In a recent
case decided, the Lord Chancellor accepted a case where it was alleged
pregnancy had extended to 331 days. A child only five months old may
live, for a short time at all events. There is considerable difficulty
in many cases in fixing the date of conception. The data from which it
is calculated are the following: (1) _Peculiar sensations attending
conception_, which are not sufficiently defined to be recognized by
those conceiving for the first time. (2) _Cessation of the catamenia._
Other causes may, however, cause this; and, on the other hand, a woman
may menstruate during the whole period of her pregnancy. This datum also
gives a variable period, and may involve an error of several days or a
month, for the menses may be arrested by cold, etc., at one monthly
period, and the woman become pregnant before the next. (3) _The period
of quickening._ This, when perceived (which is not always the case),
also occurs at variable periods from the tenth to the twenty-sixth week.
(4) _A single coitus._ This does not, however, correspond to the time of
fertilization. Several days may elapse before the spermatozoa meet with
an ovum and fertilize it.
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