REPORT OF A QASE OF ANENCEPHALUS

The following report of a case of anencephalus presents some points of interest. Mother's History. —The mother, white, American, aged 42, was married at 17 and had nine children. Twenty-two years ago, she gave birth to her second child, a hydrocephalous female infant. She stated that she had unusually difficult labors with all her female children. Present Confinement. —Labor occurred Jan. 29, 1911. On examination I found the abdomen unusually large, the umbilical region being rather flat, and the sides fuller than ordinary. The limbs of the fetus could be felt on the left side. By bimanual examination, a water sac could be felt, filling the roomy vagina and projecting from a partly dilated cervix. Combined version having failed, I anesthetized the patient, dilated the rigid os manually, cut the tough membrane, performed podalic version, and delivered an anencephalic fetus, which lived but a moment after birth. I estimated the