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 ] IS to be found in him, except the very firfl: Part, which is taken from he Clerc^ before mentioned. As a Spe¬ cimen, let any Perfon compare what you fay in Part of the 8th, 9th, loth, and Part of the i ith Pages of your Introduction, with the 677th, 685th, and 796th Pages of Spachius^ and there he will find not only the Subftance, but a verbal Tranflation of them. Like- wife let him compare your 7th and 8lh Pages with the 602, 603, and 1053 of Spa-chius j and your 12th with Pages 631, 632, and 633*, as alfo your 13th vdth the io52d Page of the fame Author, and he will find there is no Difficulty to extract all you have faid, as taken from Hippocrates^ out of that fingle Volume of Spachius^ where the Reader may find many other Things of Moment. The next Author you name is Martinus Akakia^ of Paris^ without taking any other Notice of him ; and yet he confirms the Method of recovering a new born Child, as I have already mentioned in my Remarks upon Bonaciolus (i) For Akakia fays {k}^ ‘ Saepe vifus ‘ eft puer femi-mortuus nafei, cum ei infirmo priufquam ‘ deligaretur umbilicus,fanguis a pucro ad umbilicum & ‘ circa efflueret, unde obftecrices peritiores reprimunc in- ‘ tro de umbilico fanguinem, quo faCto ftatim Infans, f qui modo exanguis deficiebat, recreatnr, vitaeque refli- tultur.” If you knew any thing of thefe Paffagesin ei¬ ther of thefe Authors; I think you would not have put your Pupils upon fuch a dangerous, nay, I may fay, fatal Method of treating new-born, - weakly Children, as is mentioned in your Midwifery, from Page 225 to 231, of which I fhall take notice in its proper Place. And Mercatus tells you (/), delaying to tie and cut the String is dangerous. ‘ Nam fi diutius differa- ‘ mus, puer periclirabitur aiit morbofus evadet.’^ And in the next Page he fays, ‘ Si tamen umbilicum refecare ‘ ob ingentem neceffitarem, & ne foetus pereat cogaris, ‘ &c.* From which it is plain, That by Obfervation the (i) Spach. p. 142. p. 19. of this. (k) Spach. p. 787, 788, lib. ji. cap. 7. • f/jP. 1058. An* 2 t