, continuing for two to three weeks.
The change in character of the lochial discharge is due to the quantity
of blood decreasing and its place being taken by fatty granules and
leucocytes. The os uteri is soft,