oted by Walford, mentions as a well attested
fact the wife of a Scotch weaver who bore 62 children by one husband,
all of whom lived to be baptized.

A curious epitaph is to be seen at Conway, Carnarvonshire--

"Here lieth the body of Nicholas Hookes, of Conway, gentleman, who was
one-and-fortieth child of his father, William Hookes, Esq., by Alice,
his wife, and the father of 27 children. He died 20th of March, 1637."

On November 21, 1768, Mrs. Shury, the wife of a cooper, in Vine Street,
Westminster, was delivered of 2 boys, making 26 by the same husband.
She had previously been confined with twins during the year.

It would be the task of a mathematician to figure the possibilities of
paternity in a man of extra long life who had married several prolific
women during his prolonged period of virility. A man by the name of
Pearsons of Lexton, Nottingham, at the time of the report had been
married 4 times. By his first 3 wives he had 39 children and by his
last 14, making a total of 53. He was 6 feet tall and lived to his
ninety-sixth year. We have already mentioned the two Russian cases in
which the paternity was 72 and 87 children respectively, and in "Notes
and Queries," June 21, 1856, there is an account of David Wilson of
Madison, Ind., who had died a few years previously at the age of one
hundred and seven. He had been 5 times married and was the father of 47
children, 35 of whom were living at the time of his death.

On a tomb in Ely, Cambridgeshire, there is an inscription saying that
Richard Worster, buried there, died on May 11, 1856, the tomb being in
memory of his 22 sons and 5 daughters.

Artaxerxes was supposed to have had 106 children; Conrad, Duke of
Moscow, 80; and in the polygamous countries the number seems
incredible. Herotinus was said to have had 600; and Jonston also quotes
instances of 225 and even of 650 in the Eastern countries.

Recently there have been published accounts of the alleged experiments
of Luigi Erba, an Italian gentleman of Perugia, whose results have been
announced. About forty years of age and being quite wealthy, this
bizarre philanthropist visited various quarters of the world, securing
women of different races; having secured a number sufficient for his
purposes, he retired with them to Polynesia, where he is accredited
with maintaining a unique establishment with his household of females.
In 1896, just seven years after the experiment commenced, the reports
say he is