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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    r }92 ] _ * the Operator muft continue this Methcd of pujhin^ * up and pulling down^ until the Head and Shoulders ‘ are raifed to die Fundus Uteri ; for fliould he leave ‘ ofF too foon, and withdraw his Hand, altho the ‘ Child is cxtradfed as far as the Breech, Cfr. ’ From whence it is evident, that if the Hand be fo high up in the Uterus as to pujh up the Head and Shoulders of the Child to the Fundus Uteri^ while the Child is ex~ 'trahfed as far as the Breech^ then both this lad Part and the Operator’s Arm mud be in the Os Externum at the fame Time, whereby that Part mud be ov^er- ftretched, and in great Danger of a Laceration ; while at the fame Time, the Arm mud render the Defcent of the Child more difficult. In the next Place you fay, ‘ Although the Child is ‘ extradfed as far as the Breech^ the Head is fometimes ‘ fo preffed down and engaged ^joith the Body in the ‘ Pajfage, that it can’t be brought farther down with- ‘ out being tore along with the Crochet.’ Whoever unejerdands the Mechanifm and Bulk of of a Child, the Size and Shape of the Pelvis,, and the Laws of Mechanics, will eafily fee that this Cafe can never happen. For fuppofe the Child he extrahled as far as the Breech (as you have dated the Cafe) the Didance betwixt the lower and upper Part of the Os Pubis being, as you tell us only t‘wo Inches^ if the Head be prefjed down and engaged with the Body in the Paffage, it mud be advanced within two Inches^ at mod, of the Breech, and confequently mud be ' within the Pelvis at the fame Time the Body is there. And how far a Child is capable of being fo bent double, or how fuch Means of doing it are to be found in the Uterus, I leave you to prove, for to me it feems impoffible, as 1 believe it mud to every Perfon, who knows the Dimenfions of the Pel vie, the Size of the Child’s Head, and the Bulk of its Body and Flips, as related by yourfelf: The vvided Part of [u) P. 79. the