■AJST II^QXJI^EVSr 
CONCERNING the 
RELATIVE INFLUENCE 
OF THE 
SEX OF THE FETUS IN UTERO 
ON THE MENTAL, PHYSICAL, PHYSIOLOGICAL, 
PATHOLOGICAL, AND DEVELOPMENTAL 
CONDITION OF 
THE MOTHER 
DURING GESTATION, LACTATION, AND SUBSEQUENTLY. 
BY 
JOHN ST00KT0N-H0UGH, A.M., MIL Mag. Chem. 
Reprinted from the American Journal of Obstetrics and Diseases of 
Women and Children, Vol. XVII., Feb., March, May, and June, 1884. 
NEW YORK: 
WILLIAM WOOD & COMPANY, 56 & 58 LAFAYETTE PLACE. 
1884. -A-IST HNTQ)XJIZFL^T 
CONCERNING THE 
RELATIVE INFLUENCE 
OF THE 
SEX OF THE FETUS IIUTERO 
ON THE MENTAL, PHYSICAL, PHYSIOLOGICAL, 
PATHOLOGICAL, AND DEVELOPMENTAL 
CONDITION OF 
THE MOTHER 
• DURING GESTATION, LACTATION, AND SUBSEQUENTLY. 
JOHN ST00KT0N-H0UGH, A.M., M.-D,, Mag, Ohem. 
BY 
Reprinted from the American Journal of Obstetrics and Diseases op 
Women and Children, Vol. XVII., Feb., March, May, and June, 1884. 
NEW YORK: 
WILLIAM WOOD & COMPANY, 56 & 58 LAFAYETTE PLACE. 
1884. Reprinted from The American Journal of Obstetrics and Dis- 
eases of Women and Children, Vol. XVII., No. II., February, 1884. 
AN INQUIRY CONCERNING THE RELATIVE INFLUENCE OF THE 
SEX OF THE FETUS IN UTERO, ON THE MENTAL, PHYSI- 
CAL, PHYSIOLOGICAL, PATHOLOGICAL, AND DEVELOP- 
MENTAL CONDITION OF THE MOTHER DURING GESTATION, 
LACTATION, AND SUBSEQUENTLY. 
JOHN STOCKTON-HOUGH, A.M., M.D., Mag. Chem. 
For convenience of classification we shall treat the subject 
of our essay under the following different propositions, taking 
each in chronological order from conception to weaning. 
Influence of child without regard to sex. 
Relative influence of each sex. 
1. On producing extrauterine gestation. 
2. On the time of quickening. 
3. On the temperature of the mother. 
4. On the pulse of the mother. 
5. On the composition of the blood of the mother. 
6. On the digestive system. 
T. On the composition and quantity of the urine. 
8. On producing edema, of the vulva and limbs. 
9. On inoculating the mother with the constitutional pecu- 
liarities and maladies of the father, 
10. On the duration of gestation. 
11. On the position and presentation of the fetus. Hough: Influence of th: £>ex 
12. On the duration and production of difficult labor. 
13. On determining the site, weight and conformation of the 
placenta. 
14. On the quantity, quality, and duration of the lochia. 
15. On the quantity, quality, and duration of the lacteal 
secretion. 
16. On arresting the growth, development, and nutrition of 
the mother. 
17. On the determining the sex and weight of the next 
succeeding fetus. 
18. On the length of the inter-gestation period. 
19. On the mental condition of the mother. 
20. Influence of co twins of different sexes on each other. 
A pardonable curiosity has been manifested in all ages con- 
cerning sexual differentiation in the human species, particularly 
with regard to the causes which determine the production of 
the sexes, and the influences reflected by the peculiarity of each 
sexual organization on the mother during the time she carries 
the fetus in utero, and subsequently on the product of such 
conception itself, thereafter throughout life. 
Among the ancients, medical men, philosophers, divines, and 
astrologers, such as Aristotle, Hippocrates, St. Thomas Aqui- 
nas, Lactantius, Pliny, occupied themselves much with these 
questions, as have innumerable others down to the present day. 
Innumerable then are the authors and their opinions on the 
influence of the fetus in utero on the mother, and many of 
these have occupied themselves with a differentiation of these 
influences by sexes. 
To arrive at a clear understanding of these influences, it will 
be necessary to review the influences in general of the fetus in 
utero on the mother without regard to sex, and in the second 
place, to study the influence of the predetermined develop- 
mental powers peculiar to each sex conferred on the fetus at 
the time of conception, and thirdly, to return to our theme to 
study and compare the different influences of children of each 
sex on the mother during gestation and lactation. 
By a careful study and analysis of these effects of a difference 
of sex, we hope to discover the causes producing them, and 
thus add to our knowledge of those influences which are instru- 
mental in determining the sex of the child. of the Fetus on the Matin r. 
Concerning the effect of the sex of the fetus on the “ color ” 
of the mother, Sebiz1 (p. 495) very properly remarks that 
these aphoristic propositions are for the most part true, but for 
obvious reasons they are to be taken cum grano salis, as all 
women who bear males are not necessarily in good health at the 
time, and consequently may not have a good color, but given 
two women in good health, the one who carries a boy will usu- 
ally have a better color, better appetite, be lighter in her move- 
ments, and experience less malaise in general, than one who 
carries a female. Hippocrates, Galen, Aristotle, and Avi- 
cenna are all of the same opinion. 
The following are the signs of a male conception as given by 
Avicenna, L. 3, Can. Sen. 21 tract. 1. C. 13 : Her color is 
better, her action is more agile, that is, more prompt and expedi- 
tious in her movements, the burden or weight of the uterus is 
less sensibly felt, her appetite is better ; she is lighter in going 
about; should the gravid uterus incline to the right side, as 
usual with males, the right breast will be more enlarged, contain 
more milk than the left, the milk will be thicker, less aqueous, 
the nipples will be redder, the right pulse will be fuller and 
stronger. In rising to walk she will move the right foot first, 
her right arm will be strengthened, the right eye will be brighter 
and move more quickly. The contrary signs prevail with a 
female conception. 
JDr. Garble,2 of Palmyra, 111., claims to have discovered that 
in pregnancies with male children the areola of the nipple is 
u very dark in color,” while with females it is “ not very dark 
in color.” He says that he “ found almost invariably that when 
the sex is male the color of the areola was much darker than 
when the sex was female.” In this manner nineteen out of 
twenty males were determined (predicted), and eleven out of 
eighteen females. 
I have not met with any opinions concerning the rust-col- 
ored spots on the skin of pregnant women, whether they pre- 
vail more with male conceptions than with female. 
According to Aetius, L. ferm. 4, c. 9, if a woman conceives 
with a boy, the right nipple is larger, the veins and arteries on 
1 Melchior Sebizii, Excitationes medicse. De discrimine corporis 
virilis et muliebris. Item de notes Yirginitatis, 4to, Argent., 1672, pp. 94 
2Med. Record, N. Y., May 15th, 1880, p. 554. 4 
Hough : Influence of the Sex 
the right side are perceptibly tumefied, as one may see under 
the tongue; the pulse of the right arm is healthier, swifter, 
greater, and harder. The pupil of the right eye is larger and 
more brilliant than the left. The arteries of the right temple 
are more agitated and swollen than on the left side. Her 
spirits are gay, mature milk is generated, and the mammae are 
more solid. If the woman conceives of a girl, she is sad, the 
mammae are flaccid and more pendulous, the temporal artery of 
the left side is tumefied, and the milk arrives later. If the 
milk is dropped into the urine of a gravid woman it sinks 
and remains at the bottom if a male, but rises if a female. If 
a drop be allowed to fall on a mirror and it adheres together 
and rolls about like quicksilver, it is a male ; but if it separates, 
it is a female. 
Ci 1. The woman, when she riseth up from a chair or the 
like, doth sooner stay herself upon the right hand than on the 
left. 
Signs of a conception with a male. [Out of Culpeper,] 
2. The belly lies rounder and higher than when it is a fe- 
male. 
3. The child is first felt to stir on the right side, because, 
according to Hippocrates, the male children lie on the right 
side of the womb.' 
4. The womb breeds boys easier and with less pain than 
girls, and [the woman] carries her burden not so heavily, but is 
more nimble in moving. 
5. The right breast is more plump and harder than the left, 
and the right nipple redder. 
6. The color of the woman is more clear and not so swarthy 
as when she conceives a girl. 
The contrary to these are signs of conception of a female; it 
were but loss of time and blotting of paper to quote them. 
These are some of the vulgar rules, and the best of them. I 
never knew these.fail: 
1. If the circle under the woman’s eye, which is of a wan- 
blue color, be more apparent under the right eye, and the veins 
most apparent in her right eye, and that most discolored, she 
is with child of a boy; if the said marks be most apparent in 
the left eye, judge her to be with child of a girl. 
2. Let her milk a drop of her milk into a basin of fair water, of the Fetus on the Mother. 
5 
if it sinks to the bottom as it drops in, round in a drop, it is a 
girl she goes withal; for if it be a boy, it will spread and swim 
at the top. This I never knew to fail, though it be contrary 
to all authors that I ever read.”1 
Dr, McDonald,2 of Liverpool, claims to have predicted un- 
erringly the sex of the fetus during the last month of gestation 
in every case (eight multiparse and one primipara) by the ex- 
ternal form of the abdomen. He alleges that “ if the form of 
the abdomen be conoid and projecting (child carried in front), 
the child is male; if the form be more flattened and rounded 
(child carried round about), the child is female.” 
Dr. McD, suggests that strips of lead be used to determine 
the shape or projection of the abdomen in the median line, and 
transversely. The doctor has reason to believe the method 
applicnble to breech presentations, and to a period of at least 
two months before delivery. As yet, “ he has not constructed 
an hypothesis to explain the facts.” Osiander, as will be seen 
further on, has much the same views, claiming that the abdo- 
men becomes more depressed with advancing pregnancy when 
boys are carried. 
.From Wagner3 we gather the following: 
Occasionally it is well to note the diversity, according to the 
sex of the fetus, of the changes in the female body during preg- 
nancy. Indeed, most of the phenomena derived therefrom 
in all ages are extremely fallacious and uncertain, and therefore 
judgment of the sex of the fetus during pregnancy can only be 
made cautiously, if indeed at all [literally, and almost not at 
all]. Hence, far back in the earliest times men endeavored to 
foretell the sex of the fetus, and as generally happens, sought 
to support their diagnostic signs with false hypotheses. At all 
events, it is plain to see from various proofs that there exists, 
according to the sex of the fetus, some diversity in the general 
mutations of the female body. For in the first place, expe- 
rience teaches it is necessary that the constitution of the 
1 Nicholas Culpeper: A Directory for Mid wives, etc. 12mo. London, 
1671, pp. 102-8. 
2 The Antegenetic Discovery of Fetal Sex. London Lancet, February 
3d, 1883, p. 222. 
3 Wagner (Gulielmi): Commentatio de Foeminarum in Graviditate 
Mutationibus. 4to. Brunsweige, 1816, pp. 150-155. (Secundum Fetus 
■Sexuum.) 6 
Hough : Influence of the Sex 
maternal body (which is) to procreate males be other than that 
(whose office it is) to procreate females; as this is already re- 
quired in coitus—indeed, as pregnancy is naught else than the 
continuation and evolution of coitus itself, or rather of that 
state which begins with coitus, it is likewise evident that dur- 
ing pregnancy the constitution of the feminine body must be 
different according to the sex of the fetus; in fact, a certain 
peculiar disposition of the feminine body is required not only 
in coitus to determine the sex of the fetus, but also in preg- 
nancy to evolve it. Thereupon we may, from the diverse na- 
ture of boys and girls, divine this; when the difference between 
them (quorum) has been evolved in the maternal body, and a 
peculiar (certa quadam) conjunction, this too dependent on 
sex, intervened with the maternal body, it may be considered 
probable that (all this) has entered into the disposition of the 
infant in a certain ratio; although (licet) the evidences of this 
are not always certain. This is especially illustrated in our 
times in the disquisitions of the celebrated Osiander,1 who cer 
tainly affirms that those women who bear females in their 
womb universally enjoy better health than those who bear 
males. For the illustrious man asserts that in the latter there 
is frequently to be observed a fancy for certain dishes and 
again an immoderate appetite for other ones. That they are 
oftener taken with vertigo and fainting; that they are more 
inclined to somnolence, suffer oftener from inflammation of the 
breasts, heart-aches, colic, bad stomach (alvi obstructione), 
flatulency, and the swelling of the stomach which arises there- 
from, but that the abdomen becomes more depressed with ad- 
vancing pregnancy. But in those bearing females in their 
womb he more frequently noticed nausea and vomiting, and in 
the interval he saw that their infirmities were extremely pro- 
longed (admodum dies segrotantes). In addition, Astruc and 
Wigand 2 assert only in those pregnant of males that often a 
darkish tract may be seen on the abdomen, but not on those 
with females. Which nature of the female body appears to 
me upon great consideration to be more en rapport with the 
maternal one, and not to affect great changes therein ; whilst 
1 Denkwiirdige Reden filr die Hedkunde und Geburtshiilfe, Bde. 2. 
2 Beitrage zur theoretisclien und praktisch. Geburtsh. of the Fetus on the Mother. 
7 
on the other hand the male fetus, more foreign to the nature 
of the mother, may affect it more deeply (gravius). 
In addition to this, when we consider that it is probable that 
a larger proportion of females are conceived during the first 
half of the inter-menstrual period, and a larger proportion of 
boys during the last half of this period, we admit that differ- 
ent physical or physiological conditions are necessary to beget 
one or the other sex, and these conditions probably continue 
during gestation. 
It has been observed among various peoples that a prepotent 
force is necessary on the part of the father to beget males, and 
on the part of the mother to beget females. Hence it is very 
clearly to be seen that in each coitus one or the other sex is 
determined at the time of the act. For whatever conditions 
preside at the time of conception continue to manifest their 
influence throughout the period of gestation, and the sex of the 
fetus in its turn determines the diversity of the peculiarities in 
the constitution of the mother. From the manifestations of 
these peculiarities we may read or fortell the sex of the fetus in 
utero. 
Much has been said by the ancients, and gainsaid by the 
moderns, about the superiority, higher temperatures, and male- 
producing qualities of the organs of the right side of the body, 
and now we have to record the fact that in a certain case the 
milk of the right breast contained much more solid matter, 
from one and one-half to nine times as much as that of the 
left, and so great was this difference in quality that the children 
of each pregnancy refused to nurse the left breast.1 
The ancients also contended that the right ovary and the 
right testicle elaborated the elements which were destined to 
produce male conceptions, and the production of females was 
equally ascribed to the left. 
Whether there is any difference in the size and weight of 
the ovaries of the right and left side I do not know, but we 
think it probable that the right ovary is larger and heavier than 
the left, because we know that the left testicle is larger and 
more pendulous than the right. And this, added to the follow- 
ing concerning the Fallopian tubes, tend to strengthen this 
view: 
1 London Lancet. April. 1871. p. 21n, Amer. edit Hough: Influence of the Sex 
8 
“Up to the seventh month of fetal life both tubes are of 
equal length; from that time, however, the growth of the left 
is a little less than that of the right. The average result of 
ten examinations of girls who died before puberty was as fol- 
lows: The right tube measured 5.98 cm. in length, the left 
5.7. The average of nine examinations of virgin women who 
died between the ages of 16 and 81, was 9.5 cm. for the right, 
and 8.5 cm. for the left tube. After the menopause the ovi- 
ducts may grow from 2.5 to 4.5 cm. 
During the active period of the sexual organs, the difference 
in length between the two tubes is less marked; the average 
of twenty-two examinations in married women under 45 years 
of age gave for the right 11 cm, and for the left 10.9 cm. 
After the menopause, however, the difference is striking, being 
in twelve women examined between 46 and 80 years 9.75 cm. 
for the right and 9.1 for the left.”1 
Dr. Blackwood,2 of Philadelphia, has recorded a most in- 
teresting case of alternate menstruation from the right and left 
sides. This woman, aged twenty-two years, was found to have 
a hymen with two orifices, a double vagina, with a cervix uteri 
opening into each, and the uterus was completely divided by a 
longitudinal septum. At the time of menstruation there was 
congestion of one side of the uterus only, viz., that from which 
the flow occurred. And menstruation occurred alternately 
right and left, with one exception, during the thirteen men- 
strual periods she was under examination. 
A patient writes that “ every other month menstruation con- 
tinues two days, and on the alternate months its duration is 
from four to five days. The two-day periods are painless and 
natural, but the alternate periods are always attended with pain 
and a sense of weight or bearing-down for about twenty-four 
hours at the commencement.” 
The author3 from whom I quote the above says, “ I am un- 
able to suggest any theory which will explain these facts except 
that of alternate menstruation.” Continuing, he says, “ I have, 
however (having had my mind for years directed to this point), 
found several cases in which the patients had long been con- 
1 Am. Journ. Obstbt., New York. 
2 Medical Times, Oct. 25th, 1879. 
3 Trail’s Sexual Physiology, 12mo, N. Y., p. 184-5. of tlie Fetus on the Mother. 
9 
scions of pain and distress only in the region of one ovary at 
the menstrual period, and in nearly all of these cases the patient 
(on calling her attention to the subject) could very clearly re- 
collect that there had long been a difference in the menstrua- 
tion, that of each alternate month being more prolonged, more 
painful, or more hemorrhagic, or different in all of these re- 
spects.” 
We have stated that the intention and tendency in a state of 
nature is to produce the sexes alternately, male and female, 
and we here see that it is probably the same intention to ma- 
ture a Graafian follicle alternately, one month in the right ovary 
and the next month in the left, and these differentiations in 
the position (side) being different in incipient force and inten- 
tion, cause a reflex action on the woman different in intensity, 
exhibiting itself in a different degree of malaise, lassitude, irri- 
tability, congestion of uterus, quantity, quality, and duration 
of menstrual and lochial discharge. 
