atment or any act of violence caused a woman to abort.
Lycurgus compared women who died in pregnancy to the brave dead on the
field of honour, and accorded to them sepulchral inscriptions. In
ancient Rome, where all citizens were obliged to rise and stand during
the passage of a magistrate, wives were excused from rendering this mark
of respect, for the reason that the exertion and hurry of the movement
might be injurious to them in the state in which they were supposed to
be. In the kingdom of Pannonia all enceinte women were in such
veneration, that a man meeting one on the road was obliged, under
penalty of a fine, to turn back and accompany and protect her to her
place of destination. The Catholic Church has in all times exempted
pregnant wives from fasts. The Egyptians decreed, and in most Christian
countries the law at the present time obtains, that if a woman shall be
convicted of an offence the punishment of which is death, the sentence
shall not be executed if it be proved that she is pregnant.

SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF PREGNANCY.

1. The sign most commonly relied upon is the _cessation of the monthly
sickness_. The wife who misses the expected return of her illness, is
apt to conclude that conception has taken place. This sign is far from
being an infallible one.

It should be borne in mind that young married women sometimes have a
slight show for two or three periods after their first impregnation.
Ignorance of this fact has very frequently led to a miscalculation of
the time of confinement. On the other hand, the menses will sometimes
become arrested soon after marriage, and continue so for one or two
months, without there existing any pregnancy. The temporary
disappearance of the monthly sickness in such cases is due to the
profound impression made upon the system by the new relations of the
individual.

It not unfrequently happens that menstruation continues with regularity
during the whole period of pregnancy. Exceptional cases are given by
distinguished writers on midwifery, of women menstruating during their
pregnancy, and at no other time.

As a general rule, when a healthy wife misses her monthly sickness, she
is pregnant. But this symptom, though a strong one, must be supported by
others before it can be regarded as establishing anything.

2. _Morning sickness_ is a very common, a very early, and, in the
opinion of most mothers, a very conclusive symptom of pregnancy. We have
already had occasi