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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    be increafed by the Pains which mud remain, or return in order to expel the After-birth. So that the Woman mud fufrer every way more than if the Operator had extradled that Subdance immediately after the Birth of the Child ; which in this Cafe is the more requifite, as the Woman mud have been weakened before. Hence again it is evident, your Method of Pradtice is not fo unexceptionable as your Eccho, the Review Writer, inforas us, Numb. 3. I come now to your third Clafs of preeternatural Labours, in which you give Dlreclions how the Child in the Uterus is to be turned. Sedf. 34. You fay (/>), ‘ The Hand of the Operator ‘ being introduced into the Uterus, if he finds the * Breech to be higher than the upper Part of the Child, ‘ or equal with them, he mud try to turn the Head ‘ and Shoulders to the Fundus, and the Breech down- ‘ wards, by pufhing up the firfl and pulling down the ‘ lad.’ You told us ^loat as the Waters are difcharglng^ the Uterus contracts and. fqueezes down the Foetus, So that whenever an Operator attempts to pufh up the Head and Shoulders, the contradfile Force of tire Womb will repel or prefs down the Head and Shoul¬ ders again as the Operator v/ithdraws his Hand; which you alfo acknowledge (r) in feveral Places. And this will be done with the greater Force, the lefs Quantity of Waters there were, and the longer, caete- ris paribus, they have been difcharged; Wherefore this Method of pijhing up the Head and Shoulders is not only very often a fruitlefs Attempt, but is 'con- dantly a painful Operation to the Patient, and more fatiguing to the Accoucheur. For in this Cafe, not only the Child’s Head and Shoulders are to be pufhed up, but alfo the Operator’s Hand mud go up to the Fundus Uteri, whereby the Womb will be ex¬ tended much more than the Bulk of the Child will {J>) \\ 341. [q] P. 337. (r) P. 341, 352. require ;