We have always argued that the begetting of females on the 
part of males was a higher or more difficult role than the be- 
getting of males, or in other words, each sex calls into action 
a higher genetic force or function to beget the opposite sex 
than it does to beget its own. We know that the left testicle 
descends first into the scrotum, is larger, heavier, and more 
pendulous than the right, from which we infer that there may 
be some truth in the saying that the right testicle generates 
males and the left females. Those who have opposed these 
opinions by what they consider as unanswerable facts, rely upon 
the fact that men having lost one testicle and women having 
lost one ovary beget indifferently male and female offspring. 
This argument is based upon a wrong interpretation of this 
theory, implying that the ovary or testicle of one side 
tined to beget one sex and that sex only. Whatever may have 
been the intention of the advocates of this theory, we do not 
believe that there is such a thing as predestination of sex, but 
that one or the other sex is produced, determined at the moment 
of conception only, by the relative maturity, relative vigor, or 
relative quantity or force of the elements of reproduction de- 
rived from each parent uniting to form the product of concep- 
tion. 
If it be admitted, therefore, that the right side is stronger, 10 
Hough : Influence of the Sex 
more highly developed, warmer, etc., than the left, it is prob- 
able that the ovum developed in the right ovary may be supe- 
rior in these respects to that of the left, and should the requi- 
site quantity and quality of sperm arrive at the proper time, it 
will probably determine a male conception. Should one ovary 
or testicle be extirpated or become inactive by disease, the re- 
maining one will perform the functions of both and evolve an 
egg or a spermatozoid capable of producing a male or female, 
according to the condition of the male and female during the 
elaboration of these elements, and this single ovary may tend 
to produce alternately ovules, or spermatozoids, at one time 
suited to produce a male, and at another time more apt to pro- 
duce a female. 
I do not wish to be understood to contend that males are 
produced only from the ovary of one side and females only 
from the ovary of the opposite side, but that, in healthy females 
living in a state of nature, there is an intention in the laws 
of nature to produce ovules in one ovary at a time and the next 
succeeding ovulation in the ovary of the opposite side, alter- 
nately right and left, and that the ovary of one side (probably 
the right) usually produces ovules better suited or in a condi- 
tion more likely, when fecundated, to result in a male concep- 
tion; and that the opposite side produces alternately ovules 
more likely, when fecundated, to produce females, though this 
rule is not invariable, and ovulation may take place from the 
same side twice in succession, producing the same or a differ- 
ent sex each time, probably a different sex each time, because 
the influence of the sex of the previous child on the mother 
always has a tendency to cause a change of sex in the gestation 
immediately succeeding, particularly where the woman nurses 
the child the usual period, and conceives within one year from 
the birth of the last child, or before the effect of the sex of the 
previous child on the condition of the mother has entirely dis- 
appeared. 
1. Influence of the Sex of the Fetus in Producing Extrauterine 
Gestation. 
Almost nothing is definitely known of the causes or condi- 
tions which favor extrauterine gestation, though some cases 
have been ascribed to fear or strong emotion at the time of 
coitus or conception. oi the Fetus on the Mother. 
11 
It is a fact frequently observed that such women have shown 
previously a remarkable inaptitude to conception during periods 
varying from five to eighteen years in the cases recorded. In 
these cases we should suspect atony or abnormal adhesions 
from disease of the canal or extremity of the Fallopian tubes 
and adjacent organs. 
Some years since, Dr. JohnS, Parry,1 then preparing his 
book on extrauterine gestation, at my suggestion (having called 
his attention to the views of Dr, Hubbard2), sought out and 
recorded the sex in as many cases of extrauterine gestation as 
were within his reach, with the following result, viz. : 41 or 
55.4 per cent males, and 33 or 44.6 per cent females. Dr. 
Hubbard contended that, from the position he took in regard 
to the determination of the sex of the child, females being pro- 
duced at the commencement of menstruation, and males after 
menstruation ceased, that the fimbriated extremity of the Fal- 
lopian tube was more likely to fail to erect itself and seize the 
ovary at the point of the rupture of the Graafian follicle at the 
end or after menstruation had ceased, than during the earlier 
days of this process, the time by him ascribed to the concep- 
tion of females, hence more male conceptions would fall into 
the abdominal cavity than female. 
This view is not strengthened by the few cases Dr. Parry has 
been able to bring together. Dr. von Mansfelde3 contends that 
the child in cases of extrauterine gestation is usually of the 
female sex, an opinion deduced from his theory, and based on 
the few cases lie could have seen. 
Here again the importance of stating the sex of the fetus is 
of the greatest moment. As it is, it is wanting in so many 
cases that we have too few data to come to any valuable con- 
clusion. 
2. Influence of Sex of Fetus on Time of Quickening. 
Avicenna taught “ concerning the first motion of the infant: 
If to the time wherein the fetus received its formation, you shall 
only add twice that space of time, that is the time of the motion 
1 John S. Parry: Extra-Uterine Gestation. 8vo, Philadelphia, 1876, 
p. 82. 
2Silas Hubbard, Buffalo Medical Journal, 1851, \ol. vii., p. 251. 
3 Sex Production. Proceed. Nebraska State Med. Soc., 1880. Hough : Influence of the Sex 
12 
of the fetus. Wherefore Hippocrates lias said before, if the male 
be formed in thirty days, that is in one month, it will in like 
manner be moved in sixty days, after the thirtieth, that is the 
ninetieth, to wit, in the third month. 
“ In like manner, whereas he hath said that a female is formed 
in forty days, if more than double be added to these, that is, 
eighty-four more, then the female begins to move itself, to wit, 
in the fourth month and six days.1 
“But the female obtains its primary formation in two and 
forty days at farthest, but the male in thirty, which is the long- 
est time. . . . Truly for the most part those women that bring 
forth females are purged two and forty days after the birth, 
which purgation, as it is very long, so it is complete, . . . 
“But such as bear males have their purgation thirty days, 
which are the longest of that sort, and in fullness and perfec- 
tion (p. 17). 
“Women have their purgations after child-birth for this rea- 
son, because before the two and fortieth day, if it be a girl, and 
the thirtieth if it be a boy, there is but a small quantity of 
blood contributed for the increase of the fetus; but afterward 
it flows in, more abundantly, until the infant comes into the 
world. Wherefore it is necessary that the purgation at the 
birth should flow and be brought forth, in proportion to the 
number of days. 
“Now I shall speak something, to demonstrate that the 
limbs of the child are distinguished and discerned, the female 
in two and forty days at most, and the male in thirty. Of 
which thing the purgation which happens after the birth, for 
two and forty days of a female and if a male thirty, which is 
indeed the longest space, "is a confirmation. , . . And because 
the female increaseth and is formed more slowly, it is manifest 
that the seed thereof is weaker and moister than that of the 
male, and for that reason must be longer in forming than the 
male, and that the purgation must continue longer after the 
birth of the female than the male.2 
“ Tearmcs flow after the fourteenth day, and thechilde is felt 
to stirre and move after the fifth day. To be short, all things 
1 Gorrseus, Annotat. upon Hipp. Concerning the Seed, p. 98. 
2 Hippocrates, Two Books Concerning the Seed, etc. of the Fetus on the Mother. 
13 
are more quick, lusty, and strong in the male than in the fe- 
male, lieusn. 
“And to be short, because the seed of the male is hotter and 
livlier than of the female, therefore all things in the male 
are sooner performed, as the male receiveth all the lineaments 
of his body, and perfect shape of a man in his mother’s wombe 
in thirty days: the female in forty. The male beginneth to 
stirre in the wombe in three months: the female in foure. 
The male is borne and cometh forth of the wombe in nine 
months, the female in ten. And the mother herselfe after the 
birth of a male, hath forty daies assigned for her purification ; 
but after the birth of a female, four-score daies, Leviticus, 12 ; 
4, 5. And that men are hotter in constitution than women, 
may easily appeare in that they have fewer excrements, larger 
veines, blacker colour, greater and lustier members, greater 
voice, more audacity and courage than women, BertinasL1 
Concerning the movement of the child in the womb, Hippoc- 
rates says that it “ happens to the male in three months, but 
to the female in four months. 
“ But the male is stirred first because it far excels the female 
in strength; and is likewise formed soonest, because the seed 
that composeth it is stronger and thicker.” 
Elsewhere we have shown from the record of forty cases ob- 
served by Ravn, that the average number of days from concep- 
tion to quickening was 134 with boys, and 149 with girls. 
Unfortunately we have not been able to gain access to a copy 
of Claude Bailly,2 wherein he gives his reasons for believing that 
the male is formed more quickly than the female. 
The following table will exhibit more clearly these differen- 
ces. 
1 Fletcher, I. The Differences, Causes, and Judgments of Urine: accord- 
ing to the best writers thereof, both old and new. 8vo, pp. 124, Lond., 
1641. 
2 Ergo mas celerius foemina tardius conformatur. In folio, Paris, 1569. 14 
Hough: influence of the Sex 
lable Illustrating the Periods of Development of the Petus 
According to Sex. 
With 
Females. 
With.... 
Males. 
..Menstruation. 
_Concepti on.i 
4ki Weeks. 
Formation Limbs. 
6 Weeks. 
19th Week. 
Quickening 
Quickening to Birth, 21 Weeks— 
51! st Week. 
Quickening to Birth 18 Weeks 
40th W. 
39th Week. 
Birth. 
The function of nutrition, says Moreau,1 commences imme- 
diately after the conception, and according to Hippocrates,2 it 
is less active if the embryo is male, than if it is female. He 
adds, “ If the opinion of Hippocrates was confirmed, the male 
'Hist. Nat. de la Femme. Vol. i., p. 177. 
2 De Natura Pueri. Lect. x. of the Fetus on the Mother. 
embryo would be formed thirty days after the conception, and 
the femsile forty days after the same epoch.” 
Moreau very properly observes, that u after the birth at least, 
this alleged slowness of development in the female will be 
changed, since the nutrition and growth go on with much more 
rapidity among women than among men. Their interior or- 
gans, their externa] form, their faculties, all develop in a very 
rapid manner, and the body of the woman is as well formed at 
twenty as that of the man is at thirty.” 
We contend that this change in the relative rapidity of devel- 
opment begins at the time of quickening, and that the female 
fetus consumes a fortnight less time in developing from the 
moment of quickening to the time of birth than does the male, 
as may be more clearly seen in another part of this paper. 
3. Influence of Sex of Fetus on Temperature of Mother. 
“ Dr. Granville1 has asserted that the temperature of the ute- 
rus sometimes rises as high as 120° F., the elevation seeming 
to bear some ratio to the amount of action in the organ.” Dr. 
Dunglison had some observations made with a view of deter- 
mining these questions, and Dr. Barnes, to whom was intrusted 
this duty, found that in three cases where the labia were re- 
spectively 100°, 100°, 102°, the uterus was 100°, 102°, 106°, 
during parturition. Fricke and Gierse2 could not find any con- 
stant elevation of temperature in the vagina of pregnant fe- 
males, yet they found a maximum excess of .54°, hence the 
following verses: 
“ For then, if she conceives the genial fruit, 
The sod has strength to feed the spreading root. 
Her vital heat increases, and her blood 
Then swells within her womb, a rosie flood 
From whence the future birth imbibes its food. 
—Quillet, Callipsedia, B. 1, p. 23. Edit. 1872. 
Close observation would probably show an appreciable eleva- 
tion in the temperature of the uterus during gestation, as com- 
pared with the non-pregnant state, and there would probably be a 
greater elevation when carrying a male fetus than when carry, 
ing a female, particularly before quickening, though this eleva- 
Philos. Trans., 1825, p.262; and Sir E.JHome, Compar. Anat., v. v. 
201. London, 1828. 
2 Henle: Handb. d. Ration. Pathol., 1846. 16 
Hough : Influence of the Sex 
tion might be reduced in favor of the female, during the period 
subsequent to quickening, owing to the more rapid development 
of the latter. 
Temperature of fetus a few tenths of a degree (Centigr.) higher 
than that of the mother. 
4:. Influence of the Sex of the Fetus on the Pulse of the Mother- 
M. De la Brousse,1 in a letter to M. Desbrest, says: “I 
maintain that the pulse of the radial, temporal, and other ar- 
teries (of the two sides of the body) is always equal in perfect 
health, and that in disease it is always stronger on the side affect- 
ed or suffering.” This observation, he says, is confirmed by the 
researches of MM. de Borden and Fouqnct. Continuing, he 
says the contrary happens in pregnancy. There is often feeble- 
ness in the pulse on the side to which the infant inclines the 
more, and it is without doubt occasioned by the compression it 
causes on the arteries of the lower belly, which makes itself 
felt on the radial of the same side. 
Hippocrates, in the forty-eighth aphorism, assumes that 
i: foetus qui mares sunt dextra, foe ninse sinistra majis sunt.” 
De la Brousse says, “ I will endeavor to affirm this passage and 
add to the means of proving it.” 
He declares that in thirty observations made with the object 
of predicting the sex before the labor, made for the most part 
from the sixth to the ninth month, he always announced the 
sex correctly, except in three cases, from simply feeling the 
pulse of the pregnant woman. In the cases in which he 
failed, the women wrere more or less sickly. 
He declares that the body is divided into two lateral halves, 
of which the right side is the stronger. Among pregnant 
women, on the side to which the child inclines the pulse is more 
feeble, by reason of the weight which compresses and hinders 
the circulation, and in consequence the physician who finds 
1 Sur la coimoisance du pouls dans les grossesses, qui peut servir a dis- 
tinguer les males et Jes fenielles, avant 1’accouchement. 
Journal de Med.. Chirurg. Pharm., Aoust. 1771, pp. 131-129. 
Lettre a M. Desbrest qui peut servir de suite aux observations prece- 
dentes sur la coimoisance du pouls dans les grossesses, ibid., pp. 139-133. 
Observations sur les differentessortes de pouls, ibid., p. 134-141. 
De la Brousse. Reponse a M. Amoreux, fils, ibid., Sept., 1771, pp. 337- 
333. of the Fetus on the Mother. 
17 
the pulse more feeble on the left side in a pregnant woman 
who is otherwise in good health could boldly announce a girl, 
and the contrary when the pulse on the right side will be more 
feeble. 
Amoreux,1 fils, in his letter to M. De la Brousse concerning 
the doctrine of the pulse, says that in China2 they feel the 
pulse with four fingers in three different places, that is to say, 
at the wrist, at the junction of the wrist, and at the cubitus. 
The pulse of the wrist of the right hand indicates that which 
regards the heart and the small intestines ; the pulse of the junc- 
ture of the same side indicates that which regards the liver 
and gall; the pulse of the extremity of cubitus of the same 
side indicates that which regards the left kidney and the blad- 
der. The pulse of the wrist of the right hand announces the 
affections of the lungs and the large intestines. The pulse of 
the juncture on the right hand regards the orifice of the stom- 
ach and the ventricles of the heart, and the extremity of tha 
cubitus the disease of the kidney of the same side. 
The Chinese “ secret of the pulse ” maintains that “ in a man' 
the pulse at the wrist should always be more strong than that 
of the cubitus. . . . On the contrary, the pulse of the woman 
at the cubitus ought always to be more strong than that of the 
wrist.” P. 409. 
“ If a woman generally has the pulse at the extremity of the. 
cubitus small, weak, and sharp, the abdomen is generally cold, 
and subject to various shiverings, though she be ever so young, 
and she may be certain she will never have a son, but if she is 
advanced in years she will have neither son nor daughter.”’ 
P. 418. 
The ancient book gives the plain rule. When the pulse is 
superficial or deep, as it ought to be in the three places of each 
arm, and the finger being pressed upon it, the beats continue 
to be felt, the woman is with child. 
1 Journal de Med., Chirurg., Pharm., etc., 12mo, Paris, Sept., 1771, pp. 
217-227. 
Seconde lettre a M. De la Brousse, surla decouverte du pouls de gross- 
esse qui fait distinguer les males et les femelles avant 1’accouchement, 
ibid., Juillet, 1772, pp. 62-76. 
2 Du Halde: Description de 1’Empire de la Chine, etc., 4 vols., folio,. 
Paris, 1735. (Fin du 3me vol., traduct. du Livre chinois sur le pouls par 
le pere Harvieu, missionaire. English transl., 2 vols., folio, London, 1791; 
another edition in 8vo, London, 1736.) 18 
Hough: Influence of the Sex 
In the first months of pregnancy the pulse of the wrist is 
often small, and that of the cubitus quick; if, in pressing it 
with the finger, it seems to disperse, she is three months gone ; 
but if it does not disperse, but keeps its usual consistence, she 
is in her sixth month. 
When the termes cease after conception, if the pulse be long, 
tremulous, ’tis a false conception. In the seventh or eighth 
month of pregnancy, if the pulse be full, hard, and strong, ’tis 
a good sign ; if deep and slender, the woman will have a hard 
labor, and die in child-bed.—Du Halde, p. 195, vii., ed. 1791. 
Continuing, he says: “ I have found nothing for the womb, 
but here is the pulse for that which concerns pregnancy: 
‘ When the pulse of a woman is felt at the extremity of the 
cubitus and it is found to be Hoa, slippery, it is a sure sign that 
she is pregnant. If it is at this place of the right hand that 
you feel the pulse, and find at the same time Hong, overflow- 
ing, she is with child of a daughter.’ 
If it is in the left hand that the same is found, she is with child 
of a son. If the pulse at the same time is found the same in 
both arms, the woman is pregnant with two children. He who 
understands this method will never be deceived.”1 
5. Influence of the Sex of the Fetus on the Composition and 
Quality of the Blood of the Mother. 
Bequerel and Rodier analyzed the blood of nine pregnant 
women, and, according to Montgomery, “ they conclude that 
pregnancy exercises a marked influence on the composition of 
the blood. The density, both of the defibrinated blood and of 
the serum, is diminished, the wrater, the fibrin, and the phospho- 
rized fat are increased, while the corpuscles and the albumen are 
diminished.” 
Andral and Gavarret analyzed the blood of thirty-four preg- 
nant women, and found that while the fibrin was below the physi- 
ological mean of 3 during the earlier months of pregnancy, 
that during the last three months of pregnancy the fibrin was 
found above the physiological standard, from 4 to 4.8, or a mean 
of 4.8 in the last month.—Montgomery, p. 283. 
