,,hints ,,to ,,husbands3   ,a           
,revelation of   ,,the                  
,,man-,,midwife',s ,,mysteries4     ,,by
 ,,george ,,morant1   ,,late ,,grenadier
 ,,guards4                        ,sit  
you down1   ,and let me wring your      
heart1 for so ,i shall1   ,if it be made
 of penetrable stuff2   ,if damned      
custom have not brazed it so1   ,that it
 be proof and bulwark against sense4    
,third ,edition1   ,,revised ,,and      
,,enlarged4     ,,london3   ,,simpkin1  
,,marshall1  ,,co41   #d1 ,,stationers' 
,,hall ,,court4   #aheg4       ,,to     
,,the   ,,husbands  ,,fathers ,,of ,,the
 ,,united ,,kingdom1   ,,and ,,to       
,,those ,,honourable ,,men ,,of ,,the   
,,medical ,,profession1   ,,who         
,,reprobate ,,and ,,condemn   ,,the     
,,unnatural ,,custom ,,of               
,,man-,,midwifery1   ,,as ,,an ,,outrage
 ,,on ,,the ,,modesty ,,of ,,women1     
,,and ,,derogatory ,,to ,,their ,,own   
,,vocation2   ,,and ,,to ,,all ,,who    
,,have   ,,hearts ,,to ,,feel ,,and     

,,courage ,,to ,,cope ,,with   ,,this   
,,enormous ,,wrong1   ,,these ,,pages   
,,are ,,inscribed ,,by    ,,the         
,,author4     ,,preface4   ,the two-fold
 object which we desire to attain in the
 following pages1 and to which we       
earnestly entreat the attention of our  
readers1 is the exposure and amendment  
of a vast social evil1 which we have    
reason to believe has1 to most          
reflecting men1 become well nigh        
intolerable4 ,it will be obvious that to
 bring this evil1 with effect1 to the   
bar of public opinion1 we must probe it 
to the very core1 and fearlessly unveil 
and drag into the light its indecent    
mysteries4 ,in so doing we shall        
doubtless incur the censures of those   
easy-going people who agree with the    
poet that--    ,where ignorance is bliss
 'tis folly to be wise2  who1 like the  
bird of the desert1 by hiding their     
heads deem their bodies out of danger2  
who1 dead to all the generous sympathies
 which elevate man above the brute1     

would reduce the minds of others to     
their own dull and dreary level of      
stolid inanity2 of those prudent persons
 who1 closing their eyes to the         
lightning flash and their ears to the   
vollied thunder1 sneak through the world
 by any side-path sooner than encounter 
a difficulty foot to foot and hand to   
hand2 and1 without pretending to any    
extraordinary knowledge of the human    
heart1 we fear1 of the majority of those
 women who have already sacrificed their
 modesty at the altar of custom2 and1   
above all1 of that class whose          
presumptuous charlatanism we desire to  
lay bare4 ,but for all this we care not 
one jot1 provided the mists of imposture
 be dispelled1 and our countrywomen     
rescued from the disgrace and           
degradation of an odious system1 which1 
originating in a dissolute age1 has     
since been promoted and encouraged by   
self-interested empirics1 and sanctioned
 by indifference1 credulity1 and error4 
,,hints ,,to ,,husbands1 c4 c4          

,,chapter ,i4    ,there are more things 
in heaven and earth1 ,horatio1   ,than  
are dreamt of in your philosophy4   ,the
 practice of man-midwifery is one among 
the noxious weeds which the rank        
luxuriance of civilization has produced1
 and since its introduction it has      
thriven with unrestrained vitality and  
ever-increasing strength1 until at      
length it spreads its ,upas shadow far  
and wide over our land1 and             
treacherously1 mysteriously1 and        
silently distils the poison of its      
presence deep into the sanctuaries of   
domestic life4 ,reader1 we will make    
plain to you the nature and polluting   
influence of this redundant growth of   
luxury and vice2 and then1 with ,god's  
help1 may you1 and tens of thousands of 
your fellow-men1 swear by all things    
holy1 just1 and good1 that the hallowed 
purity of home shall never more be      
blighted by its deadly shade4  ,we are  
accustomed to speak of ourselves as of a
 highly moral people2 and of our        

