Syllabus of lectures on the theory and practice of midwifery.

  • John Leake
Date:
1782
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Syllabus of lectures on the theory and practice of midwifery. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    [ >2 ] “ lefs and lefs; both which Circumftances have a manifeft ten- “ dency to facilitate the Birth.” Thofe then, and fuch like your Remarks, are more than fuffi- ciendy anfwered by the following quotation from Dr. Leakes Paper, which (hews the neceffity and propriety of the pra&ice he recommends, and alfo that he was not unaware of Cavil and Criticifm. “ I know that the Application of the Forceps is objected to by “ fome, till after the Head has got below the Brim of the Pelvis, “ on the Suppolition that the Force applied to bring it down would prove injurious to the Mother;—but will not the violent and long continued CompreJJion of the Joft partSy viz. the Vagina “ and Neck of the Bladder, &c. when fqueezed between the Head *c and Bones of the Pelvis, as two folid Bodies, be much more *( liable to endanger the Patient ?—Since Inftancea may be found “ where a Mortification has been the Confequence, and where the (( Child, which always fuffers in Proportion, was alfo born dead. “ In cafes, therefore, extremely laborious, when the Head is “ largey—the Pelvis narrowy or both: — where the Patient's Strength is exhaufted by a Flooding,—where fhe is fuddenly at- “ tacked with ConvufionSy Faintings, or other alarming Symptoms, <( and confequently, where the labour Pains are infujficient to bring “ forth the Child ; the long double curved Forcepshereafter de- “ fcribed, may be ufed with great fafety and advantage, either “ with or without the Lever or third blade, as occafion may re- <( quire.—Every one who has had much Experience knows, that <{ it is often improper, as well as difficult and dangerous to turn *< the Child, and fometimes even impracticable without burffing the Uterus, or applying fo much violence as might be fatal to the *< Mother; and to open the head of a living infanty before the long “ Forceps and every other Expedient had been tried in vain, would *< furely be deemed raffi and unnatural Pradtice.” It
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