1 Du Halde; Description of China and Chinese Tartary. 4 vols., 8vo, 
London, 1736. Vol. iii., “ The Secret of the Pulse,” pp. 366-469, in three 
parts, p. 376. of the Fetus on the Mother. 
“ The blood then,” he (Andral) says, “ manifests a remarkable 
tendency to assume the character of blood of inflammation, and 
without doubt we have to reflect on the relation which may exist 
between the kind of modification which the blood then undergoes, 
and the development of those special accidents, generally of an 
inflammatory appearance, which so often affect women recently 
delivered. Ought we to regard the slight excess of fibrin which 
in them exists in the blood as a predisposing cause of these ac- 
cidents ? ” 
On sheep and cows they made some interesting analyses seve- 
ral hours before and after delivery, showing that after delivery 
the fibrin and blood-corpuscles increased and the serum and water 
diminished. 
We here see that pregnancy causes a change in the composi- 
tion of the blood, but whether that change is greater in propor- 
tion or different in nature when a male fetus is carried from what 
it is when a female fetus is borne, we have no data upon which 
to base an opinion, as the sex of the fetus is not given. 
We may infer, however, that as the proportion of the various 
substances entering into the composition of the blood is different 
in adult males from that found in adult females, and that these 
differences exist possibly to a greater extent in the fetus (if we 
may judge from the temperature, pulse-rate, etc.), so it is there- 
fore probable the greater density or less watery condition of 
the blood in the male fetus determines in the circulatory system 
of the mother the production of more highly flbrinated blood 
than when a female conception is carried, and consequently ex- 
poses her to greater liability to the inflammatory maladies 
incident to child-birth. 
The following differences were found to exist between the 
blood of an adult man and woman by Foedisch : 
MAN. 
WOMAN. 
9 
28 
140 
91 
732 
1000 
8 
25 
129 
96 
742 
1000 
Fibrin 
Cruor 
Albumin 
Water 
From an examination of this table we see that the proportion 
of solids in the blood is greater in man, and the proportion of 20 
•Hough : Influence of the Sex 
fluids greater in woman. Now, whether this difference in the 
composition of the blood exists to as marked a degree in the 
fetus, we have no facts to appeal to, but arguing from analogy, 
we should be inclined to think it quite as great, if not greater, 
as the difference in the pulse-rate and temperature of the body 
we know are greater between the male and female than between 
the sexes in adults. 
In the adult we have 58.5 per cent of water, and of fixed 
substances 41.5 per cent. 
According to Bischoff, one finds in the composition of the 
new-born child 64.4 per cent of water and 25.6 per cent of fixed 
matters. 
Fehling gives from his experiments 74.4 per cent of water in 
the composition of the new-born. 
I have taken the trouble to calculate from a table given by 
Pinard1 the relative proportion of water in the male as com- 
pared with the female fetus in the fifth, sixth, and seventh 
month of intrauterine life, with the following result, viz.: Seven 
boys were composed of 86.22 per cent of water, and six girls 
gave the proportion of 86.96 per cent of water to 13.04 per 
cent of solid matters. 
We have, therefore, no positive evidence that the blood of 
the pregnant woman is different in character when carrying a 
male from that usual in carrying a female ; yet we are persuaded 
that there probably is a difference, however trifling, as we have 
seen that female conceptions are attended with constipation, 
indicating an absorption of fluids into the circulation. If the 
blood contains a larger proportion of water in the case of female 
conceptions, this might in some measure explain the longer du- 
ration of the lochial discharge in such cases. 
6. Influence of Sex of Fetus in Producing Disturbance of Di- 
gestive Organs of Mother. 
Aristotle says that purgations happen to many after they 
have conceived for a certain time, namely thirty days, especially 
if a female be conceived, forty if a male. 
Godart,2 after quoting Cardau, liv. 12, De Subtilitate 
1 Article on Fetus. Diet. Encyclop. des Sci. Med., 8vo, Paris, 1878, p. 
479. 
2 Godart: Marque Singuliere de laGrossesse du sexe. Jour. Med., Chir., 
Phar. etc., 13mo, Paris, 1759, pp. 539-532. of the Fetus on the Mother. 
21 
and Albertus Magnus, De Secretis Mulier, Chap. YIIL, 
says, it would be desirable to know why a certain class of symp- 
toms accompany a masculine pregnancy, and certain others a 
feminine, and cites the case of a woman who in her* first 
pregnancy was very constipated for a few days, and gave 
birth to a girl. The same thing happened again in her 
second pregnancy, and again a girl was born. During a third, 
fourth, and fifth pregnancy her bowels were moved regularly, 
«ven twice a day, and in each of these pregnancies she gave 
birth to a boy. The sixth pregnancy, finding herself con- 
stipated as in the two pregnancies first mentioned, she pre- 
dicted that she would give birth to a girl, and was not disap- 
pointed. 
Dr. Mattei* records the case of a woman forty-three years of 
age, in good health and rather stout, who was already the mother 
of four children, who, in speaking of her pregnancies, said that 
when she carried a boy she vomited very much, while with girls 
she did not vomit at all. Dr. M. explains this difference by 
saying that the presence of boys produces in the uterus more 
activity than the presence of girls. Possibly the slightly 
greater volume of the male fetus might aid in explaining this 
phenomenon. 
The constipation in the case cited by M. Godart might be 
explained by the fact of there being a larger proportion of fluids 
in the female fetus than in the male. As the fetus draws its 
supply wholly from the mother, the female fetus must consume a 
larger proportion of fluids than the male, and this, coupled with 
the estimated greater rapidity of formation of the female between 
quickening and birth (probably amounting to a fortnight), we 
can readily understand why the nourishment and development 
of the female fetus should be perceptibly more exhaustive phy- 
sically than the male. Hence we may infer that women are 
much more frequently constipated carrying girls than in carry- 
ing boys, and this would account for the other concomitant 
symptoms attributed from all time to a gestation with a girl, 
viz., heaviness of spirits, drowsiness, bad color, indigestion, etc., 
all symptoms of constipation. 
7. Influence of the Sex of the Fetus on the Urine of the Mother. 
It is now universally conceded that the condition of pregnancy 
1 Clinique Obstetricale, Gazette Obstet., 5 Mai, 1874, p. 104. Hough: Influence of the Sex 
has a marked influence on the character, composition, a nd quail 
titj of the urine. 
In 1831 Nauche announced the discovery of the keyesteinic 
pellicle, in the Lancette Frangaise. 
Eguisier1 in 1839 considered this pellicle an invariable at- 
tendant on pregnancy, others think it of some value as a corro- 
borative indication, while some consider it of no value at all. 
A woman is reported to have had diabetes in three successive 
pregnancies and not at other times. 
Dr. Donne found forty to eighty parts of lime in common 
urine, while only thirty parts or less were found in the urine 
of pregnant women. 
If a precipitate be made with a solution of baryta in urine 
of non-pregnant women, twelve to fifteen parts of the salts of 
baryta will be precipitated, while in pregnant women the urine 
will give but five to eight parts. Of thirty-six cases of doubt- 
ful pregnancy, Donne was only deceived twice by these tests, 
and Lubaniski detected three cases where all other means had 
failed. 
Now we have shown that pregnancy has a decided influence 
on the urine, and it now remains to review the various alleged 
differences in the urine of a woman pregnant with a boy from 
that usual in women who are pregnant with a girl, from a due 
consideration of which it is contended that the sex of the fetus 
in utero may be predicted. 
In nearly all the older books on the urine, a chapter is set 
apart on the prediction of the sex of the unborn child by an in- 
spection of the urine of the pregnant woman, as may be seen 
from the following, in which this far-seeing wisdom is ridiculed. 
“ After what manner (if divers pisse-messengers come together) 
they must be examined : How to show (by the urine) the sex, 
whether a woman be with a child or no, how long it is since 
she conceived of it, and whether she shall bring forth a boy or 
a girl, although the urine show none of all these,” Chap. VI.,. 
p. 80,2 
1 Du Diagnostic de la Grossesse par 1’Examen d’Urine, 8vo, Paris, 1842,- 
p. 79. 
2 Brian (M. Parlt): The Pisse-Prophet, or certain Pisse Pot 
12mo, London, 1637-1679, German transl. Hamburg, 1693, 1723. 
3Fletcher: The Differences. Causes, and Judgments of Urine, According 
to the best Writers thereof both old and new, 8vo, Lond., p. 124, 1641. 
Fletcher8 (p. 72) gives the following signs of “ conception in of the Fetus on the Mother. 
23 
women. Settling down of the sediment, which if they be red, 
through greater abundance of heat and blood, a male child is 
conceived. If white through less abundance of heat and blood, 
a female child is conceived. 
“ 1. Motes in the sediment red and round, signify a male ; 
but motes white and round, a female. 
“ 2. Milke [in conception of male] commeth sooner into her 
breasts, which being milked, and set in a glasse in the sunne, it 
waxeth hard into a stone, not unlike a bright pearle. 
“ 3. All her right side is better and more lusty than her left, 
right eye fairer, right pap greater with milke, the pulse of her 
right artery swifter. 
“ 4. If a woman’s urine be kept three days in a glass bottle 
stopped, and after strain it through a tine, cleane linen cloath, 
if there appeare little quicke living creatures, and red, a male 
is conceived, if white a female. 
The “ uryne of a woman that is with chylde, her water shall 
have some cleare strykes, the most parte shall be troubled, and 
the troublessnesse shall be reedysche, in the manner of tawney, 
and this token shall never fayle, as soon as the chylde hath lyfe, 
and if it be a gyrle, the troublessness shall draw downwards 
and if it be a boye the troublessnesse shall have above.”1 
While the composition of the urine of a woman pregnant 
with a boy is probably different from that of a woman pregnant 
with a girl, and easily demonstrable, yet it is too much to ex 
pect that it should be so invariably (owing to a difference in 
temperament, diet, age, kind of nourishment, etc.), that the 
sex of the child could usually be predicted by such a test. 
On the other hand, we feel persuaded that, should the urine 
of a sufficient number of women, pregnant with boys, be com- 
pared with an equal number in same condition of life, tempera- 
ment, etc., pregnant with girls, there would be found an appreci- 
able difference in its composition, density, quantity, color, etc., 
sufficient to show that the sex of the fetus in utero has a percep- 
tible influence in determining the character, composition, and 
quantity of the urine secreted during pregnancy, thus affecting 
the physical condition of the mother during gestation. 
1 Here beginneth the seigne of the uryne, etc., 16mo, Lond., 1553, p. 33. 24 
Hough : Influence of the Sex 
8. Influence of Sex on Production of Edema of Yulva and 
Members. 
The curious and popular book of Albertus Magnus, “ De 
Secretis Mulier,” is full of wisdom on the subject of the signs 
of conception, by which a male may be distinguished from a 
female, as the following words of his translator 1 abundantly 
testify: “We shall now proceed and communicate to the 
world what are the signs or indications of a man or woman 
child, and what I shall here lay down may be depended on as 
certain. If a woman has conceived of a boy, the color of the 
face will be red, and her motion will be light and easy. A 
second sign of a boy is if the belly swells on the right side 
and grows round and plump. Thirdly, if the milk of a woman’s 
breast be thick and well digested, so that when it is dropped 
upon anything that has been well rubbed it keeps close in its 
body and does not separate or divide itself, then you may de- 
pend upon it that such a woman has conceived of a boy. 
“ Fourthly, if the milk so digested, or if a drop of blood drawn 
from the right side be put into clear water or into urine and 
sinks directly—that is, perpendicularly—to the bottom, this is 
a sign of a male child. But if it floats or swims at the top or 
upon the surface of the water, this is a certain sign of a fe- 
male.” 
[Some of these tests are resorted to at the present time in 
Italy in selecting a wet-nurse to test the quality of the milk— 
not by old women, but by professors of obstetrics, such tests 
having been witnessed by the author in 1874.] The right 
breast is said to be larger in conceptions with males. 
“ Sixth, when a woman, as she begins to walk, moves the 
right foot forward and not the left, it is a male child, and the 
contrary when it is a female.” 
Aristotle, B. vii., says that “ those that are pregnant with a 
male fetus, usually pass through the time more easily, and re- 
tain a better color throughout. If a female is conceived, the 
-contrary is the case; for they are generally more discolored, 
and suffer more during the period of gestation. In many cases 
1 John Quincy, M.D., Translation of Albertus Magnus, 8vo, London, 
1725, pp. 83-85. of the Fetus on the Mother. 
25 
the legs swell, and a swollen condition of the flesh is also com- 
mon. In some women, however, the condition is the contrary ; 
pregnant women are apt to have all sorts of fancies; these are 
strongest when a female is conceived.” 
Pliny, H. Hist., B. vii., Oh. 5, says that with a female con- 
ception “ the mother experiences an almost insupportable 
weight, there is a slight swelling of the legs and groin, and 
the first movement of the child is not until the ninetieth day.” 
Concerning the swelling of the legs and groin mentioned by 
ancient authors, it is clearly a difficult matter to decide whether 
it occurs more frequently in case of gestation with girls than 
with boys, as one is seldom called upon to treat such a condi- 
tion in the human female. However, in the case of phlegma- 
sia alba dolens it would be interesting to determine if this con- 
dition were more frequent in female births than in those of 
males. As tending to confirm the alleged swelling of the 
groin in female conceptions, M. Lemoal, of Rennes, France, 
has observed that the “ bearing ” or vulva of cows was percep- 
tibly more swollen in the case of those that afterwards gave 
birth to female calves than in the case of those that gave birth 
to males, so much so that he was always able to predict the sex 
of the calf by observing the “bearing.” 
9. Influence of Sex of Fetus on Inoculating the Mother with 
the Constitutional Peculiarities of the Paternal Organism. 
It is a well-known and undisputed fact that the fetus in utero 
inoculates the mother during gestation with physical peculiari- 
ties of the male by whom she was impregnated, and is liable 
to imprint one or more of such peculiarities on her subsequent 
offspring, even when by another father. 
How, we wish to determine whether the male or female fetus 
has the greater influence in thus inoculating the mother. 
The generally-received opinion, as taught by Aristotle, Hip- 
pocrates, and other authors—and elaborated in an interesting 
article by the author of this paper,1—is that the female children 
1 The Law of Transmission of Resemblance from Parents to their Chil- 
dren. N. Y. Med. Rec., 1874. See Dr. Harvey, Monthly Journ. Med. 
•Sci., 1849-50; also, Sedgwick, Med.-Chir. Trans., 1861-2. 26 
Hough : Influence of the Sex 
resemble more their father than their mother, and the males 
incline more to their mother than to their father. 
Presuming this to be true, we would infer that, as females re- 
semble their father more than their mother, they would engraft 
on the mother more of the peculiarities of the father than, 
would a male conception. The greater extent of placental 
connection in the former case would also favor this view, though 
the greater length of gestation with males might interpose 
a modifying influence. I am therefore inclined to believe that 
female conceptions impress the mother more than the male 
with peculiarities of the father, as we have shown that the 
former impresses her physically more. 
10. Influence of Sex of Fetus on the Duration of Gestation. 
Professor Hamilton, in his paper,1 has stated that “ he has 
ascertained by facts which are incontrovertible, that the more 
calves the cow has had the longer is the duration of her preg- 
nancy,” while Tessier declares with equal pertinacity that lie 
has ascertained beyond doubt that the duration of gestation “is 
not affected by the age, constitution, or food of the animals;, 
nor by the size, strength, or sex of the fetus,2 but more recent 
investigations have at least rendered doubtful the truth of his 
conclusions in these latter respects.3 
Sir E, Home mentions the fact that where animals of differ- 
ent species breed, the period of gestation is the longest time of 
the two ; “ the mare covered by an ass goes eleven months ; and 
the ass covered by the horse goes eleven months, although ten 
is her usual period.”4 
On the authority of Herman Yon Hathusius,6 cited by Dar- 
win,6 we are told “ that Merino and Southdown sheep, when 
both have long been kept under exactly the same conditions,, 
differ in their average period of gestation, as seen in the 
following table: 
I1 Philos. Trans., 1823. 
2 Montgomery, Signs, etc., of Pregn., p. 533. 
3 Mem. de 1’Acad., p. 15 et seq, 
4 Prac. Obstet., p. 109. 
5 Animals and Plants under Domestication, Vol. 1, p. 97. 
6 Transl. in Bull. Soc. Imp. d’Acclimat., tome ix., 1863, p. 733. of the Fetus on the Mother. 
27 
Merinos, . . . 150.3 days 
Sonthdowns, . . 144.2 “ 
Half-bred Merinos and Sonthdowns, 146.3 “ 
Three-quarters blood of “ 145.5 “ 
Seven-eighths “ “ “ 144.2 “ 
“Hathusius remarks that, as Southdowns grow with remark- 
able rapidity after birth, it is not surprising that their fetal de- 
velopment should have been shortened.” 
It appears that domestication and high breeding shortens 
the period of gestation, according to these two observers. 
Mr. F. Burke,1 in reciting the results of M. Tessier’s experi- 
ments concerning the period of gestation in cows, says: “ In 
most cases, therefore, between nine and ten months may be 
assumed as the usual period; though with a bull-calf she has 
been generally observed to go about forty-one weeks, and a few 
days less with a female.” 
Of twelve cows observed by Dr. Nicolls, 
1 went . . . .276 days. 
1 “ . . . 279 “ 
2 “ . . . 282 “ 
1 “ . . . 283 “ 
1 “ . . . 285 “ 
2 “ . . . 286 “ 
1 “ . . . 288 “ 
1 “ . . . 293 “ 
1 “ . . . 295 “ 
1 “ . . . 303 “ 
12 
“ It will be observed here that six, or one-half of the whole 
number, exceeded the ordinary period of 285 days; and of 
these six calves four were bulls. Dr. N. observes that £ accord- 
ing to this record the bull calves were carried from one to 
three weeks longer than the heifers.’ 