manners1 habits1 and customs as superior
 to those of other nations2 and of our  
capital as the most civilized city in   
the world2    ,but these are the days of
 advance1 the works of the men of mind1 
,when who but a fool would have faith in
 a tradesman's ware or his word8   ,when
 the poor are hovell'd and hustled      
together1 each sex like swine1   ,when  
only the ledger lives1 and when only not
 all men lie2   ,when chalk1 and alum1  
and plaster are sold to the poor for    
bread1   ,and the spirit of murder works
 in the very means of life4   ,and sleep
 must lie down armed1 for the villanous 
centre-bits   ,grind on the wakeful ear 
in the hush of the moonless nights4     
,while another is cheating the sick of a
 few last gasps as he sits1   ,to pestle
 a poison'd poison behind his crimsoned 
lights4  ,oh1 but1 say you1 these are   
not flaws in the crystal1 but mere      
specks upon the mirror1 which a little  
careful polishing may remove with ease4 
,see the propriety1 order1 and decency  

of our households2 our noble sense of   
justice1 right1 and honour2 our strict  
observance of religious duties2 the     
chaste and modest demeanour of our      
women2 and beholding these things1 who  
shall say that we are not a moral       
people8  ,to the unreflecting and casual
 observer1 mere outward semblance would 
appear to justify and confirm this      
character of our society4 ,nevertheless 
there is1 beneath the surface of this   
seeming health1 a loathsome canker1     
eating into the very vitals of home     
life6#a and we ourselves are sapping the
 very foundations of morality1 and      
insulting and outraging the most        
precious feelings of those whom we      
should love best and cherish most upon  
earth1 by subjecting them to a usage    
which first robs them of their          
birthright1 modesty1 and then deadens1  
and finally destroys1 all perception of 
their loss2 while moral ,england1 under 
the delusion of a falsely termed        
necessity1 endures1 and even fosters a  

pollution1 which ,france1 to her honour1
 now repudiates and abhors6  ,believing 
it to be a fact that ninety-nine men in 
every hundred are ignorant of the extent
 of the outrages to which their wives   
submit1 when attended by a man-midwife  
in their confinements1 we shall1 in this
 essay1 endeavour to clear up the       
mystery which envelopes the proceedings 
of this class of practitioners1 showing 
by extracts from their own treatises    
what their process is2 and having       
afterwards placed before our readers the
 opinions and arguments of able and     
scientific men against such an utter    
subversion of propriety1 we shall1 with 
confidence in the result1 leave the     
question to be decided by the strong    
voice of public opinion whether this    
pernicious custom1 indecent and         
degrading as all will admit it to be1   
shall longer disgrace our country4  ,the
 spirit of evil1 though not1 as in      
,eden1    ,squat like a toad1 close at  
the ear of ,eve1   ,assaying by his     

devilish art to reach   ,the organs of  
her fancy1  yet1 under another shape1   
was still at his old work at the time   
when1#b instead of the ordinary midwife1
 whose presence would have given rise to
 scandal1 a surgeon#c was summoned to   
attend the delivery of ,mademoiselle de 
la ,valiere1 mistress of ,louis ,,xiv41 
for so powerful was the effect of       
fashion in these dissolute times1 that1 
soon after the first examples had been  
given by persons whose rank and         
condition enabled them to brave public  
opinion1 the ,parisian ladies of        
fashion1 throwing aside the veil of     
modesty1 which had from the earliest    
ages1 and in all countries1 enjoined    
female attendance1 followed the         
precedent of this abandoned woman1 and  
the practice of man-midwifery soon      
became general in the ,french capital4  
,the historian well and truly describes 
the state of society in those evil days1
 and how the manners of the age became1 
year by year1 more lost to virtue1      

