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This article explores the complex law of illegitimacy in the nineteenth century and its relationship to questions of national belonging and subject-hood, thorough the use of a specific legal case study – that of Shedden v Patrick, a dispute over legitimacy and property which opened in 1804 and lasted until 1869. William Shedden was born in America of a Scottish father, who had married his mother, but after his birth. His claim that he should inherit the Shedden family estate in Scotland, as both his father's lawful son and a natural-born British subject, brought together a bewildering array of laws, as formal and informal partnerships in the former colony, together with the discrepant legitimacy codes of England and Scotland, were brought to bear on inheritance claims based on laws of nationality and domicile. Shedden's fight to prove his legitimacy led to the passing of the Legitimacy Declaration Act in 1858, but it also gave rise to a series of legal debates on the nature of personal status, and to the complex ways in which both personal legitimacy and nationality operate as legal fictions. Here I trace how the twists and turns of the case, in 1808, the 1840s and the 1860s, illustrate different facets of these debates on legitimacy and national belonging, and also their intersection with other lines of exclusion drawn around the legal identities of both family and nation. 'Bastardy' was a profoundly troubled category in the mid-nineteenth century, partly because it highlighted the difficulties of defining legal identity itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Early pregnancy losses are common, but their psychologic sequelae are often overlooked. Previous studies have established links between miscarriage and early symptoms of anxiety and depression. However, the incidence of posttraumatic stress symptoms and the psychologic response specifically to ectopic pregnancies have not been investigated.Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate levels of posttraumatic stress, depression, and anxiety in women in the 9 months after early pregnancy loss, with a focus on miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy. Morbidity at 1 month was compared with a control group in healthy pregnancy.Study Design: This was a prospective cohort study. Consecutive women were recruited from the early pregnancy and antenatal clinics at 3 London hospitals and received emailed surveys that contained standardized psychologic assessments that included the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and Posttraumatic stress Diagnostic Scale, at 1, 3, and 9 months after loss. Control subjects were assessed after a dating scan. We assessed the proportion of participants who met the screening criteria for posttraumatic stress and moderate/severe anxiety or depression. We used logistic regression to calculate adjusted odds ratios.Results: Seven hundred thirty-seven of 1098 women (67%) with early pregnancy loss (including 537 miscarriages and 116 ectopic pregnancies) and 171 of 187 control subjects (91%) agreed to participate. Four hundred ninety-two of the women with losses (67%) completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale after 1 month; 426 women (58%) completed it after 3 months, and 338 women (46%) completed it after 9 months. Eighty-seven control subjects (51%) participated. Criteria for posttraumatic stress were met in 29% of women with early pregnancy loss after 1 month and in 18% after 9 months (odds ratio per month, 0.80; 95% confidence interval, 0.72-0.89). Moderate/severe anxiety was reported in 24% after 1 month and in 17% after 9 months (odds ratio per month, 0.69; 95% confidence interval, 0.50-0.94). Moderate/severe depression was reported in 11% of the women after 1 month and 6% of the women after 9 months (odds ratio per month, 0.87; 95% confidence interval, 0.53-1.44). After miscarriage, proportions after 9 months were 16% for posttraumatic stress, 17% for anxiety, and 5% for depression. Corresponding figures after ectopic pregnancy were 21%, 23%, and 11%, respectively. In contrast, among control women with viable pregnancies, 13% reported moderate-to-severe anxiety (odds ratio loss at 1 month vs controls: 2.14; 95% confidence interval, 1.14-4.36), and 2% reported moderate-to-severe depression (odds ratio loss at 1 month vs control subjects: 3.88; 95% confidence interval, 1.27-19.2).Conclusion: Women experience high levels of posttraumatic stress, anxiety, and depression after early pregnancy loss. Distress declines over time but remains at clinically important levels at 9 months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the sighting of Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Dendrocopos major, by Alan Prowse and Ken Smith in Clayton, Sussex, England in the late 1940s. The birds use natural holes as nest cavities. It is noted that a green Woodpecker flew from a isolated Ash tree and upon inspection of the tree, a nest and eggs were found in a large natural knot-hole where a branch had been lost.