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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    In the Revleiv for Ociob, 1752, p. 286. Kirkpatric has laid it down. That we are to judge by that excel-^ lent Rule quoted by us from Mr. Pope (d), ‘ In ev’ry ‘ Work, regard the Writer’s End.’ By which Rule I will endeavour to judge of that Writer’s End. In the Preface to my Ejjay {e) I tell the Reader, ‘ That I mention my new Improvements in the man- ‘ ner of delivering Women with more Safety, Eafe, ‘ and Expedition, in the very word Cafes, than by ‘ any other Method •, fome of which were lent to fe- ‘ veral of the moji eminent in their ProfelTion ; whofe ‘ Approbation induced me to lay them before the ‘ Royal Society in London^ and the medical Society at ‘ Edinburgh. This Method 1 took to publilh them ‘ thro’ thofc Channels, in fome meafure to flop the ‘ Mouths of the ill-natured and ftupid Part of Mankind \ ‘ the firft finding fault with any Thing new, altho* * ever fo beneficial to their Fellow-creatures, if not * invented by themfelves; and the latter fort are dif- ‘ pleafed, altho* they neither can apprehend the Rea- ^ foning, nor underftand how to follow tf.e Practice.* In my Dedication, 1 faid, ‘ This Method will be a ‘ Means of depriving thofe who abound with Ill-na- ‘ ture.^ Envy and Detradlion.^ of their mod poignant ‘ Pleafure ; and, at the fame Time, will filence^ or * flop the Mouths of the moJl ignorant Part of Mankind, ‘ who will always find fault with what they do not ^ underdand ; when the only Defedf is in their own ‘ Brains.’-In my Preface I likewife fay, ‘ Befides ‘ the Improvements which I laid before thefe learned * Bodies, there are in this Effay a great many Re- ‘ marks and Methods of Pradtice entirely new, that ‘ are founded upon Reafon and Experience, which is ‘ the fured Foundation an the Pradlice of all Branches ^ of Phyfic.-In a thing of this Nature, where the ‘ Lives of fo many Perfons are daily concerned, an ‘ Author ought to be particularly cautious not to mif- [d] /vVxvVav, VoL 6. p. 449. {e) Page 12. lead