dignity1 and honour1 until at length all
 the better feelings of human nature1   
even religion itself1 became a by-word  
and a mockery amidst the chaos of the   
,revolution4 ,the ante-chambers of      
,versailles were daily besieged by      
crowds of titled1 yet needy supplicants1
 who eagerly sought employment1 favour1 
or distinction from the king's ministers
 or his mistresses1 and mandates issued 
from them were obeyed without a murmur  
from ,calais to the ,pyrenees4 ,what1   
then1 was it which1 in a country so     
profusely endowed with the riches of    
nature1 and inhabited by a race of men  
so brave1 so active1 and so             
enterprising1 has led to a convulsion   
attended with the unspeakable horrors of
 the ,french ,revolution8 ,the answer is
 to be found in the previous state of   
the country1 and the general perversion 
of the national mind2 in the oppressions
 to which the people were subjected1 the
 vices by which the nobles alienated    
them2 the corruptions by which morals   

were contaminated2 the errors with which
 religion was disfigured2 the extent to 
which infidelity had spread4#d          
,corruption1 in its worst form1 had long
 tainted the manners of the court as    
well as the nobility1 and poisoned the  
sources of influence4 ,the favour of    
royal mistresses1 or the intrigues of   
the court1 openly disposed of the       
highest appointments1 both in the army1 
the church1 and the civil service4      
,since the reign of the ,roman emperors1
 profligacy had never been conducted in 
so open and undisguised a manner as     
under ,louis ,,xv4 and the ,regent      
,orleans4 ,from the secret memoirs of   
the period1 which have now been         
published1 it is manifest that the      
licentious novels1 which at that time   
disgraced ,french literature1 conveyed a
 faithful picture of the manners of the 
age4#e  ,it is difficult to treat of    
this subject 7times of ,louis ,,xv47    
without disclosing particulars at which 
purity may blush1 or on which           

licentiousness may gloat2 but general   
observations make little impression on  
the mind even of the most reflecting    
reader1 if not attended with a detail of
 facts which proves that it is well     
founded2 and one authentic example of   
the manner of the court and aristocratic
 circles in ,paris1 anterior to the     
,revolution1 will produce a stronger    
conviction than whole chapters of       
assertion4 ,all that we read in ancient 
historians1 veiled in the decent        
obscurity of a learned language1 of the 
orgies of the ancient ,babylon1 was     
equalled1 if not exceeded1 by the       
nocturnal revels of the ,regent         
,orleans1 the ,cardinal ,dubois1 and his
 other licentious associates4#f ,such is
 a faithful picture of the manners and  
vices of the age and country in which   
the custom of man-midwifery took its    
rise4 ,here and there a bright star     
shone out1 the brighter for the         
blackness of that hideous night3 men of 
the highest order of mind did all that  

great eloquence and vigorous thought    
could do to stay the strong and turbid  
current of pollution which threatened to
 overwhelm the human race1 and amongst  
these great spirits of the past1 the    
physician ,roussel1 in a work remarkable
 for the delicacy of its sentiments1 the
 force of its satire1 and the strength  
and power of its language1 endeavoured  
to turn the attention of his countrymen 
to the indecency of the practice which  
was first adopted in the harlot ,de la  
,valiere's chamber4#g ,in some measure  
he succeeded2 but who can wonder if1 in 
that vicious age1 his eloquence had     
passed unheeded1 and the delicacy of his
 sentiments had been scoffed at and     
derided by the charlatans of the day1 in
 a city where adultery was the fashion1 
and marriage but a cloak for vice4 ,the 
causes which then prevented the writings
 and counsels of these eminent men from 
taking full effect upon the public mind1
 no longer exist2 and1 accordingly1 in  
that very ,paris1 where1 in former      

