SUCHBIRTHS, (properly speaking) are onlyPreternatural, which degenerate from theNatural, in respect either to theSituationof theInfant, or theWomb, or ofboththese jointly: Such (I say) may be well call’dPreternatural, because of the imminent Danger that (in theseConditions) threatens both theMotherand theChild.
HENCEwe find the Difference betweenThisand theNatural BIRTH; in as much as theOnedepends entirely uponArt, and theOthermerely uponNature: InThattheINFANTis artificially extracted by theHand, but inthisit is naturally extruded by thePAINS.
HIPPOCRATESgives[169]us aTwo-fold-Causeor Reason of aPreternatural BIRTH; to wit, theAmplitudeof theWomb, and theinordinate Motionof the Woman about the Time ofLABOUR: Who, because of her afflictingPAINSand greatAilments, keeps her Body in a restless and unsteadyPosture, throwing herself sometimeshere, and sometimesthere, sometimes onOne side, and sometimes onAnotherthrough Uneasiness. By which means it cannot be otherways, but that theINFANTmay be easily turn’d into somePreternatural Situation.
ANDtoThese Causes,Senertus,Rodericus à Castro, &c. add theTwofollowing; namely, theSolidityof theMEMBRANES, and theDebilityof theHeadof theCHILD: Because (as they well observe) whenThisis not strong enough to break throughThose, theINFANTendeavouring it otherways, (withFeetorHands) may readily fall into somePreternatural Position.
BUTbecause I find, thatPreternatural BIRTHSdeviate in different Degrees, and vary in many respects from theNatural, andthatalso according to a great Variety ofCAUSES(no ways known to those mostLearned Authors) but only of late discovered; I shall now again reduce the differentSpeciesofPreternatural BIRTHSto fourClasses; namely,Preternatural BIRTHSon Part of theINFANT, on Part of theWomb, on Part ofBoththose jointly, and lastly on Part of someintervening Accidents.
INtreating of which, I shall according to my best Judgment,statethese respectiveHEADSin due Order, and assign each its properBranches; which I shall particularly discuss in briefTerms, for the Facility and Benefit of theCandid READER, whetherMANorWoman-Midwife; That they may (by this plain and easy Method) be enabled the more readily to judge of, and distinguish the several Circumstances, and consequently the better discharge their Duties (upon Occasion) to the Comfort and Satisfaction of thosePATIENTSconcerned, and the Honour of their own ingeniousProfession.
BUTbefore I enter uponThese, I would willingly in this place, previously subjoin a Word or two ofAdvice(by way ofPrecaution) to the YoungAndro-Boethogynist: Which, in short, consists in thisPoint, that as it is the too commonPracticehere inEngland, for an obstinateSetofWomento keep theirLabouring PATIENTSso long under their own Hands only, until the very lastExtremity; so I would not counsel him at that Time, when sent for, upon such a ticklish Occasion, to goHead-longto such aWork, nor to undertake theDeliveryof such aWoman, before He makes some requisiteObservations: AndthatI mean no ways because of any Danger of thePreternaturalBIRTHwhich she labours under, how difficult soever it may be; but merely, on account of theWoman’s exhaustedStrengthandAbility, to undergo the respectiveOperationin her weaken’dCondition; which I would very much question in most Women, afterOne,Two, orThree HoursstrongLabour, and that inSomefar sooner, notwithstanding thatothershave been known to stand it out, and struggle a muchlonger Time.
HOWEVER, be this as it will, I commonly guess at theWoman’s State of Ability, not only by herPulse, ifstrongorweak,unequalorintermitting; by herEyes, ifdejected; by herSpeech, iffaint; by touching theExtremitiesof her Body, iffrigid: but also by some otherSymptoms, which infallibly appear, if theWomanbe too far spent, such asCold Sweats,Swoonings,Convulsions,Loss of Sense, &c. Whereupon I say in theseCases, it is more adviseable to let alone or decline theOffice, than to undertake such a precarious uncertain Piece ofWork; because if theWomanhappens to die under hisHand, He may perhaps be (however unjustly) blam’d for the errantMidwife’s Faults, or at least He will scarce avoid theCensureof theIgnorantandMalevolous.
YETthisAdvice(however wholesome and prudent) is, I confess, what I would but seldom have Recourse to, or follow myself, notwithstanding the worstConsequencesof theCase; since as long as there isLife, there isHopewith me, by the Blessing ofGod: Which tho’ never solittle, I should think myself obliged in Conscience to do what bothArtandNaturecommand, and rather in allConditionsofLifeto attempt an uncertainCure[170], than abandon theDistressedto certainDeath, as somePoliticiansinPhysicalAffairs commonly do, who prize their vainReputationabove theLifeof their Neighbour. Butthus, in short, (for my own Part) I would chuse toact, because I have often seen, and knownNATUREto have perform’d, and recover’d a weak spent parturientPatient, even beyond all human Probability.
NOTbut that I would take the properPrecautionsalong with me, before putting myHandto the criticalWork, upon any such desperate or dangerousOccasion, by giving my ingenuousPrognostickto the nearestFriendsandBy-standersof the extremeDangerthat bothLivesmay be in: Whereupon after thoroughly examining allCircumstances, with respect to theChild, whetherOneorMore,DeadorAlive, &c. I would chearfully begin myEndeavoursto relieve the afflicted Woman, encouraging and exhorting her in the first Place, forGod’s-sake, as well asher own, and the tenderInfant’sLife, to put herself entirely into myHands, to undergo herLabourpatiently, and contribute what she can to theDelivery.
BUTto return from this pardonableDigressionto what is here proposed; as I come first to speak ofPreternatural BIRTHSon the part of theInfant, I would observe that all illPosturesof theChild, in aWombwell situated, are the onlyCauses(meant in this place) ofPreternaturalBIRTHSon itsown Part: WhichPosturesbeing very various and different, and each requiring a different peculiarOperation; I shallstatethem particularly (as above-mentioned) andthatin their respectiveChapters, after the manner following:viz.—