in the year 1491. Nufer, in 1500, and Rousset, in 1581, performed it a
great many times, always successfully; so that, Scipio Murunia affirms,
it was as common in France during that epoch as blood-letting was in
Italy, where at that time patients were bled for almost every disease.
However, a reaction soon followed, headed by Guillemau and Ambrose Pare,
who had failed in their attempts at Cesarean section. In our days a
marked change of opinion on this interesting and delicate question is
rapidly taking place.

"With these advances in view, the question now is:

"_Are we ever justified in killing an unborn child in order to save the
mother's life?_

"This is a burning question, and the sooner and more satisfactorily it
is settled, the greater will be the peace to the medical mind and
conscience.

"In answer to the question, I, at the outset, reply _No_, and claim
that, under no conditions or circumstances, is it ever allowable to
destroy the life of the child in order to increase the mother's chances
of living. And the day may arrive when, by the law of the land, the act
will be considered criminal and punished as such. In support of this
opinion, and to illustrate this position, allow me to take a purely
ethical and medico-legal view of the subject, and to relate to you a
parallel case, as also the decision arrived at by the Lord Chief Justice
of England, Judge Coleridge, than whom there is not a greater jurist
living.

"The case is that of the British yacht 'Mignonette.' On July 5, 1884,