The Dublin practice of midwifery / by Henry Maunsell.

  • Henry Maunsell
Date:
1856
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Dublin practice of midwifery / by Henry Maunsell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ter were to be used externally^ to measure tlie size of the pelvis, in a Avay precisely similar to tliat in wliich they are employed hy mechanics. The former resembled a shoemaker's rule, one limb of which was to be thrust into the vagina, and planted against the promontory of the saciaim, while the other, moving upon a graduated rod, was to be brought into contact with the symphysis pubis, thus pointing out the measurement of the antero- posterior diameter. It is unnecessary to do more than mention those fantastic contrivances, their in- efficiency and inapplicability being fully recognised by British accouchem's. We can, however, generally obtain iiseful infor- mation by the employment of the fingers alone, and a few remarks on the mode of using them will be necessary. By passing the index finger into the vagina, and cariying it upwards and backwards, we can in many cases touch the promontory of the sacrum, and if we then mark the part of the finger or edge of the hand in contact with the arcli of the pubis, we can easily, by making a trifling deduction for the thickness of the symphysis and the obliquity of the finger's direction, estimate the length of the conjugate diameter. But sometimes, while this diameter is of sufficient extent, considerable con- traction may exist on one or both sides of it. In such a case, a sharp angle must be formed at the back of the symphysis, and on this point we can
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