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Weir Mitchell delineates an interesting case of pseudocyesis as follows: "A woman, young, or else, it may be, at or past the climacteric, eagerly desires a child or is horribly afraid of becoming pregnant. The menses become slight in amount, irregular, and at last cease or not. Meanwhile the abdomen and breasts enlarge, owing to a rapid taking on of fat, and this is far less visible elsewhere.

Cases of pseudocyesis in women convicted of murder are not uncommon, though most of them are imposters hoping for an extra lease of life. Croon speaks of a child seven years old on whom he performed ovariotomy for a round-celled sarcoma. She had been well up to May, but since then she had several times been raped by a boy, in consequence of which she had constant uterine hemorrhage.

Suppression of the menses, enlargement of the abdomen, engorgement of the breasts, together with the symptoms produced by the imagination, such as nausea, spasmodic contraction of the abdomen, etc., are for the most part the origin of the cases of pseudocyesis.

One old woman went so far as to show the fetus dancing to the music of a banjo with rhythmical movements. Such imposters flourished best in the regions given to "voodooism." We can readily believe how easy the deception might be when we recall the exact simulation of the fetal movements in instances of pseudocyesis.

Haultain gives three examples of pseudocyesis, the first with no apparent cause, the second due to carcinoma of the uterus, while in the third there was a small fibroid in the anterior wall of the uterus. Some cases are of purely nervous origin, associated with a purely muscular distention of the abdomen. Clay reported a case due to ascites.

The parents immediately prosecuted the seducer by strenuous legal methods, but when her ninth month came, and after the use of six baths, all the signs of pregnancy vanished. Harvey cites several instances of pseudocyesis, and says we must not rashly determine of the the inordinate birth before the seventh or after the eleventh month.

Of course, many of the cases are not examples of true pseudocyesis, with its interesting phenomena, but instances of malingering for mercenary or other purposes, and some are calculated to deceive the most expert obstetricians by their tricks.

Pseudocyesis. On the other hand, instances of pregnancy with imaginary symptoms and preparations for birth are sometimes noticed, and many cases are on record. In fact, nearly every text-book on obstetrics gives some space to the subject of pseudocyesis.

He also quotes the following case associated with pseudocyesis: "A woman had given birth to two female children. Some years passed and her desire for a boy was ungratified. Then she missed her flow once, and had thrice after this, as always took place with her when pregnant, a very small but regular loss. At the second month morning-vomiting came on as usual with her.

The most noteworthy historic case of pseudocyesis is that of Queen Mary of England, or "Bloody Mary," as she was called. To insure the succession of a Catholic heir, she was most desirous of having a son by her consort, Philip, and she constantly prayed and wished for pregnancy. Finally her menses stopped; the breasts began to enlarge and became discolored around the nipples.