“ With regard to any influence or relation between the sex 
of the offspring and the prolongation of the gestation, Lord 
Spencer thinks there is some foundation for the opinion; since; 
1 British Husbandry, Vol. ii., p. 438. 28 
Hough : Influence of the Sex 
it appears that from the cows whose period of gestation did not 
exceed 286 days, the number of cow-calves produced was 233, 
and bull-calves 234:; while from those whose period exceeded 
286 days the number of cow-calves was only 90, while the 
bull-calves was 152. 
“ Lord Spencer having subsequently bought another bull, found 
that of sixteen cows impregnated by this bull, which was aged, 
the average period of gestation was 290£; and of fifty-nine other 
cows in calf by this bull, the average period was 288 days; or, 
taking the whole seventy-five cows, the average was 288£, an ex- 
cess of about four days over the ordinary period. His lordship 
also observes that while of the 764: cows first kept account of, 
185 went less than 281 days, not one of the seventy-five cows in 
calf by this bull did so. And again, while only one-seventh (111) 
of the same 764: went above 289 days, between one-third and 
one-half (twenty-nine out of seventy-five) of those covered by 
this new bull went above 289 days.”1 
Mr. C. N. Bement,2 of Albany, H. Y., published the result of 
his observations on the period of gestation in cows, in 184:5, 
which has been tabulated by Dr. Beck.3 
Average period 
of gestation. 
In 1839 three cows produced heifer calves, 284 days. 
1840 six cows “ “ “ 287 “ 
1841 eight cows u “ “ 286 “ 
1842 four cows “ u “ 284 “ 
1843 five cows “ “ “ 282 “ 
1839 eleven cows “ bull “ 280 “ 
1840 seven cows “ “ “ 299 “ 
1841 three cows “ “ “ 293 “ 
] 842 nine cows “ “ “ 287 “ 
1843 six cows “ “ “ 282 “ 
62 cow's average . . 285 “ 
36 cows, average time with males, . 288 “ 
26 “ “ “ “ females, 282 “ 
The shortest period was 213 days, and the longest 336, a dif- 
ference of 123 days. 
As the cow is in heat every two weeks, and varies on an 
1 Montgomery, Signs, etc., of Pregnancy, p. 581. 
2 Cultivator, July, 1845; cited in Amer. Jour. Med. Sci., Oct., 1845. 
3 Medical Jurisprudence, 1850, vol. i., p. 576. of the Fetus on the Mother. 
29 
aAerage six days in the duration of gestation of males and 
females, and as the human female is in heat every four weeks, 
and varies about twelve to fourteen days in the average period 
of gestation for males and females, we can readily see the 
analogy, and deduce the law, that is, the difference in the du- 
ration of gestation with a male fetus is one-half the intermen- 
strual period longer than with a female. 
The period of gestation in the same woman with a fetus of 
the same sex may vary from several circumstances, among 
which I may mention: age, state of health, number of preg- 
nancy, whether living with her husband or not, frequency of 
intercourse, emotions of fear, grief, joy, etc.; age, physical 
condition, etc., of the father of her child. 
This difference in the duration of pregnancy, where it goes 
beyond the usual period, is clearly independent of the sex of 
the fetus, though we have shown that in cases of protracted 
gestation there is usually an excess of males. Lord Gardner, 
in the famous Peerage Case, had a son born 312 days after his 
absence from his wife, who was decided to be legitimate. 
“ There is a prevalent belief among farming men, and I be- 
lieve, farmers, that, when the time of gestation of a cow is 
longer than usual, the produce is generally a male-calf. I con- 
fess I did not believe this to be the case, but this table shows 
that there is some foundation for the opinion. In order fairly 
to try this, the cows which calved before the 260 days, and 
those which calved after the 300th, ought to be omitted as being 
anomalous cases, as well as the cases in which twins were pro- 
duced, and it will then appear that, from the cows whose period 
of gestation did not exceed 286 days, the number of cow calves 
produced was 233, and the number of bull calves 234; while 
from those whose period exceeded 286 days, the number of 
cow calves was only 90, while the number of bull calves was 
152.” 
As Earl Spencer considers 284 days as the usual period of 
gestation in the cow, and as his figures show that an equal 
number of each sex born of cows whose period is 284 days, it 
is only fair that the relative proportion of male to female births 
should be shown from this period; then we should have from 
the 284th to the 300th day, 141 cow calves (37.7 per cent), to 
33 bull calves (62.3 per cent). If this same method be pur- 30 
Hough: Influence of the Sex 
sued in calculating the births from the 260th to the 284th day, 
we find 149 cow calves (55.3 per cent), against 120 bull calves 
{44.6 per cent). 
We have taken the trouble to separate the sexes of the calves 
given in the tables1 of Lord Spencer, and find that the average 
duration of gestation of all the cows that gave birth to heifer 
calves was 282.7 days, whereas the bull calves were carried 
285.1 days, as will be seen from the following table, viz.: 
Bearing heifer calves, 354; average dur. of ges. 282.7 ) 9gg 9 
“ bull “ 401; “ “ “ 285.1 ) 
“ twins, both beif., 7; “ “ “ 277.6 \ 
“ “ “ bulls, 5; “ “ “ 274.4 1 276.8 
“ “ cow & bull, 11; “ “ “ 278.3 ) 
Total number of cows, 764. 
Proportion of males to females in single births, 115.3 to 100. 
“ “ “ twin “ 84 to 100. 
Average duration of gestation, single births, 283.9 days. 
“ “ “ multiple “ 276.8 “ 
From an examination of the preceding table it will be seen 
that the average duration of gestation, when more than one 
fetus is carried, is seven days shorter, and that twin bulls are 
carried 10£ days less than a single bull. As the male fetus is 
heavier than the female, from what we have noted above it is 
clear that the total weight of the fetal mass has a decided in- 
fluence on the duration of gestation—shortening it considerably 
when that mass is excessive in bulk. 
M. Gaston,2 in his researches on the duration of gestation, 
found that boys were carried from two to seven days longer than 
girls, as may be seen from the following table: 
PEIMIPARAS (average). 
Cases. Age Mother. Dur. Mens. Dur. Gest. Wght. of Child. 
10 23 5.45 276.2 3145 gm. boys. 
21 22 4.60 274.4 3151 “ girls. 
12 29 4.5 285.2 3280 gm. boys. 
1.8 26 5.1 277.6 3250 “ girls. 
In nearly 800 cases recorded in the obstetrical wards of the 
MULTIPART (AVERAGE). 
1 the Royal Agricultural Soc., 1840, vol. i., pt. 2, p. 165. 
2 Nouvelles Recherches sur la duree de la grossesse, ses rapports avec 
la conception, 1’ovulation et la menstruation, 8vo, 1876. of the Fetus on the Mother. 
31 
Philadelphia Hospital, I found, from a careful tabulation of the 
■cases, that the duration of gestation was on an average always 
longer with male children than with female—as may be seen 
by an examination of the following table: 
WITH GIRLS. MONTHS. 
168 cases first pregn’y, 8.87 
48 “ first “ ' 8.81 
51 “ second “ 8.85 
44 “ second “ 8.97 
311 “ 1st & 2d “ .87 
WITH BOYS, MONTHS. 
153 cases first pregn’y, 8.95 
54 “ first “ 8.92 
17 “ second “ 9.03 
44 “ second “ 8.98 
268 “ 1st & 2d “ 8.97 
or yW of a month (3 days) longer with boys than with girls. 
Ravn found in 40 cases that the average number of days 
from conception to quickening was 134 with boys and 149 with 
girls; while the average duration of gestation in 150 cases was 
277.4 days for boys and 276.7 for girls. For the year 1854, 
boys, 278.8; girls, 272.8. 1855, boys, 279.9; girls, 277.7. 
The ancients having discovered that females were carried in 
the womb a longer time than males before quickening, reasoned 
from analogy that gestation lasted ten months with girls, 
whereas it was but nine months with boys. 
Bonaventura, the author of a curious and rare book as large 
as a family Bible, of which I am the fortunate possessor of a. 
copy, with much learning spread over nearly a thousand pages, 
to prove that eight months is the natural period of gestation 
in the human female, against the vulgar opinion, argues in 
the opposite way, from effect to cause, maintaining that boys 
are more slowly formed than girls, and that is why they are 
carried longer—as may be seen from the following: 
“ Hoc posito sequitur, verisime a D. Thoma dictum esse, 
masculi materiam majori, ac multiplici terminatione indigere 
qu m foeminae materiam; hoc n. non universaliter pronunciat 
D. Thomas, na sic a veritate, ac preceptore dissentiret, cum 
mas brevior tempore formetur in utero quam foemina, ut su- 
perius vindimus, potissimumque; libro tertio, et sic minori in- 
digeat terminatione. . . . 
“ Id est et inter mares natura foeminam referentes, et inter 
foerainas marem. Unde vere in partu hoc, de quo agit D. Tho- 
1 Om Svangerskabstidens Graendser, 8vo, Kjobenhavn, 1856, pp. 31, 
36. 32 
Hough : Influence of the Sex 
mas, cunctabitur mas tardius confomiatus, proindeque tardius- 
veniens in lucem quam sua natura patiatur.” 1 
By way of variety in opinion we may cite Yalesius, Sacrae 
Philosophse, who maintains that because we admit that the 
male is sooner formed than the female, it does not follow that 
gestation is shorter with the male, but that what the female 
loses in slowness of formation up to the period of quickening, 
she makes up by greater rapidity afterwards, and is born after 
gestation of equal length with the male, as may be gathered 
from the following: 
“ Necesse est ergo foeminse quam mares tardius accipiant 
tiguram et moveantur; non tamen proinde et tardius edantur 
in lucem, sed eisdem temporibus quibis mares; quia quanto 
tardius accipiunt tiguram, et moveatur, tanto, postquarn formata 
sunt, citius veniunt ad incrementum.” 
11. Influence of Sex on the Position and Presentation of letus. 
Gorraeus, in his Annotations on Hippocrates concerning the 
Seed, says that hitherto all men have followed Hippocrates, 
who teaches that the position of the fetus in the womb is the 
same whether it be a boy or a girl, except that “ the male 
hath this difference with the female, that he is turned with the 
fore part of his body towards the abdomen of his mother 
but with his back part leaning upon his mother’s back. 
“ But the female has the contrary situation, which undoubt- 
edly appears evident at the birth, which, when it comes, after 
the child is turned, the male seems for the most part to come 
forth and exhibit itself with the face turned towards the back- 
bone and podex of the mother, but the female after a differ- 
ent manner.” 
Mercuric2 gives illustrations of the position and presentation 
of the fetus at the time of birth according to the sex. On page 
twenty-seven, he illustrates “11 sito del parto naturale, nel 
quale nascono cosi i maschi come le femine rare volte. [The 
natural presentation, in which males are born, as are also the 
females on rare occasions. This is the head-first, occipito-pos- 
terior position.] 
1 Bonaventura, F.: De Natura Partus octomestris, adversus vulga- 
tamopinonem. Libri decern, 944 + 40 pp. folio. Yenetiis, 1602. Lib. 9, 
Cap. xliii., p. 841. 
2 Scipio Mercuric, La Commare, 4to, Venice, 1642. of the Fetus on the Mother. 
33 
On page twenty-eight he gives an illustration of “ II sito del 
parto naturale, nel quale nascono cosi i maschi come le femme 
per lo pin.’’ [The natural presentation, in which males are 
(sometimes) born, as are also the females for the most part.] 
This is the head-first, occipito-anterior position. 
How, whether there is any truth in this assertion of Mer- 
curic I am not prepared to state, as statistics of labor do not 
usually separate the sexes in head presentations. It is quite 
probable that the fact of the female fetus being smaller than 
the male would exert some influence on determining the pres- 
entation or causing a difference in the frequency of the same 
presentation in the different sexes. 
Physicians and philosophers in all times have taught that the 
male fetus is usually to be found on the right side of the uterus, 
and the female on the left—or that the uterus inclines to the 
right side of the body with a male, and to the left side when 
carrying a female. This is probably not as invariable as they 
would have us believe, for Schure, p. 389, found that the fetal 
heart was heard 238 times on left side, and 141 times on the 
right, and Jacquemier found the pulsation 34 times on the left 
and 22 on the right. 
12. Influence of the sex of the fetus on the duration of labor in 
general, and as causing painful, protracted, difficult, 
and fatal labors in particular. 
Statistics show in ordinary labors the duration of all the 
stages combined is greater with male children than with 
female, as may be seen from the following, elaborated by 
the author from the register of the Philadelphia Hospital. 
PRIMIPAR^E. 
153 males. 20.21 hrs., weight, 7 lbs. 7.3 oz. Single women. 
54 “ 20.36 “ “ 6 “ 14.8 “ Married “ 
168 females. 17.41 “ “ 6 “ 13.2 “ Single “ 
48 “ 16.26 “ “ 6 “ 7.3 “ Married “ 
MULTIPART (2d LABOR.) 
17 males. 11.03 hrs., weight, 7 lbs. 12. oz. Single women 
44 “ 13.30 “ “ 7 “ 12.5 “ Married “ 
51 females. 16.16 “ “ 7 “ 9. “ Single “ 
44 “ 11.18 “ “ 7 “ 7. “ Married “ 34 
Hough : Influence of the Sex 
Sir James Y. Simpson, in his memoir,1 shows that “ of mothers 
that die under parturition and its immediate consequences, a 
much greater proportion have given birth to male than female 
children.” 
From Dr. Collins’2 book in which 16,654 births are recorded, 
he finds that of 154 women dying in childbirth, 105 gave birth 
to male children and 49 to female children, or as 214 male 
births to 100 female. 
The second proposition of Dr. S. is, that “ among labors 
presenting morbid complications and difficulties, the child is 
much oftener male than female.” 
The following table will show the number and proportion 
of sexes of those cases included under the second category. 
NATURE OF COMPLICATION. 
TOTAL 
CASES. 
NO. MALE 
child’n 
NO.FEM. 
child’n 
PROP.OF3 MALES 
TO FEMALES. 
Tedious labors 
109 
65 
54 
148 to 100 
Convulsions ... 
28 
17 
11 
153 to 100 
Puerperal fever 
88 
54 
34 
161 to 100 
Rupture of uterus 
34 
28 
11 
207 to 100 
Post-partum hemorrhage 
44 
31 
13 
240 to 100 
Corceps cases 
24 
16 
8 
200 to 100 
Frotchet cases 
74 
50 
24 
208 to 100 
Total 
401 
256 
155 
165 to 100 
Placenta previa 
Extrauterine gestation 
Comparative size of male and female fetal head. 
Dr. Clarke gives the following measurements of sixty male 
and 60 female children at birth. 
AVERAGE CIRCUMFERENCE OF HEAD. 
AVERAGE DIMENSIONS FROM 
EAR TO EAR. 
In male....... 
13.988 inches. 
7.439 inches. 
In female.. 
13.617 “ 
7.221 “ 
0.366 inches. 
0.208 inches. 
1. “ The head of the male infant, when measured across from 
1 Memoir on the sex of the child as a cause of difficulty and danger in 
human parturition. 8vo, pp. 55, Edinb., 1844. From Edinb. Med. and 
Surg. Journ., Oct., 1844. 
2 A practical treatise on midwifery, containing the result of 16,654 
births occurring in the Dublin Hospital during a period of seven years, 
commencing Nov., 1826. 8vo, London, 1836. 
3 There is an element of error in this proportion arising from the fact 
that in the general births there were 106 males to 100 females, involving 
a reduction of six per cent. of the Fetus on the Mother. 
35 
•ear to ear, over the fontanelle, is about 2-f lines, or nearly two 
eighths of an inch greater than the female. 
2. “ In circumference, the head of the male is 4$ lines, or 
almost precisely three-eighths of an inch greater than that of 
the female. Hence, 
3. “ The transverse diameter of the male head is nearly one 
•eighth of an inch greater than that of the female child.’’ 
Simpson deduces from the figures of Dr. Clarke that the 
proportion of the surface of the head of the male new-born 
child to that of the female is nearly as nineteen to eighteen, or 
the surface of the head of the female is one-nineteenth part less 
than that of the male. 
Professor Reid found the weight of the 
Brain of 53 adult males to be 3 lbs. 2 oz. 3£ dr. 
“ 34 “ females “ 2 “ 11 “ “ 
Average difference, . . 5 oz. 11 dr. 
Professor Tiedeman states that the female brain weighs on 
an average eight ounces less than that of the male, “ and this 
difference is already perceptible in the new-horn child” 
Tiedeman says that the weight of the brain of a new-born 
child is relatively to the weight of the body as one to six, 
while in the full grown adult it is as one to forty, or nearly 
seven times greater in the child than in the adult. 
According to Braxton Hicks1:—■“ At birth the skull of the 
male head is in a more advanced state of ossification than that 
of the females. This is so noticeable that, before the child is 
born, one is able to pronounce rightly in eight out of ten cases 
whether it be a male or female. 
Dr, Clarke2 attempts to explain the assumed greater mortality 
of male fetuses before birth than female, by saying that they 
are of larger size, and consequently more difficult of delivery, 
and their greater liability during their intrauterine life to dis- 
ease and debility, from their requiring, in consequence of their 
size, more actual nourishment from the mother than smaller 
female children stand in need of. 
Quetelet3 also tries to explain the same matter by saying 
1 British Medical Journal, April 17th, 1877. 
2 Observations on some causes of the excess of mortality of males above 
that of females. Philos. Trans., 1786, p. 353. 
3 Treatise on Man, p. 25 and 30. 36 
Hough : Influence of the Sex 
that “ It appears beyond doubt that there is a particular cause 
of mortality which attacks male children by preference, before 
and immediately after birth. It will be interesting to investi- 
gate the causes of a circumstance which is so unfavorable te 
the male sex.” 
“ If,” he continues, “ we were desirous of guessing at thi& 
point, we might say, with those who suppose that a male con- 
ception requires a certain excess of energy in the woman, that 
this excess of energy was absent or wanting during the growth 
of the fetus, and that energy failing, the child would suffer 
more from it if a boy than if a girl. Hence the proportion of 
dead births between the sexes,” etc. 
