BYaNatural BIRTH, I mean nothing else, but that which is perform’d without anyARTorArtificial Means; whichBIRTH(of itself) strictly observes the Order and Appointment ofNature: That is, in theINFANT’s comingHead foremost,Face downwards,Arms following, extended (along theSides) straitupwards, towards theThighs.
HIPPOCRATES’sReason[163], in short, for theCHILD’s thus turning and presenting itself, is very good;viz.Because of all theParts, theHeadis the Heaviest about the Time ofBIRTH, as appears more at large fromSect.I.Chap.10.
BUTbesides this Argument, I believe WiseNaturehas also order’d itthus; becauseThisindubitably is the mostsafeandeasy MannerofEXITIONboth for theMotherandInfant: Insomuch that by all otherMethodsofEXTRACTION,Oneor theOther, and sometimesBoth Livesare, or may be, endanger’d, if not very dextrously perform’d, according to the best Laws of Art and Judgment, as by and by will more manifestly appear.
BUTbecause I have generally observ’d mostAuthorsto treat promiscuously ofBIRTHS, not only accounting some, which are reallyNatural, to bePreternatural; but also both handling and writing of them assuch, only because attended with some difficult Circumstances: I shall (in this place) take Leave to make an agreeableDistinctionbetwixt thedifferent SortsofNatural BIRTHS, in order to make every thing the more clear and obvious to theConceptionof theReader. Upon which Account therefore, I shall reduceThesetotwoHeads, and that under theTitlesofNatural Easy, andNatural Difficult BIRTHS.
THEFIRSTof which I include in thisChapter; but because in thisCase(which I call aNatural EasyBIRTH),Naturealone always performs theWork, without any Help ofARTorArtful Means; and because also theMidwife(upon this Occasion) has but little or nothing to do, save only to observe the concludingChaptersof the last precedingSection; and upon receiving theChild, immediately to manage and provide both for theMotherand theInfantaccording to their severalNecessities, as hereafter shall be inculcated in the respectiveChaptersof the next followingSection: I say, for theseReasons, I have no Room here to insist farther on this presentHead; wherefore I proceed in course to theSECOND Sortof theseBIRTHS. Namely——