The political philosopher John Gray, an avowed progressophobe, has described the contemporary societies of Western Europe as “terrains of violent conflict” in which “peace and war [are] fatally blurred.

One of these women, a secundipara, had gone two weeks over time, and had a large ovarian cyst, the pedicle of which had become twisted, the fluid in the cyst being sanguineous.

The antidote neutralised the toxin.

Mongolian spots are produced by melanocyte leftovers that do not migrate into the epidermis; they remain deeper than usual in the lumbar-sacral region, resulting in blue coloration of the skin. Mongolian spots occur mainly on the buttocks and lower back, and occasionally on the abdomen, thighs, and arms. They occur in 90 percent of Blacks, 80 percent of Orientals and Native Americans, and 9 percent of Whites.