Dr. Graves1 also contends “that a greater mortality before 
birth prevails among males than females.” 
Dr. Simpson contends that it is fallacious to assume that a 
greater number of males than females are dead before labor 
commences. 
This he sets forth in the following table taken from the sta- 
tistics of Dr. Collins: 
STATE OF CHILDREN. 
TOTAL 
CASES. 
MALE. 
FEMALE. 
PROP. OF MALES- 
TO FEMALES. 
No. of still-born putrid children... 
527 
257 
270 
95-100 
“ “ at full term & putrid 
296 
148 
148 
100-100 
“ “ premature still-births 
298 
146 
147 
100-100 
Dr. Simpson points out that this table “ seems particularly 
valuable and instructive,” as “ it demonstrates satisfactorily 
that the intrauterine morbific agencies (whatever they may be) 
which act fatally on the fetus before birth, act equally on the 
female as on the male child; and that it is to other agencies- 
than these that we are to look for the remarkable proportion 
of male over female deaths which is observable among still- 
births.” 
Further on he observes “ that of all the children that had 
perished from intrauterine causes, and before the commence- 
ment of labor (as demonstrated by their putrid state), the fe- 
males were even more numerous than the males. 
“ The whole series of facts prove (contrary to what is gener- 
ally alleged) that the proportion of male children that die 
before birth is not greater than the proportion of females- 
Dublin Med. Jour., about 1836 or ’7. of the Fetus on the Mother. 
37 
Indeed, if we deduct the usual six percent for the normal over- 
proportion of males, the ratio of girls dying before parturition 
would be found to be greater than that of boys—a conclusion 
which the first column would seem to go far to corroborate 
and strengthen, for in that computation the number of the 
dead females distinctly and considerably exceeds that of the 
dead males. 
“ This result, with regard to the equality of the sexes among 
putrid and premature still-born children, becomes only the 
more striking when we couple and contrast it with the fact 
which we have already brought out, that of the children who 
are still-born, and not putrid, as many as two out of every three 
are boys. In other words, among the infants that die before 
labor, the females are equal, if not greater, in number than 
the males. Among the infants that die during labor the males 
are raised to the high proportion of 150 boys for every 100 
girls.” 
The following table will show more clearly by comparison 
the influence of the sex of the child on the arrest of develop- 
ment and death of the fetus in utero. 
STILL-BORN CHILDREN OCCURRING AMONG 16,654 BIRTHS. 
Still-born children not putrid Prop, of Males 
at term dying during part. No. Males. No. Females. to Females. 
594 357 237 151 to 100 ' 
STATE OF CHILDREN. 
TOTAL 
CASES. 
MALE. 
FEMALE 
PROP N OF MALE 
TO FEMALE 
Still-born putrid children 
Still-born at full term and putrid 
Premature still births 
527 
296 
293 
257 
148 
146 
270 
148 
147 
95 to 100 
100 to 100 
100 to 100 
1,116 
551 
565 
97| to 100 
Supposing equal No. male and female concep- 
tions, deduct 6 per cent, . . . 92 to 100 
Proportion of sexes in all births, . . . 106 to 100 
Contrary, therefore, to the hitherto received opinion, we are 
forced to conclude that influences which cause the death of the 
fetus before labor act more frequently on the female than on 
the male, a fact which would tend to corroborate the view we 
have taken, viz., that the demands of the female fetus on the 
mother are greater than those of the male. This is in harmony 
with the observations of Morgagni and Desormeux, who enter Hough : influence of the Sex 
tain the opinion that female fetuses are more common in abor- 
tions than males. 
Dr. Simpson is of the opinion that the excessive mortality 
of males in childbirth is due solely to the fact of the larger 
size of the fetal head of males; while this is true as far as it 
goes, in searching for a more proximate cause, we are persuaded 
that should a given number of male fetuses be subjected to a. 
certain pressure and detained for a certain time in the maternal 
passages, and the same number of females of exactly the same 
she and conformation of head he subjected to exactly the same 
conditions in labor, the mortality would still be somewhat 
greater among the males than among the females, on account, 
as we believe, of the greater development and more sensitive 
organization of the male brain. 
Females are less susceptible to noxious and morbific influen- 
ces than males, as is seen in cases of deaths from asphyxia from 
carbonic oxide gas, the male dying first; and where there have 
been two individuals of the same sex, one ill and the other in 
good health, exposed to the gas from charcoal, the one in good 
health succumbed first. 
Dr. Farre pointed out in the Second Annual Report of the 
Reg. Gen., that “ the diseases of the nervous system are twenty- 
three per cent more fatal to males than to females, the chief 
difference arising from the diseases which affect children.” It 
is worthy of note here, that of all infantile diseases, whooping 
cough is the only one in which the mortality is exceptionally 
excessive for females. 
Influeyice of Sex on the Duration of Labor. 
Dr. Simpson gives the duration of labor in 427 cases (249 
male and 178 female), registered in the Edinburgh Hospital,, 
the average duration of each labor 
With male children was, . 10 hours and 38 minutes. 
With female children, . . 9 “ “ 34 “ 
Av. greater length of male birth, 1 hour and 4 minutes. 
Cases of speedy labor, say less than three or four hours, are not 
included in the above. 
Dr, Simpson shows from Dr. Collin’s tables that the average 
greater length of the male births with 501 still births was 2; of the Fetus on the Mother. 
39 
hours and 17 minutes; in morbidly tedious labors, 3 hours and 
6 minutes; cases requiring the crotchet, 4 hours 2 minutes; 
leading to death of mother, 5 hours 11 minutes. 
From this he concludes that “ the average duration of labor 
is longer with male than with female children, and the differ- 
ence in this respect between male and female births becomes 
increased in length when the labors become more severe and 
dangerous in their character.” 
Bonaciolus and other ancient authors taught that the labor 
was slower, the pains more continuous but more obtuse, with 
boys, whereas they were quicker and easier, though more acute, 
and molested the woman through a greater space of time with 
girls, as may be gathered from the following: 
Plerunq.: verb diluta pallidiusculaq.; sanieo si foemina na- 
tum itura est: cruenta, si mas, prefluit. Ceteru maris ac foe- 
melle partus discrimine illo interstinguntur: Quoniam hujus 
partus tardior, dolores etia continui acperpetes, sed obtusiores: 
ill ins celerior simul et facilior, ac acriores et longe molestiores 
dolores.1 
13. Influence of the Sex of the Fetus on the Site, Weight, 
and Conformation of the Placenta. 
INFLUENCE OF SEX OF FETUS ON SITE OF PLACENTAL ATTACH- 
MENT. 
M. Jacquemier2 conceives that, under the operation of a 
vital cause, the ovum, upon its entrance into the cavity of the 
womb, has a certain selective power. After the remark that 
it is found most usually “ upon a space a little elevated, to the 
right or to the left upon the posterior face, next on a corre- 
sponding point in the anterior face, next after this upon one 
or the other sides, sometimes exactly at the fundus, and ex 
ceptionally at the neck,” he goes on to say : a That it fixes itself 
there, in obedience to a pre existing, organic attraction, for it 
is not to be supposed that all parts of the surface (of the ute- 
rine cavity) are alike fitted for the development of the pla- 
centa. Like the germs of vegetables, it should have a portion 
which corresponds to radicles, which, in vegetating, direct 
1 Bonacioli Enneas Muliebris, cap. viii 
2 Manuel des Accouch., vol. i., p. 273. 40 
Hough: Influence of the Sex 
themselves by a species of elective affinity, toward a determi- 
nate point.” 
The placenta is usually situated at the fundus of the uterus, 
according to Gusserovv and Schroder, on the anterior wall more 
frequently than on the posterior (lateral insertions are rare), 
oftener on the right than the left side. The place of insertion 
has an influence on its form. Placenta previa, ascribed to 
multiparity, occurred 56 times in 41,169 cases, or 1 in 763. 
While the uterus probably prepares at every menstrual pe- 
riod, and certainly at the time of every conception, in obedi- 
ence to a law of its organization, for the reception of the fecun- 
dated ovum, whether that ovum reaches the interior of the 
womb or falls into the abdominal cavity, yet we know that 
the fetus in most extrauterine pregnancies develops almost as 
well as if it were in the womb. In these cases, the placenta 
is necessarily obliged to attach itself to any part where the 
fecundated ovum may chance to fall. In these cases, as there 
is no unusual predetermined vascularity in the point of attach- 
ment at the moment it is about to be made, we are left to con- 
clude that the simple presence of the placenta must excite the 
necessarily increased vascularity at the point of its attach- 
ment by sending out radicles which penetrate the vessels of 
the maternal tissue, much as the radicles of parasitic plants 
penetrate the bark and reach the sap of trees, from which 
they extract the greater part of their nourishment. The fact 
that all this can and does happen is no proof that the prepa- 
ration for the fecundated ovum, which takes place in the womb, 
is of no service in determining the site of the placenta in that 
organ. 
There are very few accessible statistics in which the site of 
the placenta is mentioned, but “of 34 women who died while 
pregnant or soon after delivery, I found,” says Yelpeau, 
“ upon examining the parts, that the centre of the placenta 
corresponded to the orifice of the (Fallopian) tube in 20 cases ; 
it was in front of it in 3 cases, behind it in 2, below it in 3, 
and in 6 cases only toward the fundus.” 
From statistics collected from various sources, Read, in his 
memoir,1 has constructed the following table, showing the rela- 
tive frequency of the various attachments of the placenta : 
1 Placenta Previa: Its History and Treatment. 8vo. Philadelphia 
1861. P 83. of the Fetus on the Mother. 
41 
Cases. 
At the fundus, . . . . . .16 
At the side, or on the anterior or posterior wall, 565 
In the vicinity of the os uteri, . . .145 
Over the os, ..... 11 
Undetermined, . . . . .187 
Admitting that the sex of the fetus lias an influence in de 
termining the site of the placenta in the womb, and believing 
that “ the attachment of the placenta to any portion of the 
uterus causes a development of that place which proceeds pari 
passu till the limits of growth in the placenta having been 
reached, the enlargement is continued, and kept up by the 
pressure constantly exerted on the uterine walls by the grow- 
ing contents till the time of parturition” (Read, p. 105), 
we can readily understand that the development of one par- 
ticular part of the womb must influence its shap>e and the shape 
of the uterine cavity. Hence we infer that the position and 
presentation of the fetus will depend very much upon the shape 
and inclination of the uterine cavity. This, then, we may re- 
gard as a most important factor in determining the position 
and presentation of the fetus,1 
Dubois found among 1,915 presentations of the head : 
1,355 occipito-iliac left anterior. 
491 “ “ right posterior. 
55 “ “ right anterior. 
12 “ “ left posterior. 
“ It has long been my practice,” says Tuckey,2 “whether 
rightly or wrongly, 1 know I have never done any harm by the 
practice, in cases of tedious labors in which I have given ergot 
or otherwise interfered, to remove the placenta manually after 
the birth of the child.” 
“ In cases of female children, I have found the placenta to 
be attached to the left side of the fundus ; when the sex is 
male, on the right side. Over and over again I have found 
this to be the case. I have listened with the stethoscope be- 
1 May not the greater frequency of the O. I. left anterior position be 
due to the greater frequency of the insertion of the placenta on the right 
side? 
2 The Position of the Placenta Relative to Sex. Med. Press and Circular, 
March 13th, 1878, p. 211; Practitioner, London, vol. xxi.. 1878, p. 412. 42 
Hough : Influence of the Sex 
fort* birth. and have ascertained the position <>f the placenta by 
the bruit, and have settled in my mind the six of the child, a 
fact which has afterwards been confirmed on its birth.” He 
cites lifteen cases, six males and nine females, in all of which 
the placental site was as above. 
“ Now, I do not mean to argue anything from the fact that 
in true lateral hermaphroditism, the halves of sex are right 
and left, male and female. ... I do not know whether my 
idea that the right ovary is intended for the production of 
m iles and the left for that of fe n ties has been thought worthy 
of proof or the reverse. . . . Yet it seems such an easy solution 
of the matter.” 
Having discussed the influence of the sex of the fetus on the 
site of the placenta in general, it remains for us to inquire into 
the influence of sex in producing placenta previa, a condition 
that is roughly estimated to occur in one out of every thousand 
pregnancies.1 and prove fatal to the mother in one out of five 
or ten cases. It occurs more frequently in multiparse than 
primiparfe, from which medical men infer that it is due to a 
greater flaccidity of the uterus or larger cervical canal among 
multiparse at the time that the fecundated ovum entered and 
fixed itself in the womb. 
The only author whom I have thus far found who has ex- 
pressed any opinion on the influence of sex in producing pla- 
centa previa is Silas Hubbard,2 and he contends that there 
should be a larger proportion of female children where pla- 
centa previa exists, because he is of the opinion (in common 
with many other authors, ancient and modern) that women 
conceive with females during or at the finish of the menstrual 
flow, when the uterus is more relaxed and the cervical canal 
more patulent; hence female conceptions by simple gravitation 
would fall to a position nearer the cervix than males, who are 
conceived during the inter menstrual period, when the cervical 
canal is narrower. 
The following is his (Hubbard’s) own explanation. “Ac- 
cording to my theories I should expect that in placenta previa 
cases the children are females because, as I have said, the 
1 Schroeder gives 56 cases of placenta previa in 41,169 births, or 1 in 765. 
Collins gives 11 cases in 16,654 births, or 1 in 1,514. 
2 Buffalo Medical and Surgical Journal, 1855, p. 654. of the Fetus on the Mother. 
43 
ovum which grows to he a female is probably fecundated while 
within the uterus; it therefore seems that it is more liable to- 
form an attachment at the neck of the uterus than if it had 
been fecundated while within the ovary or Fallopian tube. In 
this latter case I should expect that the semen had so impreg- 
nated it with growing and attaching powers that it would 
fasten to the uterus as soon as it reached its cavity, and 
thus it would not be so liable to reach the cervix uteri as if it 
had been fecundated at a later period when it had advanced 
much nearer the cervix without attaching powers.” 
Among the many memoirs and papers I have on placenta 
previa, and of those I have examined in libraries, very few 
mention the sex of the child ; even those that treat the subject 
statistically make no classification by sex. In one paper only 
out of a hundred which I have consulted, have I found any 
mention of the sex, and in this one, I regret to say that the 
proportion of sexes does not ind cate any influence of sex as a 
cause determining this condition, though the number is too 
small to be of much value. There were forty-one boys and 
forty girls, about the proportion of sexes in births in general.1 
Though placenta previa has generally little disposition to 
reappear in successive labors, yet a very remarkable instance 
of its recurrence in fifteen successive labors is recorded by 
Read, p. 140. The woman began child-bearing at eighteen 
years of age, and continued at intervals of eighteen and one- 
half months, until she was forty-five, to give birth to children,, 
complicated in each instance by placenta previa. 
In this case there was a permanent cause, whether it was 
mechanical or constitutional. 
The following ancient wisdom concerning the cord may not 
be uninteresting. Joubert2 says that there is a popular opinion 
that the number of nodes or wrinkles in the umbilical cord of 
the child of a woman who has just given birth, indicates the 
number of children that the woman is still destined to have. 
If the nodes are far separated the children will be born at 
greater intervals than when these nodes are near together. 
If these nodes are black or red, she will have as many males. 
1 Hartcop : Achtzig Falle von Placenta Previa, 12mo, pp. 36. Berlin, 
1872, p. 32. 
2 Erreurs popnlaires touchant la Conception et Generation, p, 157 . 8vo 
Paris, 1587. 44 
Hough : Influence of the Sex 
if white, female. Antoine Gamier had the temerity to say in 
his practice (Chap. 31, Malad. d. 1. Matrice) that in his time 
he found by experience that all this was true. The explana- 
tion given by Joubert of the significance of these signs is that 
the greater the number and prominence of these nodes or 
twistings together, the red or dark color indicates that the uterus 
is robust, hot, well-tempered, and not humid, and hence in 
the best possible physical condition, and consequently best 
suited to the production of males. 
According to Joubert, p. 15J, the midwives in olden times, 
careful of the preservation of the human race, earnestly re- 
monstrated and charitably required of their professional sisters, 
when it was a boy, to give him a good measure of cord be- 
tween the belly and the ligature, for they thought that the 
virile member took after its patron, and that it would become 
larger in proportion to the amount of cord left dangling from 
the belly. If the cord were tied too near the belly, the bladder 
would be elevated and the penis shortened by being drawn in- 
wards. In the girls, on the contrary, they taught that it was 
an advantage to cut the cord short, as such a procedure held 
the womb up in place and tended to prevent displacements of 
that organ. 
Influence of Sex of Fetus on the Size, Weight, Shape, Struc- 
ture, and Composition of the Placental Mass. 
The size, weight, shape, and composition of the placenta are 
known to vary greatly, and much more frequently than any 
organ of the body. There are exceptional cases where small 
children have large placentm, and large children have small 
placentae. Again, various kinds of degeneration take place in 
this body, such as fatty, calcareous, etc., all these conditions 
due to causes as yet unknown. We expect to be able to show 
that the size depends, to a certain extent, upon the site of 
attachment, as the fundus, being the most natural site, affords 
better opportunities of development than the cervix. I cannot 
find a more appropriate place than this to mention the fact that 
this paper owes its origin entirely to the discovery, by its author, 
of the fact that nature has provided less placental mass {by 
weight) to nourish a given amount {weight) of male fetus than 
to nourish the same amount of female fetus, or, in other words, of the Fetus on the Mother. 
45 
the placenta of the female fetus is heavier in proportion to the 
weight of its fetus than that of the male is to its fetus. 
“ It is undoubtedly true,” says Read, p. 85, “ for obvious 
resons, that taking the average of any large number of eases, 
the heavier the child, the heavier will be the placenta, but the 
same facts which prove this also prove that there is no agree- 
ment between their weights in individual cases, and that for 
children of a certain size the variation of the weight of their 
placentae will be between very wide extremes, showing most 
conclusively that there is no regular parallellism between their 
growth.” 
Read found, in 338 cases taken without selection, the follow- 
ing relative weights of placenta to fetus: 
AVERAGE 
MEAN OUNCES. MEAN POUNDS. POUNDS. 
