APPENDIX.
As I do not wish to bewilder the Judgments of my Readers, but to convince their Understandings,—and as I have, throughout my Letters, laid so much Weight on the Dangers which attend hurrying the Labours of Women, I cannot dismiss this Pamphlet into the World without endeavouringclearly to demonstratethe Utility of allowing Natureto adhere strictlytoher ownPeriod for accomplishing the Birth.
Men, who havenotbeenaccustomed to thinking;—but whose Lives have been spent in the various Occupations, or dissipated Pleasures of the World, by having been habituated daily to view the common round which Providence takes in the natural Events of Life, never felt their Wonder and Admiration excited by considering them in the Manner which is incumbent on reasonable, intelligent Beings.Those, on the other Hand, whose onlyrealEnjoyments proceed from a delightful Indulgement of the Soul in Contemplations on the astonishing Works of God,divestthemselves ofthat Familiarity to themwhich the hourly Evidence of their Senses would otherwise have obscured—and render’d Matter for no rational Reflection.
Thus we are blind to the surprizingprogressiveChange, which enlarges a new born Infant, to the size of Manhood! or a small Seed, to a large Tree!—If an Infant,the day after its Birth, was to walk round the Town, in compleat symmetry of Person, and six Feet high, would not the Miracle forcibly strike the Minds of the most thoughtless of our Species?—The difference is made onlyby Custom. Twenty Hours, and Twenty Years, are exactly the same in the Sight of God!—MyAmazement is excited by seeing the Change wroughtin twenty Years, to the full inas high a degree, as thesame Sight, in twentyHours, would raise the Astonishmentof an embroidered Maccaroni at Carlisle House, or, of an infinitelymorerational, esteemable Being; a poor, ignorant Labourer in the Fields!
The Work of Nature,in Labour, is one of it’s most extraordinary Acts!—Untill the Parts arein some degree preparedby the miraculous Change effected in themby the Labour Pains, the Child could no more enter the World than it could fly into the Clouds!—Untill the Parts areproperlyprepared, the Child cannot appear withoutthe most obviousDanger.
Every Pain has it’s Office,—it lubricates—it dilates. Where these Pains arenotviolent—arenotquick in their Return—but are lingering, and tedious, theyplainlyindicate thatthe Woman requires great Preparation—Nature isgradually, and bythe most gentleMeans, forwardingthe Distension—and if leftto herself, willnotbring on the Birth till every thingis accommodated to her Purpose.
Men Midwives, seldom wait for Nature’s Moment. Women are objected to, because they are tedious—Men are extolled for their quickness. If Doctor ⸺ has two or three pregnant Ladies waiting, from whom he expects handsome Payments, he willtake Meritfrom hastening the Birth—and if any Accident happens from his Impatience, his Reputation is too well establish’d to suffer in the Eyes of Mankind—and the Misfortune is attributed to some of the common Casualties attending Labour, when it derived it’s Sourcesolelyfrom the Doctor’s having brought the Child forward,unnaturally, before the Parts were pre-disposed, by a proper distension, for it’s Reception, and Passage. I fear two Ladies died lately owing to this very Practice. The Parts inflamed—the Inflammation spread by Sympathy—the Bowels mortified. If these Ladies had lain-in in the Country, and had employ’d common, plain Women, who pretended to no Knowledge but what they derived from Experience, it is a Million to one that the Ladies would now have been alive and well.
The Men-midwives not only give rise to Inflammations by bringing the Child before the Woman has felthalf the number of Painswhich Nature intendedto predisposethe Parts—but likewise bytheir abominable Dilatations. Can any Practice be more repugnant to common Sense, than that of irritating the exquisitely sensitive nervous Fibres of those Parts, by way of preparing them for Distension? The Men absolutelycounteractthe very end they pretend to have in view, by Dilatation!—Friction must irritate—irritation must inflame—Inflammation mustcontract. It is no Wonder if Parts so nicely constructed—highly irritated for (perhaps) Hours, should inflame after the Birth, and be productive of the most dreadful Consequences!—Yet theirOfficiousnessrecommends them to the Ladies!—I really cannot find Words to inform my Readers of every Circumstance I wish to relate. I start Hints—and leave them to pursue the Subject by an exertion of their own Reason.
I have now entirely done with all which relates to the Danger Women and Children run throughofficious, shamefulImpatience. I have only to recommend one serious Reflection to those Husbands who think their Happiness would be interrupted by detecting any Infidelity in their Wives. I beg they will considerthe Advantagesthey give Men-midwives, in allowing them so manyfavourableOpportunities ofextolling the personalCharms of the Ladies,whose Beautieslie open to theirmost curiousResearches. No Men can possibly havesuch criticalOpportunities for engratiating themselves with the Fair.Flattery,criticallyappliedto Women, has strange Effects. They canaccompanytheir Flattery withirresistiblePersuasives. The sacred Names of Religion and Honourmaybe madeSubservientto their Purposes. The more they are pretended to be prized in their Estimation, the morethey may be urged in proofof thebewitchingAllurements, andforciblePower of those hidden Beauties, which have obliterated every Remonstrance of Virtue, and stifledevery Check of Conscience. The poor Woman’sPityis excited, when she views the strongest Principles of her “dear Man” overcome byherCharms—she can only blameherselffor possessingsuch provoking Temptations—she is blinded by the Assistance of Nature—her own Vanityturns Advocate for the Doctor, and acquits him of Villainyduring the Empire of Passion; though thereturnof Reason,when too late! discovers the Artifices which have accomplish’d her Ruin!
THE AUTHOR.
I hope Doctor Hunter will pardonthe latterpart of the Reference, at the bottom of my second Letter. I fear I misrepresented him in attributing Infirmities to his share which I am inform’d he never yet has experienced. HisAbilitiesare great—and if a Manmustbe employ’d, I think he may be called in with as much safety as any Man of his Profession.
☞As this Pamphlet recommends the employing of Women, the Publishers have taken some Pains to procure a List of those who are eminent in their Profession—and on the best information recommend the following Midwives to those Ladies who have too much Modesty to employ Men—and who are convinced by the preceding Pages that the Men are not so safe as Women.
FINIS.