Dr. Conquest's outlines of midwifery : intended as a text-book for students, and a book of reference for junior practitioners.

  • Conquest, Dr.
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. Conquest's outlines of midwifery : intended as a text-book for students, and a book of reference for junior practitioners. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    . uterus. The hand should be passed up between the membranes and the uterus, nor should they be ruptured until the hand has reached the inferior extremities of the child, and the liquor amnii thus prevented escaping by the presence of the arm in the vagina. In this manner the uterus cannot contract upon the child, and the operation of turning is very greatly facilitated. The customary practice of taking off the coat be- fore the operation of turning, often disgusts and alarms the patient, and cannot be necessary if the sleeve of the coat be made sufficiently large to admit of its being slipped up above the elbow. The hand and arm should be well anointed with some unctuous substance; and when introducing the hand into the vagina, and carrying it through this canal and the os uteri, the fingers ought to be arranged in a conical form. [Although, in ordinary labours, it is not necessary to take olF the coat, false delicacy must not interfere with a strong sense of duty, in cases of danger or difficulty. If the sleeve of the coat be small, it will, when turned up over the elbow, tend to cramp the muscles of the arm at a time when perfect free- dom of motion is required. In anointing the hand, care should be taken not to apply the oil or lard to its inner surface, otlierwise a firm hold of the child's foot will not be so easily maintained. — J. M. W.] The introduction ouglit to be carried on durino- an interval of rest from pain, and the hand should o