19 placentae weighed 12. Children weighed 3£ to 9|. 5.31. 
39 “ “ 16. “ “ 2 “ 10. 6.86. 
105 “ “ 20. “ “ 4 “ 10£. 7.89. 
82 “ “ 24. “ “ 3£ “ 10$. 7.85. 
30 “ “ 28. “ “ 6 “ 13|. 8.13. 
21 “ “ 32. “ “ 7 “ 9.28. 
4 “ “ 36. “ “ 7 “ 11$. 8.25. 
4 “ “ 40. “ “ 6$ “ 12$. 9.12. 
It is conceded by all authors that usually the fundus of the 
uterus is the first to develop in pregnancy, and that the cervical 
portion begins to develop only when the seventh month is 
reached ; now, may not the fixation of the placenta about the 
cervical portion of the womb, from the restricted space here,'as 
compared with the fundus, prevent the placenta from attain- 
ing its full size and weight, and may we not say that the size, 
weight, and conformation of this organ are dependent, in a 
great degree, to its site in the uterus ? And this is why we see 
such discrepancies between the weight of the fetus and its 
placenta. 
Now we come to the influence of the sex of the child on the 
weight of its placenta, as compared to the weight of the fetus 
itself—a comparison (by sexes) not hitherto made, at least so 
far as we know. The average weight of the human placenta 
is about five hundred and fifty grams, based on fifteen 
thousand observations. 46 
Hough : Influence of the Sex 
The umbilical cord and fetal membranes weigh, according 
to the best authorities, from sixty to eighty grams, say a mean 
of seventy-five grams in the case of boys, and sixty-five grams in 
the case of girls. 
We know, by actual measurement, that the umbilical cord 
in children of primiparse is, on an average, one centimetre 
shorter for girls than for boys (based on six thousand nine 
hundred and fifty-eight observations), and two centimetres 
shorter among the girls than among the boys of multiparse 
(based on eight thousand six hundred and f-ortynine observa- 
tions). 
Not having any statistics of the comparative weight of the 
membranes of male and female fetuses, we are forced to con- 
clude that they are larger and consequently heavier in the 
case of males than with females, because the male fetus is 
larger. 
Now, having determined that the cord is longer by a mean of 
one centimetre, or one-fifty-tliird of its whole length, and the 
membranes larger and hence heavier, in the case of the male 
fetus, by—say a total excess of five grams (excessive weight 
of membranes and cord combined), in primiparse. 
L JL 
Among the eight thousand six hundred and forty-nine multi 
parse, we know, by actual measurement, that the mean average 
length of the umbilical cord of the male fetus exceeds that of 
the female by two centimetres, or one-twenty-seventh, and 
that the mean weight of the male fetus exceeds that of the 
female by two hundred and fifty-two grams, or one-thirteenth. 
If it be true, then, that the membranes alone weigh seventy- 
five grams, we must subtract one-thirteenth of this weight, or, 
roughly, six grams plus the weight of two centimetres of cord, 
or two grams; in all, say eight grams from the total weight of 
placenta, with membranes and cord, in order to justly compare 
the weight of the naked placenta of the male with tlie naked pla- 
centa of the female. 
We pursue this plan, because the weights given by Tarnier 
undoubtedly include the membranes and cord with the placenta, 
and, as we do not know exactly how much to subtract 
from this gross sum to arrive at the weight of the naked pla- 
centa, we subtract from the total average weight of placenta, 
membranes and cord, what we have calculated to be the excess of the Fetus on the Mother. 
47 
of weight of membranes and cord of males over that of females, 
viz., three grams in the case of children of primiparae, and eight 
grams in the case of the children of multiparae. Hence the 
following figures,1 with the above excess eliminated : 
No. observa- 
tions. Weight. Length. Weight. 
3,794 boys; placenta, 527 gms.; cord, 54 cm.; child, 3,146 gms. 
3,164 girls; “ 529 “ “ 53 “ “ 3,101 “ 
Multiparse at Term (Actual Measurement). 
rt 4,623 boys; placenta, 548 gms.; cord, 55 cm.; child, 3,371 gms. 
4,026 girls; “ 540 “ “ 53 “ “ 3,120 “ 
15,607 
Primiparse at Term (Actual Measurement). 
Table Corrected by Eliminating Excess of Cord and Mem- 
branes with Males. 
Primiparse. 
No. observa- 
tions. Weight. Length. Weight. 
3.794 boys; placenta, [524] gms.; cord, [53] cm.; child, 3,164 gms. 
3.164 girls; “ 529 “ “ 53 “ “ 3,101 “ 
• Multiparse. 
4.623 boys; placenta, [540] gms.; cord, [53] cm. ; child, 3,372 2:1ns. 
4.026 girls; “ 540 “ “ 53 “ “ 3,120 “ 
Table Showing Relative Weights of Placenta, Assigning Girls to 
be as Heavy as Boys. 
Primiparse. 
3.794 boys; placenta, 527 gms.; weight of boy, 3,164 gms. 
3.164 girls; “ [537.7] w< “ “ girl, [3,164] “ 
Multi parse. 
4.623 boys; placenta. 548 gms.; weight of boy, 3,372 gms. 
4.026 girls; “ [592.2] “ “ “ girl, [3,372] “ 
Primiparse (Corrected). 
Boy’s w’t, placenta, 524gms.; 1 gm. placenta produces 6.03 gms. boy. 
Girl’s “ “ 529 “ 1 “ “ “ 5.86 “ girl. 
—17 
1 Elaborated by the author from the tables of M. Tarnier, for sixteen 
years, 1860-70, at the Maternite, Paris, out of Diet. Encyclop. des 
Sciences Medicalea. 8vo. Paris, 1878. Mot Fetus, p. 487. 
2 The above figures are obtained by proportion, as follows: If 3,101 
grams of fetus require 529 grams of placenta to nourish it, how many 
grams of placenta will 3,164 grams of fetus require? 3,101 : 529 ; : 3,146 
: 537.7. 48 
Hough: Influence of the Sex 
Boy’s w’t, placenta, 540 gms.; 1 gm. placenta produces 6.24 gms. boy. 
Girl’s “ “ 540 “ 1 “ “ “ 5.77 “ girl. 
’ —47 
Multipart (Corrected). 
Primi parse (Corrected). 
To produce each gram of male fetus it 
requires 1656 gms. of placenta. 
To produce each gram of female fetus it 
requires 1705 “ “ 
Excess of placenta required to produce 
1 gram of female fetus +.0049 “ “ 
To produce each gram of male fetus it 
requires 1601 gms. of placenta. 
To produce each gram of female fetus it 
requires 1730 “ “ 
Excess of placenta required to produce 
1 gram of female fetus +.0129 “ “ “ 
Multiparse (Corrected). 
We have, therefore, clearly shown that, for every gram of 
female fetus, a greater weight of placenta is required to nourish 
it than for the same weight of male fetus. 
We have also shown that, notwithstanding the greater 
average weight of the male fetus, yet the placenta of the female 
exceeded that of the male by one-tifty-second of its own weight 
in the case of primiparae, and by one-fourteenth in the case of 
multiparse. 
The placenta, being so much heavier in the case of the female 
fetus, is necessarily larger, and consequently has a larger sur- 
face of attachment to the womb—a fact which we ex pcclte 
help us to explain the reason for the Mosaic law (Leviticus, 
chap, xii., verses 2, 4, 5) which required a considerably greater 
length of time for the purification of women who had given 
birth to female children. 
14. Influence of the Sex of the Fetus on the Quantityy 
Quality, and Duration of the Lochial Discharge. 
Every woman, after the birth of a child, has, for a certain 
number of days, a sanguinolent and serous discharge from the 
genital organs, varying in quantity, quality, and duration, ac- 
cording to her age, temperament, social condition, number of 
pregnancy, condition of health, accidents of parturition, and of the Fetus on the Mother. 
49 
sex of the child. The greatest factor, in its influence on the 
flow, is that of lactation—those who do not nurse lose 1,880 
grams, while those who give suck, lose only 1,085 grams. From 
this, it is fair to infer that the temperament of the mother ex- 
erts a great influence—those most humid losing more than 
those of a dry nervous temperament. 
Acccording to Gassner,1 who endeavored to determine ex- 
actly the quantity of the lochial discharge, and constructed 
the following table based on his observations, we have the: 
Lochies Sanguinolentes, 1st to 3d day . . 1,000 granis. 
“ Sereuses, 4th “ 5th “ . . 280 “ 
“ Blanches, 6th “ 8th “ . . 205 “ 
Total lochial flow on first 8 days . . . 1,485 grams. 
A woman who nurses loses in all only . . 1,085 “ 
One who does not nurse at all ... 1,880 “ 
Burdach, in his Physiology, states that the lochial discharge 
lasts to the 3th or 5th day—less bloody, 8th to 10th day— 
serous, 10th to 30th day, when the woman nurses, and as long 
as 6 weeks when the woman does not nurse. 
The earliest and only intimation we have that the sex of the 
child has an influence in determining the duration of the lochial 
discharge is in the book of Leviticus. The following is the 
Mosaic law concerning the purification of women: 
“ If a woman have conceived and borne a man child, then 
shall she be unclean seven days; . . . And she shall then 
continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days,. 
. . . But if she bear a maid child, then shall she be un- 
clean two weeks, as in her separation; and she shall continue 
in the blood of her purifying threescore and six days.”— 
Leviticus, chap, xii., verses 2, 4, 5. 
The various commentators on the Pentateuch are not at all 
agreed upon the reason for this discrimination. Weemse 
ascribes it to the greater humidity of the female sex. Lange 
contents himself by referring to Hippocrates and Aristotle,, 
and concludes “ that this law has its foundation in the belief 
of antiquity that ‘ the bloody and watery issue last longer after 
the birth of a female than of a male.’ ” 
In this paper we have to deal with the physical and physio- 
1 Monatsschr. f. Geburtsk., vol. xix., p. 5. 50 
Hough : Influence of the Sex 
logical reasons for this difference in the duration of the lochies 
according to the sex of the fetus. 
In the first place, what evidence have we that the flow is 
longer after the birth of females than after the birth of males ? 
And, in the second place—granted that it is longer—how do 
we explain why it should be ? We have only the Scriptural 
assertion as an answer to the first, but, should we be able to 
explain why the flow should be longer with girls, we will have 
answered, in a measure, the first question. 
Ten years since, 1 caused to be made, by a then resident physi- 
cian of the Philadelphia Hospital, some observations on the 
duration of the lochial discharge in which the sexes of the 
children were kept separate. These observations were care- 
fully made by a thouroughly reliable man, and the results 
recorded, but not published. When I inquired for them, they 
had been stored among some books and were inaccessible; so 
I was only able to get the general result, which confirmed the 
Scriptural teaching, viz., that the lochial discharge continued 
for a greater length of time after the birth of girls than after 
the birth of boys. It is greatly to be regretted that these 
tables are inaccessible; but I hope that some one else, who has 
the opportunity, will add to our knowledge of this subject, by 
making as many observations as possible, and publishing them 
in tabular form. It is evident that women in the same condi- 
tion of life socially, and of the same temperament, should be 
compared. The following is a good form of table, the figures 
being imaginary: 
PRIMIPARiE WHO 
GIRLS. 
NURSE 
BOYS. 
| CASES. I 
AGE. 
TEMPERA- 
MENT. 
SANQUINO- 
LENT DAYS 
SEROUS 
DAYS 
| whited’s. 
TOTAL D’S 
LOCH. DIS. 
| CASES. 
AGE. 
TEMP ERA- 
MENT. 
SANGUINO- 
LENT DAYS 
SEROUS D’S 
1 whited’s. 
TOTAL D’S 
LOCH. DIS. 
1 
21 
Sanguine . 
3 
2 
6 
11 
1 
22 
Sanguine... 
3 
2 
2 
7 
1 
23 
Lymphatic" 
2 
4 
8 
14 
1 
24 
Lymphatic. 
2 
3 
3 
8 
1 
20 
Nervous... 
3 
2 
4 
9 
1 
22 
Nervous.... 
3 
2 
2 
7 
3 
21.3 
Average. 
11.3 
3 
22.7 
Average. 
7.3 
Another table for multiparse who nurse. 
Another table for primiparse who do not nurse. 
Another table for multipart who do not nurse. of the Fetus on the Mother. 
There are three physical causes for suspecting that the flow 
is greater, or lasts longer, after the birth of females, viz., we 
have shown in this paper that the placenta is heavier in the 
case of a female fetus than with a male, and consequently 
larger, leaving a larger denuded or bleeding surface on the 
uterine cavity at the time of birth. Second—the process of 
formation and development of the female fetus from the time 
of quickening is more rapid, the time being shorter than with 
a male, leaving the mother in a more exhausted state from the 
effects of gestation. Third—a female gestation determines a 
greater, or does not disturb the natural humidity of the mother, 
whereas a male gestation probably determines in the mother a 
larger proportion of fibrin in the blood; in short, the blood is 
less aqueous than when a female is born. 
From all of which we conclude that the lochial discharge con- 
tinues for a greater length of time after the birth of females 
than after the birth of males. 
lo. Influence of the Sex of the letus on the Quantity, Quality, 
and Duration of the Lacteal Secretion. 
In the fifth proposition of this paper, we dicussed the influ- 
ence of gestation on the composition or quality of the blood of 
pregnant women, as compared with the same women when not 
pregnant. It was there shown that pregnancy exercised a 
marked influence on the composition of the blood. “ The den- 
sity, both of the defibrinated blood and of the serum, is dimin- 
ished, the water, the fibrin, and the phosphorized fat are in- 
creased, while the corpuscles and the albumen are diminished.” 
Andral and Gavarret found, on examining the blood of jthirty- 
four pregnant women, that in the last months the fibrin 
increased to 1.3 above its physiological standard in the 
non-pregnant state. Having thus demonstrated the fact that 
pregnancy has the power of altering the proportion of the dif- 
ferent elements entering into the composition of the blood, 
we are persuaded that this proportion differs more or less in 
each pregnancy, according to the age and temperament of 
the mother, and the sex, size, and vigor of the fetus. 
We can understand, then, that the quantity, quality, and 
composition of the milk may be perceptibly influenced by the 
operation of one or more of these causes. 52 
Hough : Influence of the Sex 
That there is an appreciable difference in the composi- 
tion of the milk of women who bear boys, from those who bear 
girls, is quite possible, but whether the greater proportion of 
fluids entering into the composition of the fetal mass when a 
girl, than when a boy, causes the blood and milk of its (the 
girl’s) own mother to become more aqueous or less aqueous, we 
are not prepared to decide, there being arguments in existence 
on both sides, as we shall see in the vulgar traditions of the 
women of Montpellier recorded by Joubert.1 The two im- 
portant questions upon which the decision of this point depends 
are: 1st, Does the excess in the proportion of fluids in the fe- 
male fetus over that of the male diminish the proportion of 
fluids in the blood of its mother, or does it determine in the 
mother a condition of humidity corresponding to its own? 2d, 
Does the humidity of the mother correspond with that of the 
fetus when it is female, because both are of the same sex, and 
differ only when the fetus is male, or of a different sex ? 
We have no clue to the solution of these questions, except 
the fact ascertained by Martegoute, quoted in another place, 
that ewes that gave birth to female lambs were heavier at tho 
time of conception, and lighter at the time of weaning, than 
those that bore males. If we take into consideration the facu 
that male lambs are heavier than females, this fact is increased 
in importance, indicating that it requires more nourishment 
after birth to produce a given weight of female mutton than 
even a greater weight of male mutton, corresponding exactly 
with what we have shown in this paper in proposition thirteen, 
on the placenta, wherein we have shown conclusively that it 
requires during intrauterine life a greater weight of placenta to 
nourish the female fetus than the male. We are taught that 
conditions tending to physical exhaustion are attended with 
what is vulgarly termed impoverishment of the blood, or the 
proportion of fluids is increased, or what is the same thing, the 
solids diminished. This condition of the blood and the attend- 
ant physical exhaustion may account for and support the com- 
1 Joubert: La Premiere et Seconde Partie des Erreurs populaires Tou- 
chant la Medecine et le Regime de la Saute. 8vo, Paris, 1587. 1st Edit., 
Bordeaux, 8vo, 1579. 2me Livre de la Ire partie des Erreurs populaires 
touchant la conception et la generation, pp. 59-246. Italian translation of 
this last part—Gioberti, Errori popular! sulla conceptione et generazione, 
4to, Fiorenza, 1592. of the Fetus on the Mother. 
53 
monly received opinion that women have a better color who 
bear boys. It seems then to be highly probable that the influ- 
ence of the female fetus on the mother does not tend to greatly 
alter the composition of the blood, and that little, in the direc- 
tion of greater humidity; while the male fetus probably deter- 
mines in its mother a larger proportion of solids in the blood, 
and a corresponding difference in the milk, rendering the pro- 
cess of lactation less lengthy and less exhaustive. 
Morier tells us that the Persians suckle male children two 
years and two months, and females two years complete. 
Our women, says Joubert,1 hold that the girls ought to nurse 
a shorter time than the boys, that eighteen months are enough 
for girls, while boys ought to nurse twenty-four. The reason 
which leads the women to say that the girls ought not to nurse 
so long as the boys is (according to my views) because they are 
more humid. He contends that this is false reasoning, as the 
girl ought really to nurse longer than the boy, to keep her 
humid, which is her nature, to prevent her from becoming 
dry, masculine, and prematurely old. 
He further observes2 that the women of Montpellier have 
the opinion handed down from one generation to another that 
the milk of a woman who has given birth to a girl is better for 
a boy, and vice versa. He contends that the milk of the woman 
who has borne a son is less hot than the milk of the woman who 
has borne a girl, and that the girl has need of a milk less warm 
{more aqueous). For a proof of this it is only necessary to 
observe the color and consistence of the milk which, according 
to our authors, are as follows : Celuy d’une fille est roussatre, 
■clair et ichoreux ou sereux, comme la virulance, excrement 
bilieux et chaud. D’un fils, le laict est plus blanc et epais, 
significant la chaleur y estre moindre de beaucoup, par ainsi 
le laict de celle qui a fait un fils, conviendra mieux a une fille, 
fi’autant qu’il est moins chaud, et naturelle complexion de la 
fille requiret (pour y estre conservee, selon la condition de son 
sexe) semblable nourriture, et le fils sera mieux nourri du laict 
fie celle qui a fait une fille, p. 222. 
