A letter to William Smellie, M.D., containing critical and practical remarks upon his Treatise on the theory and practice of midwifery / By John Burton, M.D. Wherein the various gross mistakes and dangerous methods of practice mentioned and recommended by that writer, are fully demonstrated. And generally corrected.

  • Burton, John, 1710-1771.
Date:
MDCCLIII. [1753]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter to William Smellie, M.D., containing critical and practical remarks upon his Treatise on the theory and practice of midwifery / By John Burton, M.D. Wherein the various gross mistakes and dangerous methods of practice mentioned and recommended by that writer, are fully demonstrated. And generally corrected. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    [ *78 ] * young Pra6titioners> till they are better informed by ‘ Cuhom and Pradlicc, may, alter the Plead is opened, ‘ try to exrradt it with the fmall or large Forceps/ If th*y may take this laft Method, then why have you hitherto been inltrudling your Pupils (for whafe fake your Book was chiefly irnended) to ufe thofe dangerous Inftruments as well as the SciiTars, when fo many Mifehiefs may attend them both ? Having, I hope, demonflrated the Superiority of my Method of delivering Women with my Extra^or, in the Cafes mentioned, both for Eafe, Safety and Expedirion, I fhall, as I promiled, take notice of fuch Objedlions to its Ufe, that I have ever met with, and fhall fhew their Invalidity. Sedl. 29. Full, fays one, if the Inffruiment fhould flip, then what is to become of the Woman? This wife Objeclion holds equally good againfl every other Inftriiment that flips ; but I have fhewn that it never can flip, as the Crochet may: And if the Child has been fo long dead, that the Bones of the Cranium are fo loofe as not to bear any great Force *, the other Parts of the Child mufl: alfo be corrupted in the fame Proportion. And if the Delivery has been obftructed onlyi by the Bulk of the Head, that Part is eafier opened, and the Strudure of the Brain is alfo broken with more Eafe, Safety and Expedition, than by your Method. But I mud add, that if the Extrador be applied as direded, it can never flip to hurt any Thing ; becaufe if the Bones give vray, the Inftrument may be withdrawn. The 2d Objedion was, ^'hat the Inftrument was not ftrong enough for the Force requiftte to estrall a Child, But this wife Objedor did not confider the Difference betwixt pulling in a dreight Line (by which a fmall Wire will draw a great Weight) and a Body that is ufed like a Lever or Gave-Lock. And as Weight and Force are the fame Thing in this Cafe, he may be foon convinced, that his Objedion is invalid, by hang¬ ing a confiderable Weight to the Indrument, when • flxed