which was mature but weak, to which it gave milk in abundance,
and both the mother and kid grew up strong. Compared with the
above, child-bearing by women of eight is not extraordinary.

The earliest case of conception that has come to the authors'
notice is a quotation in one of the last century books from von
Mandelslo of impregnation at six; but a careful search in the
British Museum failed to confirm this statement, and, for the
present, we must accept the statement as hearsay and without
authority available for reference-purposes.

Molitor gives an instance of precocious pregnancy in a child of
eight. It was probably the same case spoken of by Lefebvre and
reported to the Belgium Academy: A girl, born in Luxemborg, well
developed sexually, having hair on the pubis at birth, who
menstruated at four, and at the age of eight was impregnated by a
cousin of thirty-seven, who was sentenced to five years'
imprisonment for seduction. The pregnancy terminated by the
expulsion of a mole containing a well-characterized human embryo.
Schmidt's case in 1779 was in a child who had menstruated at two,
and bore a dead fetus when she was but eight years and ten months
old. She had all the appearance and development of a girl of
seventeen. Kussmaul gives an example of conception at eight. Dodd
speaks of a child who menstruated early and continued up to the
time of impregnation. She was a hard worker and did all her
mother's washing. Her labor pains did not continue over six
hours, from first to the last. The child was a large one,
weighing 7 pounds, and afterward died in convulsions. The
infant's left foot had but 3 toes. The young mother at the time
of delivery was only nine years and eight months old, and