Thurston tells of a case in which Nature had apparently effected the separation of the placenta without alarming hemorrhage, the ease being one of placenta praevia, terminating favorably by natural processes.

Playfair speaks of the detachment of the uterine decidua without the interruption of pregnancy.
Guerrant gives a unique example of normal birth at full term in which the placenta was found in the vagina, but not a vestige of the membranes was noticed.

The patient had experienced nothing unusual until within three months of expected confinement, since which time there had been a daily loss of water from the uterus.

She recovered and was doing her work.

There was no possibility that this was a case of retained secundines.
Anomalies of the Umbilical Cord .-- Absence of the membranes has its counterpart in the deficiency of the umbilical cord, so frequently noticed in old reports.