Concerning the influence of the sex of the offspring on the 
1 Erreurs Populaires, pp. 341 et seq. 
2 Ibid., p. 332-225. 54 
Hough : Influence of the Sex 
mother during lactation, we have undoubted evidence in thn 
practical experiments of Prof. Martegoute1 who caused, at the 
end of each month, all the ewes of the flock of Blanc to be 
weighed individually, and thanks to these monthly weighings, 
various tables were constructed in which one saw the diminu- 
tion or increase in weight of the different classes of sheep, ac- 
cording to age, sex, and the end one had in view to determine. 
“ Two of these tables were devoted to breeding ewes, one 
to those which produced and nourished males, and the other to 
those which produced and nourished females 
“ The comparison of these two tables furnished two remark- 
able facts: 
“ 1st, The ewes that gave birth to females are, on an average, 
superior in weight at the time of conception to those that gave 
birth to males, and they lose sensibly more in weight than the 
latter during suckling. 
“ 2d, The ewes that gave birth to males weigh less (at con- 
ception and during gestation) than those that bear females, and 
do not lose so much as the other class during suckling,” 
It is clear, then, from this practical test, that among sheep, 
the ewes that give birth to female lambs are heavier (fatter) 
at the time of conception, than those that bear males, and 
that at the time of weaning they have lost a larger proportion 
of their weight (which they had at the time of conception). 
From all of which we are forced to conclude that gestation 
with and suckling of female offspring is physically a more exhaus- 
tive process on the mother than when the product is a male, 
corresponding with, and further confirming the fact already 
shown in the part of this paper on the placenta, that a greater 
weight of placenta is required to nourish the female fetus than 
the male. 
16. Influence of the Sex of the Fetus on Arresting the Growth, 
Development, a7id Nutrition of the Mother. 
The function of reproduction, when active (that is, during 
gestation), is antagonistic to growth, development, and nutri- 
1 De la Production des Sexes chez le Mouton, Journal d’Agriculture 
Pratique, 8vo, Paris, 1858, p. 37 to 39. of the Fetus on the Mother. 
55 
tion, severally and combinedly. No one insists more strenu- 
ously upon the truth of this proposition than Herbert Spencer. 
He says: “It is a general physiological truth, that while the 
building-up of the individual is going on rapidly, the reproduc- 
tive organs remain imperfectly developed and inactive; and 
that the commencement of reproduction at once indicates a 
declining rate of growth, and becomes a cause of arresting 
growth.” Not only does reproduction (gestation) arrest growth 
and development during the time of gestation and lactation, 
but the arrest of development at the time of the first gestation 
precludes, in a great degree, if not absolutely, any further de- 
velopment subsequently. 
Every one who has had any experience in the raising of 
cattle knows that the heifer that is permitted to breed in her 
second year, or before she is at least three years old, is 
“ stunted,” and retains more in size and appearance her con- 
dition as a calf. After her first gestation she neither develops 
nor grows. Females then should not be allowed to breed until 
they have reached maturity, or full development, not only for 
the sake of the quantity and quality of the product, but for the 
future welfare of the parent, and her subsequent progeny. 
Women do not bear their heaviest children (among which 
there is a larger proportion of boys than at other periods) until 
they have reached maturity (ceased growing) and the menstrual 
function has been for a length of time well established, and 
the organs of reproduction have already borne fruit a few 
times. So great is this antagonism between reproduction and 
growth and development that women who menstruate early 
have heavier children in their first pregnancy than those who 
menstruate late, as may be seen from the following table 
of Wernich. 
Boys. Girls. Mean 
NO. OBS. GRAMS. GRAMS. BOTH SEXES. 
642 1st born in general 3236 3117.70 3174.64. 
69 1st born, mothers menstruated 
after nineteenth year 3166.84 3109.65 3138.24. 
63 1st born, mothers menstruated 
before thirteenth year 3375.75 3193.29 3284.52. 
From this table, it is clearly shown that boys sufier more 
than girls, in being the first born of mothers who have men- Hough : Influence of the Sex 
struated late, there being a difference of 209 grams among 
the former class (boys) and only 83£ among the latter class 
(girls). This fact is a further confirmation that very young 
women, and women who have menstruated late, have a larger 
proportion of girls among their first children; the production 
of boys being a more difficult role to them, the proportion in- 
creasing up to the twenty-sixth year of the mother, at which 
time she reaches her maximum of fecundity, according to 
Kouth, and up to her twenty-ninth, according to Duncan. 
As a further explanation and proof of the greater exhaustion of 
the mother by a female gestation and lactation, we have elab- 
orated from the records of the Philadelphia Hospital the fol- 
lowing table based on 579 observations, in which the length of 
body (vertex to perineum) of the new-born child is compared 
with its entire length. We know of no statistics in which this 
point has been noted. 
Table showing the numerical relation behceen the entire length and 
the length of body of the new-born child; also illustrating the 
fact of greater proportional length of body of female children 
over male, as first brought out by the author. 
26.06 
23.38 
26.26 
23.70 
22.88 
23.35 
21.92 
20.90 
Average 
age of 
Mother. 
579 
H-* Of 
»-»■ 
o> 
00 
t-* V-» 
Of o 
CO GO 
Number 
of cases 
observed 
M 
M 
CO CO 
H*l 
CO CO 
Mother, 
single or 
married. 
to to 
to to 
h-A H-a 
K-* h-* 
No. preg 
nancy. 
F 
M 
F 
M 
Sex of 
Child. 
Of 
19.26 
19.66 
CO 
o 
H-* *-*■ 
CD CD 
CD CO 
O O 
Of 
CD 
1 18.56 
19.15 
.47 
i 18.95 
19.42 
Entire. 
> 
a 
c 
P 
r 
cd 
B 
% 
S3* 
io 
CD 
12 66 
12.95 
.12 
12.54 
12.66 
.23 
12.27 
12.50 
(—* 
CD 
12.43 
12.59 
Body. 
5* 
HH 
P 
CD 
t? 
CD 
CO 
—.08 
100 : 65.79 
100 : 65.87 
+ 
on 
100 : 65.07 
100 : 64.59 
+ 
GO 
if* 
100 ; 66.11 
100 : 65.27 
+ 
o 
100 ; 65.59 
•100 : 64.83 
Proportion. 
<1 ~3 
-3 ~3 
O O 
-5 CD 
Lbs. 
$ 
CD 
1 
Of 
h-L 
tO -d 
1 
CO 
tO CD 
1 
h-J- 
1 
H—1 
o 
H-‘ 
-3 CO 
o 
N 
§ 
rt- 
There is probably an element of error in the above table, 
which, if eliminated, would still further increase the excess in 
the length of the female tnmk alone over that of the male—I of the Fetus on the Mother. 
57 
refer to the probable greater length of head and neck (top of 
head to level of shoulders) in the male than in the female. 
It would be more desirable to have the length of the trunk 
alone to compare with the entire length than the present method 
of taking the measurement from the crown of the head to the 
level of the perineum, and I would therefore suggest that an 
instrument be used adapted to taking this measure in obstetri- 
cal wards. A measure might be used, consisting of a Y-shaped 
rod, the forked end straddling the infant’s neck, with projecting 
pieces at right angles touching the tops of the shoulders, and a 
sliding piece at the distal end, after the manner of a shoe- 
maker’s measure. 
We read in our table that 168 unmarried woman of an aver- 
age age of about twenty-one years in their first pregnancy 
gave birth to female children, in whom the entire length from 
vertex to sole of feet was to the length of their bodies (vertex 
to level of perineum) as 100: 65.59 inches, whereas among the 
153 male children born under similar circumstance, the pro- 
portion was as 100 to 64.83 only, and so on for each class, show- 
ing that in each instance the female fetus has a longer trunk 
inproportion to its entire length (stature) than the male, con- 
sequently the vital organs presiding over digestion, assimila- 
tion., and nutrition have a relatively larger space allotted to 
them in the female than in the male. The supply of vitality 
being greater, the demands of the system must be greater, in- 
creased,perhaps, by the greater demands of the reproductive 
system in woman. Life is longer, vitality is more tenacious 
among women than among men, and the same may be said of 
many of the lower animals. 
Now we come to examine the relative influence of female 
fetuses as compared with males, in producing this arrest of 
growth, development, and nutrition of the mother. From an 
examination of the facts brought together in this paper, we are 
persuaded that the influence of the female fetus is greater than 
that of the male, and this opinion is based upon the following 
facts, viz.: 
1. The probable greater and more active nutrition re- 
quired by the female fetus during gestation and lactation. 
2. The greater weight and surface of attachment of the pla- 
centa when a female. Hough : Influence of the Sex 
58 
3. The larger trunk of the female fetus, the vital organs 
consequently greater in total bulk. Greater number of fe- 
males who die before labor begins. Twins of different sexes,, 
the females sometimes sterile among cattle. 
4. Longer duration of lochial discharge with females. 
5. The experiments of Martegoute (see 15th proposition) 
showing that nursing female lambs caused a greater loss of 
weight than the nursing of males. 
All these discriminations against the female indicate that 
gestations with and suckling this sex call for more nutrition 
from the mother than males do, and whichever requires most 
nutrition arrests most the growth and development of the 
mother. Hence, those women not yet fully mature have their 
development most interfered with or arrested by bearing first 
or more frequently girls than boys, and yet it is a well- 
ascertained fact that the more immature the woman is, the 
greater the probability of her bearing a girl, as we know the 
proportion of girls in such births is always larger than among 
women who are already the mothers of children, or have 
reached maturity. Why is it then that nature sets her hardest 
task first, and having set it, repeats this task sooner after the 
birth of a girl than after the birth of a boy, with the probabil- 
ity, however, that it will be an easier one, viz.: a boy ? 
We may attempt to answer this apparent anomaly by ob- 
serving that the production of ova in such a vital or develop- 
mental condition as is best suited to produce males is a more 
difficult role on the part of the mother, than the production of 
eggs which will produce females when fecundated, as is attested 
by the fact that very young women, women who have menstru- 
ated late in life (in their first pregnancy), women subject to 
prevailing epidemics such as cholera, etc,, women living in 
great ease and luxury in cities, all these have a larger propor- 
tion of female children than those who are older, who have men- 
struated early in life, or who live in a condition more allied to 
nature. 
The only answer we can give to this question is, that changes 
must necessarily take place gradually, it would be impossible 
to have the female incapable of reproduction until the same 
fixed year in every instance. The fault is in making use of 
this function until the individual has reached maturity, at which, of the Fetus on the Mother. 
time nature provides that she should begin with males rather 
than females (that is, the proportion of males is largest at this 
time, hence the probability of having a male is greater than 
that of having a female). 
The immature female is less able to produce eggs wliich 
will give males, the latter being the higher role on the 
part of the female. Male eggs, or eggs from which males are 
formed, have always been credited with being more highly de- 
veloped than those from which females emerged, following the 
relative condition of the resultant product. Hence, the follow- 
ing couplet, adapted from one of the Latin poets: 
In eating eggs, always choose the long, 
Cock eggs are they, more nourishing and strong. 
17. The Influence of the Sex of the Child of a Preceding 
Pregnancy on Determining the Sex and Weight of the 
Child of the Next Succeeding Pregnancy. 
The following propositions have already been the subject 
of investigation by various authors, viz.: 
1. Does the same proportion exist among the sexes in births 
of different pregnancies ? The answer has always been that: 
First (early) and later pregnancies furnish a larger proportion 
of girls than intermediate ones. Illegitimate births, among 
which a large proportion are first children, also furnish a larger 
proportion of girls than the proportion in the general total of 
legitimate births. 
2. What influence does a child of one sex have on the weight 
of the next succeeding child when of a different sex, and when 
of the same sex? This question has been answered by Wer- 
nich, from whose tables we have taken the trouble to elaborate 
others, in order to show the various effects of this influence. 
It remains for us to show what influence the sex of the child 
of a preceding pregnancy has on the sex of the product of con- 
ception immediately following. 60 
Hough : Influence of the Sex 
Table shelving the influence of the sex o f the child of a preceding 
pregnancy on the weight of the child of the pregnancy next suc- 
ceeding, when a different sex and when of the same sex, ar- 
ranged according to the number of the pregnancy. Elaborated 
from Pinard,1 out of Wernich.* 
Number 0f 
cases. 
Variations of sex with mean weight (in grams). 
Difference ac 
cording to 
sex. 
102. 
1st a girl, 3073, followed by a boy in 2d pregnancy, 3309. 
+ 
296 gm. 
105. 
1st a boy, 3326, “ 
“ a girl in 2d “ 3285. 
— 
41 “ 
138. 
1st a boy, 3375, “ 
“ a boy in 2d “ 3406. 
+ 
31 “ 
80. 
1st a girl, 3218, “ 
“ a girl in 2d “ 3263. -f* 
45 “ 
78. 
2d a girl, 3257, followed by a boy in 3d pregnancy, 3382. 
-J- 125 gm- 
87. 
2d a boy, 3456, “ 
“ a girl in 3d “ 3359. 
— 
97 “ 
105. 
2d a boy, 3406, “ 
“ a boy in 3d “ 3411. 
+ 
5 “ 
68. 
2d a girl, 3292, “ 
“ a girl in 3d “ 3289. 
3 “ 
37. 
3d a girl, 3271, followed by a boy in 4th p’gnancy, 3457. 
-j- 186 gm. 
56. 
3d a boy, 3335, “ 
“ a girl in 4th “ 3115. 
- 220 “ 
40. 
3d a boy, 3491, “ 
“ a boy in 4th “ 3475. 
— 
16 “ 
49. 
3d a girl, 3289, “ 
“ a girl in 4th “ 3268. 
— 
26 “ 
Condensation of the above table, bringing the three classes 
(pregnancies) together : 
1st, 2d, and 3d 2d, 3d, anfl 4th 
pregnancies; pregnancies; Mean difference; 
mean weight, mean weight, grams, 
grams. grams. 
In 210 cases, girl of 8,200, followed by a boy of 3,383. Excess -f- 183. 
“ 248 “ boy “ 3,873, “ “ girl “ 3,253. Loss — 119. 
“ 278 “ “ “ 3,424, “ “ boy “ 3,430. Excess + 6. 
“ 197 “ girl “ 3,266, “ “ girl “ 3,272. Excess -f 6. 
Average weight of : 
Boys, 3,377 gms. where the preced'q & succeed'q child’n were of a dif. sex 
Girls, 3,327 “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ 
150 “ 
Boys, 3,427 “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ of the same sex. 
Girls, 3,269 “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ 
158 “ 
Average weight, all boys, both classes, 3,414 grams. 
“ “ “ girls, “ “ 3,246 “ 
168 “ 
From an examination of these tables, we discover the uni- 
form rule, viz., a girl who precedes a boy is lighter in weight 
than a girl who precedes a girl—hence we deduce the follow- 
ing proposition : 
1 Art. Fetus. Diet. Encyloped, des Sci. Med., 1878, p. 486. 
4 Beitrage, 2; Geburtshiilfe, I., 3-16, 1871. of the Fetus on the Mother. 
61 
The greater the weight of the girl, the greater the proba- 
bility of her being followed in the next succeeding pregnancy 
by a child of the same sex, and vice versa, as may be seen by 
an examination of the following table: 
Mean of girls. 
102 girls in a 1st pregn’y who preceded a boy weighed 3,073 gms- 
80 “ “ 1st “ “ “a girl “ 3,218 “ 
+ 145 “ 
73 “ “ 2d “ “ “ a boy “ 3,257 “ 
68 “ “ 2d “ “ “ a girl “ 3,292 “ 
+ 35 <( 
37 “ “ 3d “ “ “ a boy “ 3,271 “ 
49 “ “ 3d “ “ “ a girl “ 3,289 “ 
+ 18 “ 
Making a total for all pregnancies of: 
210 gl’s in 1st, 2d, & 3d pr. who preceded a b’y weig’d 3,200 gms. 
197 “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ a girl “ 3,263 “ 
+ 66 ££ 
Hence, girls who precede boys weigh a mean of 66 
grams less than girls who precede girls, and from the fol- 
lowing we learn that boys who precede boys weigh on an 
average 52 grams less than boys who precede girls : 
248 b’ys in 1st, 2d, & 3d pr. who preceded a g’l weig’d 3,372 gras* 
278 “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ ab’y “ 3,424 “ 
Mean of boys, +52 “ 
220 “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ followed a g;l weig’d 3,383 “ 
278 “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ a b’y “ 3,430 “ 
+ 47 “ 
248 gl’s “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ a b’y “ 3,253 “ 
297 “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ a g’l “ 3,272 “ 
4-19 “ 
Hence:— 
A boy who follows a girl weighs 47 grams less than , 
A boy who follows a boy. 
A girl who follows a boy weighs 19 grams less than 
A girl who follows a girl. 
A boy who follows a boy weighs 158 srams more than 
A girl who follows a girl. Hough : Influence of the Sex 
A boy who precedes a girl weighs 52 grams less than 
A boy who precedes a boy. 
A girl who precedes a boy weighs 66 grams less than 
A girl who precedes a girl. 
A girl who precedes a girl weighs 158 grams less than 
A boy who precedes a boy. 
Table showing the order by sex of the births most favorable to 
the weight of the fetus. 
Grams. 
3,430. Bov follows a boy. 
3,383. “ a girl. 
3,272. Girl “ a “ 
3,253. “ “ a boy. 
Grams. 
3,424. Boy precedes a bov. 
3,372- “ “ a girl. 
3,266. Girl “ a “ 
3,200. “ “ a boy. 
