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children at a time. One of these, that ofGuiseppa Califani, occurred lately at

Naples; and we have the details of another,which took place in Franklin County, in

America, about twelve years ago, recordedby Doctor Paddock. There is also said tobe a similar preparation in the BritishMuseum. It is extremely curious and inte-resting, as connected with the history of

multiparous births, that in this respectIreland preponderates over all other nations,and that the Irish females are unequalled inthe ratio’ of their fecundity. The proportionof twin cases in Dublin is one in sixty ; inAmerica (where, it is to be recollected, thereis a large number of Irish emigrants) theproportion is one in seventy-five ; in Londonit is one in ninety-one; while in France," longo interncallo," it is one in 140. In proofof the rarity of five twin-children, DoctorKennedy further remarked, that out of140,000 cases recorded in the Lying-in Hos-pital of Dublin, there is no instance of fivechildren at a birth. There is one case of four,but none of five. It is a curious fact, thatin the American case the mother was an Irish woman, and had recently arrived inAmerica. It may, perhaps, be consideredequally curious that in the case detailed byDoctor Kennedy the father was a man ofsmall stature, set. about thirty, without anyremarkable personal development, and bytrade a tailor! The woman, the subject ofthe present memoir, whose name is SarahHickey, is twenty-eight years of age. Shewas married about two years ago, andwithin nine months after brought forth herfirst child. This conception was uniparient.After the lapse of six months she again con-ceived of the foetuses alluded to; and ob-served that during the pregnancy she in-creased very rapidly in size, and sufferedconstantly from bearing down, which ren-dered walking or standing almost impossi.ble. She had constant sickness of stomach

symptom generally looked on as an evi-dence of compound pregnancy. As to theabortion, it would appear to have been pro-duced by inordinate distention of the uterusfor its period, which, in its turn, led to

parturient efforts, as the ova presented nomorbid appearance. The foetuses,which areall males, do not appear to exceed the de-velopment usually observed about the se.

cond month ; and as Hickey menstruatedon the 24th May, and miscarried on the 26thAugust, it is more than probable she overcalculated the duration of her pregnancy.This preparation is in Doctor Kennedy’smuseum, in the Dublin Lying-in Hospital.—Dub. Jour. Jan. 1840.

DISEASES ASCRIBED TO ERGOT.

I AM decidedly of opinion, that in numer.ous instances these diseases have had ori.

gins widely different and distinct. In manyprovinces where the spasms and gangreneascribed to ergot have prevailed, ergothas been sparingly, and in others, not at allproduced. In some instances, the seasonof the year in which these diseases haveprevailed, renders it extremely improbablethat ergot, admitting its use, could have reotained sufficient activity to evince the viru.lence which history and tradition have as.cribed to it; and in others, the very sparingconsumption of bread supposed to containit, would require, to produce such notableeffects, even greater activity in the drugthan its toxicological history will authoriseus in ascribing to it. As a proof of thedifficulty experienced in determining theetiology of dry gangrene, we repeatedly seeit confounded with other diseases, widelydifferent in their cause, but having are.markable similitude in their appearance.

Again, we are not justified in concludingthat the diseases, when they occurred inthose instances where ergoted rye was used,were solely in consequence of the deleteriouseffect of the grain itself. The bread was

poor, and sometimes almost innutritive,hardly, indeed, calculated to sustain thephysicial energies of the peasantry, andwhen we consider the fearful diseases whichdefective nourishment induces, we need nothesitate to infer, that, in many instances,the supposed ergotism was occasioned, as M.Gassoud observes, by the people, in order toavoid actual famine, being compelled to liveupon a sort of bread made of the meal ofacorns, of grape-stones, of the roots of fern,and other such crude and innntritious sub.stances. To prove the succession of pesti.lence to famine it is scarcely necessary toquote the apothegm,, pestis post famem."The records of history furnish proofs whichabuudantly substantiate the notion, myown experiments on animals by no meanscorresponding with those reported by the

continental writers on the same subject.These experiments are subseqnently reportedby the writer.—Abs. Mr. Bright. Edin. Jled.Jour., Jan. 1840.

Ediburgh, Tuesday, 4th February.Dr. J. T. SIMPSON, was to-day elected

Professor of Midwifery in the University ofthis city, by a Majority of One Vote in theTown Council:-

For Dr. Simpson ........ 17For Dr. Evory Kennedy .. 16

SCIENTIFIC REWARD.-A high and de.served compliment has just been paid by aForeign Society to Dr. MACARTNEY, whohad been named HonorarB Member of the" Societé Franaise de Statistique Univer-selle." This Society contains amongst itsmembers all the monarchs and eminentstatesmen of Europe.