The cord was cut and the child survived and thrived, though the mother soon died.

Stalpart tells the almost incredible story of a soldier's wife who went to obtain water from a stream and was cut in two by a cannonball while stooping over.

A passing soldier observed something to move in the water, which, on investigation, he found to be a living child in its membranes.

It was christened by order of one Cordua and lived for some time after.
Postmortem Cesarean Section .-- The possibility of delivering a child by Cesarean section after the death of the mother has been known for a long time to the students of medicine.

In the olden times there were laws making compulsory the opening of the dead bodies of pregnant women shortly after death.