The Jewish child : its history, folklore, biology, & sociology / by W.M. Feldman ; with an introduction by Sir James Crichton-Browne.

Feldman, W. M. (William Moses), 1879-1939.

Date:: 1917

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: The Jewish child : its history, folklore, biology, & sociology / by W.M. Feldman ; with an introduction by Sir James Crichton-Browne. Source: Wellcome Collection.

170/492 (page 136)

$136 The Jewish Child [chap pressed the view that till the seventh month the foetus lies in a breech presentation; afterwards it turns into a vertex presentation. Superfecundation and Superfœtation. Superfecundation (or the successive impregnation by different fathers at different dates, within the range of one menstrual period).—It is possible for a child literally to have two fathers, if two separate intercourses took place within three days of each other (since the semen may remain three days without fertilizing).^ This is not in accordance with the views of modern embryology, which teaches that an ovum can be fertilized by only one spermatozoon. It is, however, known that two ova from the same period of ovulation may be fertilized during two consecutive connections, even by two different men, as has been proved by the fact that twin children of different colours (one white, the other negro) have been born.^ Superfœtation (or the impregnation of a second ovum from a subsequent ovulation after pregnancy had already occurred from a former ovulation).—According to the ancients, who believed that women, like animals, had bicornuate uteri, such a thing was quite simple. (Cf. Aristotle, De generat., iv. 87, 88.) For a normal uterus such a thing is possible up to three months.^ The Talmudic authorities do not agree on this ques¬ tion. The Babylonian Talmud does not believe such a thing possible, and Abaye explained the birth of a second child thirty-three days after the first by saying that the ^ Jer. Yebam. iv. ^ See Galabin and Blacker's Midwifery, ojp, cit. ® Ibid, \$