of his weak and erring patient, and let her know, in language not to be
misunderstood, that she is responsible to her Creator for the life of
the being within her." (Wharton and Stillé's Med. Jur., Parturition,
p. 92.)

Dr. Walter Channing, of Massachusetts, refers to the difficulty of
obtaining a conviction for abortion, and adds: "I believe there has
never been one in this State, this moral State by eminence, and perhaps
in none is this crime more rife." ("Boston Med. and Surg. Journal,"
April, 1859, p. 135).

V. We have, then, proved, gentlemen, two important and pregnant
principles: 1. That we can never directly procure abortion, and 2, that
we can procure it indirectly in extreme cases; or rather that we can
take such extreme measures in pressing danger as may likely result in
abortion against our will.

While these principles are clear and undoubted, there are cases in which
the right application of them is beset with great difficulties. These
often occur in connection with what is called _ectopic_ or
_extra-uterine gestation_, namely, when the nascent human form lodges in
some recess not intended by nature for its abode. Of late years,
Dr. Velpeau, of Paris; Dr. Tait, of Birmingham, and many other eminent
physicians have shown that cases of ectopic gestation are more numerous
than had been supposed; one practitioner reports that he had attended
fifty cases, another eighty-five.

1. We will first suppose the case of an interior growth occurring, the
nature of which cannot be determined. It may be only a tumor, yet it may
be the growth of a living fœtus. If no immediate crisis is feared, you