The principles and practice of obstetric medicine and surgery : in reference to the process of parturition : illustrated by one hundred and forty-eight figures / by Francis H. Ramsbotham.
- Francis Henry Ramsbotham
- Date:
- 1851
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The principles and practice of obstetric medicine and surgery : in reference to the process of parturition : illustrated by one hundred and forty-eight figures / by Francis H. Ramsbotham. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.
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![delivered seven times in this manner, her husband being the operator in all the instances. Another, that of the wife of Olaus Rudbecke, professor of physic at Upsal in Sweden,—the founder of the botanic garden there, which became afterwards the scene of Linnaeus' labours, —who was himself a skillful anatomist. In this instance also the husband was the operator, anl he is said to have saved both mother and child. Within the last few years, indeed, the Caisa- rean section has been performed in Germany four times on the same patient;—in June, 182b; January, 1830; March, 1832; and June, 1836; three of the children were extracted alive, and the woman was suckling the last at the date of the report.—(See British and Foreign Medical Review, vol. ii., p. 27, and vol. iv., p. 521.) There is no question that many of the cases to which credit has been allotted, are not founded in truth : and, among these, we may enumerate the instance of Jane Seymour : for although Mauriceau (Paris, 1721, vol. i., p. 358) and Dionis (Cours d'Operat. Demons. 2), in France, as well as Hull (Defence of Cesarean Section, p. 13. See also Aikin's Biographical Memoirs of Medicine, 1780, p. 59, art. George Owen, M.D.) and some others in this country, gave credence to the rumour, there is little doubt that the story was fabricated, to swell the list of the licentious Henry's barbarities. Some suppose the unfortunate queen died two days after her labour; but there is positive evidence to prove that she survived twelve. If so, it is very improbable that the Csesarean operation was performed on her person. Edward VI., in his own journal, states that his unhappy mother died within a few days after delivery. (Burnet vol. iv., p. 1.) Strype (Histor. Memorials, fol. 1721, vol. ii., p. 5) says she died on the night of the twelfth day ; and he founds his statements on a manuscript in the Herald's College. And Fuller, in his Church History (Century 16th, book vii., p. 421, fol.), on this very subject has the following words. Speaking of the death of Edward VI., he says—For his birth, there goeth a constant tradition, that Ccesar-like, he was cut out of the belly of his mother Jane Seymour; though a great person of honour (deriving her intelligence immediately from such as were present at her labour) assured me to the contrary. He then gives a letter dictated by the queen to the Privy Council, dated October 22d, ten days after her delivery; and adds a certificate, signed by six physicians, dated Wednesday [the 24th], the day of her death, in which, although her condition is described, no mention is made, or the least hint given, of any operation having been performed on her person. (The originals are preserved among the Cottonian MSS. Nero, c. 10.) The story runs, that it was supposed a natural termination of the labour could not take place; and the officiating attendant on informing Henry of the circumstance, inquired of him whether he willed that the mother's or the child's life should be saved ; to which he replied with his accustomed coarseness and brutality, Save the child by all means, for I shall be able to get mothers enough.—(See Dionis, Cours d'Operations Chirurg., Demonst. 2.) Or, according to others, For it is easier to get wives than children. O'Meara relates that the labour of the Empress Marie Louise also was lingering, and it was feared either that the child must be sacrificed, or the Cajsarean section performed; that Dubois put the same question to Napoleon, who desired him to forget the empress' station, and to treat her as he would a shopkeeper's wife in the Rue St. Denis; but if one life must be sacrificed, to save the mother. (A Voice from St. Helena, 1822, vol. ii., p. 368.) Induction of premature labour.—Many historians of different ages bear ample testimony to the voluntary destruction of the offspring, as well before as after birth. The procuring abortion, indeed, was cultivated as an art by the ancients, particularly the Romans, at the period of their greatest power; and Juvenal employed his severe and chastening pen in exposing this, as well as the other crimes and vices of the age. The following passage will be found in the sixth Satire ; contrasting the condition of the poor with that of the rich, in regard to child-bearing, he writes, Has tamen et partus subeunt descrimen, et omnes Nutricis tolerant, fortuna urgente, labores: Sed jacet aurato vix ulla puerpera lecto. Tantem artes hujus, tantum medicamina possunt, Quaa steriles facit. atque homines in ventre necandos Conducit. Gaude infelix,* atque ipse bibendum Porrige, quicquid erit. > am si distendere velles, Et vexare uterum pueris salientibus, esses iEthiopis fortasse pater. Verse 591. Also at verse 365 of the same Satire, the whole of which is levelled at the vicious practices of the Roman women, we find * He addresses Posthumus, dissuading him from marrying.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21073594_0633.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
