Dr. William Smellie and his contemporaries : a contribution to the history of midwifery in the eighteenth century / by John Glaister.
- Glaister, John, 1856-1932.
- Date:
- 1894
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Dr. William Smellie and his contemporaries : a contribution to the history of midwifery in the eighteenth century / by John Glaister. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.
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![At any rate, the brochure was written ; and, in the exposition of his hatred of man-midwifery, he attacks Smellie, with whom we have, at present, more particularly to do. Let us briefly re,view the said pamphlet. After expounding his views as to the advisability of employing women at confinements, and as to the indecency of male practitioners, he proceeds to adduce his evidence of the latter point. He says, “ to confirm this, permit me to give you a few Extracts from a Book written by one Smellie, a Man-Midwife, upon this subject. “ In his Direc- tion of the Use of the Forceps, Page 264, he [Smellie] says, the Blades ought to be privately conveyed between the Feather Bed and the Cloaths; and that the Operator spreading the sheet that hangs over the Bed upon his lap, should, under that Cover, take out and dispose the Blades on each side of the Patient. He also says, Page 265, that some People pin a Sheet to each Shoulder, and throw the other End over the Bed, that the Instruments may be more effectually concealed from the view of those who are present ; but that this method is apt to confine, and embarrass the Operator. However, that, at any Rate, as Women are commonly frightened at the very Name of an Instrument, it is adviseable to conceal them as much as possible, until the Character of the Operator is fully estab- lished. In Page 272, he says, let the Forceps be unlocked, and the Blades disposed cautiously under the Cloaths, so as not to be discovered; and again, Page 273, he says, the next Care is to wipe the Blades of the Forceps under the Cloaths, and to slide them warily into your Pocket, and in the same Page, I have given, says he, Directions for concealing them, that young Practitioners, before their Charac- ters are fully established, may avoid the Calumnies, and Misrepresentations of those People, who are apt to prejudice the ignorant and weak-minded, against the Use of Instru- ments, and who, taking the Advantage of unforseen Accidents which may afterwards happen to the patient, charge the whole Misfortune to the innocent Operator. “ The meaning of the foregoing Passage is, in my Apprehension, plainly this, namely, that the Operator should conceal his Instruments to the End, that if the Patient should die of the Cuts, Bruises, and other Hurts, every Woman](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28145768_0326.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