The weight of the fetus depends to some extent on the 
length of the intergestation period which has immediately 
preceded it, as we have shown that boys who follow boys are 
heaviest, and are conceived a greater length of time after 
the previous birth than any other combination between the 
sexes, thus verifying the dictum of Wernich, who declares 
that increase of interval between births acts more beneficially 
than diminution. 
18. Influence of Sex of letus on the Length of the Interges- 
tation Period. 
It is a well-known fact that the period between the birth of 
successive children in women who are not relatively sterile, is 
on an average eighteen months among the middle classes gener- 
ally, and twenty-odd months among the upper classes, particu- 
larly when living in cities. The number of the pregnancy, espe- 
cially after the seventh, seems to have a perceptible influence in 
shortening the period in each successive birth, until it has 
dropped from twenty-one months in the seventh to fifteen 
months in the eighteenth, as may be seen from an examination 
of the following table, by Ansell, based on 25,000 observations.1 
•Duncan: Sterility in Woman; London Lancet, Feb. 34th etseq., 1883. of the Fetus on the Mother. 
Tahle showing the Mean Time after Marriage of successive Births, 
and the average interval between them. 
ORDER 
OF 
BIRTH 
MEAN TIME OF 
BIRTH AFTER 
MARRIAGE. 
AVERAGE IN- 
TERVAL BET. 
SUCES. BIRTHS. 
ORDER MEAN TIME OF 
OF BIRTH AFTER 
BIRTH MARRIAGE. 
AVERAGE IN- 
TERVAL BET, 
SUCES. BIRTHS 
1st 
Child 
2d “ 
1.32 years. 
3.02 “ 
18.0 months. 
10th 
Child 
11th il 
16.33 years. 
17.65 “ 
20.0 months. 
19.0 
8d “ 
4.83 
19.0 
12th “ 
18.85 “ 
19.0 
4th “ 
6.69 “ 
20.0 
13th “ 
19.87 “ 
18.0 
5th “ 
8.53 “ 
20.0 
14th “ 
20.71 “ 
18.0 
6th “ 
10.28 
20.0 “ 
15th “ 
21.41 “ 
17.0 
7th “ 
11.92 “ 
21.0 
16th “ 
22.01 “ 
16.5 
8th “ 
13.47 “ 
20.0 
17th “ 
22.54 “ 
16.0 
9th “ 
14.93 
20.0 
18th “ 
23.02 “ 
15.0 
In another table, based on 6,035 observations corrected for 
«till-births and twins, Ansell has shown that the mean interval 
between marriage and the birth of the first child is nearly six- 
teen months ; 3,159 women having borne their first child before 
the first year of married life had elapsed, and nearly seven- 
eighths of the whole number (6,035) before the expiration of 
the second year. 
Having now determined the mean time between the birth of 
children of different pregnancies, without regard to sex, it re- 
mains for us to show the influence of the sex of the preceding 
fetus on the length of the intergestation period; that is, from a 
birth to the next succeeding conception. We have just shown 
that the sex of a preceding fetus has a perceptible influence in 
determining the sex and weight of the fetus next succeeding 
it, and now we shall show that the length of the intergestation 
period is influenced by the sex of the fetus at each end of this 
period. 
We have not been able to discover the expression of any opin- 
ion on this point to guide us in our researches, and have conse- 
quently been obliged to rely upon such data as were afforded 
by genealogical tables. In genealogies it is usual to give the 
date of the marriage and the date of birth, and name of each 
child born, and from these facts we have elaborated a table in 
which are clearly shown the points we wish to elucidate. 
Such families were selected as offered a fair proportion of the 
two sexes, and any period of three years or more between 
the births of two children was thrown out as showing a certain 
amount of relative sterility, or indicating a disturbing influ- 64 
Hough : Influence of the Sex 
ence, such as disease, temporary suspension of intercourse,. 
etc., etc. 
The questions to be solved, then, are as follows: 
1. What is the mean time between marriage and the birth of 
a boy ? 
2. What is the mean time between marriage and the birth of 
a girl? 
3. What is the mean time between births when a boy follows 
a girl ? 
4. What is the mean time between births when a girl follows 
a boy ? 
5. What is the mean time between births when a boy follows t 
a boy ? 
6. What is the mean time between births when a girl follows 
a gild ? 
(Pregnancies of the same number only to be compared.) 
Plan for a Table showing the Mean Time between Births, also the 
Mean Time betieeen a Birth and the next succeeding Conception, 
according to the Sex of the preceding and succeeding Fetus, and 
the Number of the Pregnancy. 
ORDER OF SEXUAL 
DIFFERENTIATION. 
FROM B 
GIR 
BIRTH 
RTH OF 
L TO 
OF BOY 
FROM B 
GIR 
BIRTH 
RTH OF 
L TO 
dfGIRL 
FROM B1 
BOY 
BIRTH 
RTH OF 
TO 
)FGIRL 
FROM B1 
BOY 
BIRTH 
RTH OF 
TO 
OF BOY 
Order & No. Preg. 
M’ths. 
Days. 
M’ths. 
Days. 
M’ths. 
Days. 
M’ths. 
Days. 
From 1st to 2d b'th 
“ 2d to 8d “ 
“ 3d to 4th “ 
“ 4th to 5th “ 
“ 5th to 6th “ 
Continuing in the 
same manner to, 
say the 20th Preg. 
Total all Pregnan. 
22 
20 
23 
19 
25 
03 
38 
26 
Mean intergesta- 
tion period 
18 
20 
14 
19 
16 
03 
19 
26 
[Found by subtrac- 
ting period of ges- 
tation,1] 
Total No. Observa- 
tions each catego- 
ry 
1 
5 
1 
7 
1 
9 
1 
8 
69 Observations. 
1 A week less should be subtracted from gestations with girls than for 
boys. of the Fetus on the Mother. 
65 
Mean time from marriage to birth of first child (within 3 
years) when a girl, — raos, — days. 
Mean time from marriage to birth of -first child (within 3 
years) when a hoy, — raos. — days. 
I regret very much that I have not had the time nor the pa 
tience to collect and tabulate the intergestation period in a 
larger number of instances, involving as it does much tedious 
calculation, but the few observations I have tabulated in the fol- 
lowing table, encourages me to believe that, as I predicted, the 
sex of the fetus has a very decided influence in determining the 
length of the intergestation period. 
By subtracting nine months from the interval between births 
we get the 
Mean Time between Birth and the folloioing Conception, which 
we found to he as folloios: 
NO. 
OBS. 
BIRTH OF 
GIRL TO CON- 
CEP. OF BOY. 
BIRTH OF 
GIRL TO CON- 
CEP. OF GIRL 
BIRTH OP 
BOY TO CON- 
CEP. OF GIRL 
BIRTH OF 
BOY TO CON- 
CEP. OF BOY. 
British Peer- [ 
27 
7 mo. 23 d. 
5 mo. 23 d. 
10 mo. 27 d. 
14 mo. 23 d. 
age. ) 
233 d. 
173 d. 
327 d. 
443 d. 
Hyde Gene- } 
69 
13 mo. 20 d. 
14 mo. 19 d. 
16 mo. 3 d. 
19 mo. 26 d. 
alogy. f 
410 d. 
439 d. 
483 d. 
596 d. 
On examination of the above table, we discover that a woman 
conceives after the birth of a girl in 6 months 23 days to 14 
months 4 days, according to the sex of this conception, and in 
12 months 25 days to 17 months after the birth of a boy. 
This difference in the length of the intergestation period is 
further corroborated by an examination of Ansell’s table just 
cited, where the longest intergestation period is shown to be 
between the birth of the sixth and conception of the seventh 
child, or 21 — 9 12 months, showing a gradual increase from 
marriage to this period, and a gradual decline after it. Now 
it is known that, in general, women who marry at the usual 
age of eighteen to twenty-five, and live in wedlock until the 
climacteric, have a larger proportion of girls among the early 
and later children than among those born in the middle of the 
child-bearing period, thus confirming the results of our tables, 
though we have dealt witli such a small number of cases. 
Hence we conclude that women generally who conceive 
within two years after marriage, of a girl in their first preg- 66 
Hough : Influence of the Sex 
nancy, will have a greater number of children and at shorter 
intervals, among which there will be a larger proportion of 
girls, tlian the woman who conceives under similar circumstan- 
ces of a boy. 
The sex, then, of the first child, is an index of the sex of the 
majority of the children the woman will bear, as well as an in- 
dication of her prospective fecundity, and comparative length 
of the intergestation period. 
The woman who bears boys exclusively will have fewer 
children, and longer intergestation periods than the woman who 
has children of both sexes, or girls only. 
Mr. Roberton,1 in “ An Attempt to Demonstrate the Law 
which Regulates the Intervals of Conception in the Human 
Female,” says that the she-ass goes ten months and receives 
the male the seventh day after delivery, and the mare goes 
eleven months, and receives the stallion on the ninth day after 
delivery. In the cow, gestation lasts nine months, and she 
conceives three months after calving. The sheep and goat go 
five months, conceiving seven months after delivery—while 
the human female goes nine months and conceives nine months 
after delivery, and nurses a year to fifteen months. 
Among the lower animals that depend upon grazing, when in 
a wild state, there is a tendency to bring forth the young in the 
spring when nourishment is more plentiful. The longer the 
period of gestation, the shorter the interval between birth and 
the following conception. The mare goes eleven months and 
must conceive within the month following, or she would bring 
forth later and later each successive year. 
Among savage and barbarous peoples, it is not unusual to 
suckle children from three to five years, or even indeed until the 
mother becomes pregnant again; and, in some cases, going so 
far as to have the infants of two pregnancies at the breast at 
once. 
Mr. Roberton, believing that suckling had some influence 
on the length of the intergestation period, questioned one 
hundred and sixty women, of an average age of thirty and one- 
half years, having given birth to six hundred and eighty-six chil- 
dren, or four and one-half each, five hundred and twelve of whom 
lived to be weaned, or three and one-half for each. Average 
1 Edinburgh Med. Jour., 1832, pp. 1-11. of the Fetus on the Mother. 
67 
age at weaning was fifteen and one-half months. Of these 
women, eighty-one became pregnant once or oftener during lac- 
tation, and seventy-nine had never conceived during lactation. 
Of the eighty-one who became pregnant during lactation, 
twenty-seven, who had produced one hundred and one chil- 
dren, had conceived on thirty-eight times during lactation. 
That forty-two who had always conceived during lactation, did 
not, on an average, conceive until they had suckled nineteen 
and one third months nearly; and that twenty-two, the remain- 
der of the eighty one, had been in the habit of conceiving dur- 
ing lactation, and soon after parturition. The average age for 
weaning was different in the two classes of women—in those 
who had not conceived during suckling, and those who had con- 
ceived once or oftener during suckling. For the seventy-nine 
women composing the former class, it was fourteen and one- 
fourth months; and for the eighty-one women of the latter 
class, it was fifteen and two-thirds months. 
“The first corollary,” says Roberton, “ which I would draw 
from the foregoing fact is, that in seven out of eight women who 
suckle for as long a period as the working classes in this 
country (Scotland) are in the habit of doing, there will elapse an 
interval of fifteen months from parturition to the commence- 
ment of the subsequent pregnancy. 
“ Second, That, in a majority of cases, when suckling is pro- 
longed to even nineteen or twenty months, pregnancy does not 
take place until after weaning. 
“ Third, That lactation has an influence on the generative 
function; that, up to a late period in suckling, probably in this 
country about fifteen months, conception does not, in general, 
occur; and that hence we are warranted in regarding the secre- 
tion of milk as the cause which regulates the periods of con- 
ception in mankind, as instinct operates to the same end in 
graminivorous quadrupeds, and probably in all other animals.” 
The tables to be found under Proposition 18, though 
founded on too few observations to be infallible, are yet in- 
teresting as showing that, among the peeresses of England, 
the intervals between birth and the next succeeding conception, 
though they have fewer children, was six months, or nearly 
one-third shorter among the mothers of New England—a dif- 
ference which we are inclined to ascribe to the probable fact 68 
Hough : Influence of the Sex 
that a much larger proportion of New England mothers suckle 
their children (at least at the time of the births from which 
these tables were made, viz., one hundred years ago). As we know 
that peeresses have fewer children, and from the above, as it ap- 
pears, at shorter intervals, we are forced to conclude that 
among them the entire child-bearing period must be much 
shorter than among the women of New England, one hundred 
years ago. 
In conclusion, the following questions present themselves, 
viz.: 
Does suckling a female exhaust the mother more than suc- 
kling a male ? 
If so, what effect has this greater exhaustion in accelerating 
or retarding the next succeeding conception, that is, lengthening 
or shortening the intergestation period ? 
In answer to the first, we have only to repeat Prof. Marte- 
goute’s conclusion from his experiments with sheep, in which 
he found that female lambs exhausted the mother more than 
the suckling of males. Notwithstanding this greater exhaus- 
tion from suckling females, from our tables we learn that a 
woman conceives from three to six months sooner after the 
birth of of a girl than after the birth of a boy, from which we 
must conclude that this exhaustion, or rather the causes which 
bring it about, determine in the woman a genetic tendency 
which may be defined to be a disposition to reproduction rather 
than to nourishment. This corresponds with what writers on 
population tell us, viz., that years of famine (necessarily at- 
tended by a certain amount of physical exhaustion from lack 
of food) are followed by increase in births and in the propor- 
tion of male children, thus confirming the law that reproduc- 
tion and growth are antagonistic. 
19. Influence of the Sex of the Ictus on theMind of the 
Mother. 
Thus far, we have omitted to discuss the influence of ges- 
tation and lactation on the mind of the child-bearing woman. 
Puerperal mania seldom appears, if indeed at all, before labor 
sets in. And from Esquirol we learn that out of every twelve 
women who are insane, one owes the origin of her malady to 
child-bearing. Of those women who have puerperal mania, two- of the Fetus on the Mother. 
69 
fifths were attacked within the first fifteen days after labor ; one 
fifth from the fifteenth day to the end of the second month ; 
another one-fifth after the third month; and the last one-fifth 
immediately after weaning. It remains for us to inquire 
what influence nursing has on producing or aggravating this 
malady, and finally, whether those women who have given 
birth to and nurse girls are not more frequently attacked by 
this form of insanity than those who bear and nurse boys, as 
the testimony of the facts brought forward in this paper would 
seem to indicate, particularly if there be, as we believe, a 
traceable relationship between this malady and the nervous 
and physical exhaustion of the mother. 
20. Influence of Co-Twins of Different Sexes on the Mother 
and on Each Other. 
That the opinion that one of a pair of twins is sterile is not 
a modern discovery may be gathered from the following, out 
of JoubertS’il est vray que de gerneaux 1’un est inepte 
a engendrer; et semblablement des gemelles, Pune est inepte 
a concevoir: et si les gemeaux ne peuvent faire d’autres. 
Free-martin is a name given to a female calf born co-twin 
with a male, and almost always sterile from this fact, while 
the male co-twin is able to engender. 
This fact seems to indicate that where a male and a female 
fetus are exposed to exactly the same conditions during gesta- 
tion, it is the female which fails to come to perfection, possi- 
bly from lack of nourishment, or some influence of the male 
co-twin on the mother, reacting on the female. There may be 
a developmental prepotency on the part of the male twin. 
I know of no statistics in which the relative mortality before 
birth of co-twins is mentioned, but we have shown in this 
paper that the number of females (in single births) who die 
during gestation (before labor) exceeds the number of males, 
and we believe that this excess is still greater in twin births of 
females than with males. The greater exuberance of vitality of 
ovum destined to produce a female is further shown in the 
fact that double monsters are four times as frequently females 
as male. Twins, of whatever combination of sexes, suffer 
from this fact alone, it being impossible to produce two crea.- 
1 Erreurs populaires, etc. 8vo. Paris, 1586. 2d pte., p. 141, 70 
Hough : Influence of the Fetus on the Mother. 
tares as perfect and vigorous as if only one had been born. 
This view is strengthened by the observations of Arthur 
Mitchell,1 who “ shows that twins are peculiarly liable to be 
imbeciles or idiots.” The conclusions of Mitchell’s paper are 
so pertinent to the present subject that I quote them here at 
length. 1. “ Among the imbeciles and idiots a much larger 
proportion is usually found to be twin-born than among the 
general community. 2. Among the relatives of imbeciles and 
idiots twinning is also found to be very frequent. 3. In fami- 
lies, when twinning is frequent, bodily deformities (of defect 
and of excess) likewise occur with frequency. 4. The whole 
history of twin births is exceptional, indicates imperfect de- 
velopment and feeble organization in the product, and leads 
us to regard twinning in the human species as a departure 
from the physiological rule, and therefore injurious to all con- 
cerned. 5. When we pass from twins to triplets and quad- 
ruplets, everything we know regarding these latter gives sup- 
port tq the general conclusions in question.”2 
In conclusion, I cannot too strongly urge the importance in 
all statistical tables of separating the sexes, and in individual 
cases to state the sex of the child. In all statistical work, 
separate tables should be made for each sex, so that inquirers 
of all classes may be able to make a selection of such facts as 
they may need to illustrate any subject from the point of view 
from which they may wish to regard it. In all physiological 
inquiries, the results should be tabulated by sexes. In cases of 
placenta previa, extrauteriue gestation, and phlegmasia alba 
dolens, the sex of the child is seldom stated in the reports of 
cases. Dr. Parry was only able to find the sex stated in eighty 
cases of extrauteriue gestation, and I have only been able to 
discover the same number of cases of placenta previa wherein 
the sex was stated. 
There is an interesting field of investigation open in the 
study of the placenta, regarding its site, weight, and shape, 
by sex of fetus. Who will prove what we conjecture, viz., 
that the placenta of the female fetus has a larger surface of 
attachment to the womb than that of the male ? 
1 Medical Times and Gazette, November 15th, 1862. 
2 Duncan: London Lancet, March 24th, 1883, p. 492. ERRATA* 
Page 5, 12th line, read “ on determining.” 
“ 10,11th line, read “ and the testicle spermatozoids,” intend of “ or 
spermatozoids.” 
“ 11,23d line, read “is strengthened” instead of “is not strength- 
ened.” 
“ 67, next to last line, read “ than among.”