times1 amidst such scenes of vice and   
profligacy as the historian describes1  
the immodest practice originated1 has   
since sprung up an agitation against it1
 which is increasing day by day4        
,colleges1 both metropolitan and        
provincial1 have long been established  
for the instruction of females in the   
obstetric art1 and many of those women1 
who have been educated in them1         
possessed such talents and intelligence 
that the treatises written by them have 
become the acknowledged text books of   
the ,french medical world4  ,madame     
,boivin#h in the dedication of her      
,memorial de l',art des ,accouchements1 
#dme ed41 says3--,moved and affected by 
the painful cries which mothers1 victims
 of barbarity and ignorance1 caused to  
be heard from far1 the ,government      
hastened to reply to them by            
establishing a practical ,school of     
,midwifery within the ,lying-in         
,hospital3 from all parts were summoned1
 not men but women1 to come and assist  

at the lectures of the most eminent     
professors of surgery and medicine4444  
,already a great number have1 from this 
fertile source of instruction1 derived  
the knowledge and the qualities         
necessary for the exercise of an art so 
important in its results to the         
population of the kingdom and the       
happiness of families4 ,in the preface  
to the above treatise1 #dme ed41 p4 #aj1
 we read the following allusion to the  
practice on this side the channel2 ,thus
 you will find in this edition some     
novel remarks 444 on certain cases of   
difficult labour1 and on the operative  
process practised in these cases1 so    
brutally treated by practitioners beyond
 sea1 and in a manner so simple and so  
happily different by us1 especially at  
the ,school of ,midwifery in ,paris4    
,and what are we about in moral         
,england1 all this time8 ,where are our 
colleges of instruction1 to which we    
have summoned not men but women--our    
,hospices de la ,maternite1#i wherein   

and whereby we may preserve the modesty 
of our women8 ,where is the voice to cry
 shame upon the custom which introduces 
men into the sacred precincts of the    
marriage chamber to perform offices     
which are1 by nature1 the duty of women 
alone8#aj ,shall it be said that two    
thousand years ago the ,romans possessed
 a higher sense of moral feeling than we
 do now8 ,roussel says1 ,the principal  
reason which1 among the ancients1       
forbade the belief that the duty of     
aiding delivery could be proper to any  
but women--excepting in cases of very   
rare occurrence1 where every            
consideration might necessarily yield to
 a pressing danger--was the grand       
interest of manners4 ,this was an object
 to which ancient ,governments had      
always special regard4 ,they knew       
morality to be the foundation of all    
legislation1 and that good laws would be
 made in vain unless good morals insured
 their execution4 ,the cruelty of       
,archagathus' surgical operations drove 

the doctors from ,rome4 ,she banished   
also from her bosom the ,greek          
philosophers and orators who were       
accused of having introduced and        
cultivated the taste for the arts and   
vices of ,greece4 ,she would surely not 
have permitted1 for any length of time1 
the existence of an art1 which1         
practised by men1 would1 under the      
specious pretence of utility1 threaten  
the sanctuary of marriage1 and which1   
striking a blow at the chief safeguard  
of families1 would next attack the      
mainsprings of the state2 an art which1 
with power to alarm the modesty of      
women1 would soon leave them without a  
blush1#aa and cause them to lose even   
the recollection of that severe virtue  
which had merited the respect and       
veneration of the ,romans1 and which of 
old had been the principle of the       
grandest revolutions4 ,cato1 always     
careful to protect the hearts of the    
citizens from corruption1 would never   
have permitted their wives1 when        

presenting children to the republic1 to 
tarnish the boon by a forgetfulness of  
the first of all decencies4#ab  ,the    
,greeks1 says ,dr4 ,stevens1 invariably 
employed women2 ,phanarete1 the mother  
of that distinguished man1 ,socrates1   
was a midwife4 ,hippocrates makes       
mention of them2 and ,plato speaks      
somewhat extensively of midwives1 and   
explains their duties4 ,we have reason  
to believe1 says ,dr4 ,denman1 that the 
obstetric art was altogether in the     
hands of women1 the natural delicacy of 
females having reluctant recourse to the
 professional aid of the other sex4     
,hecquet says1 ,the ,greeks1 moreover1  
had their female physicians1 as we      
perceive by the words ,greek3 akestrides
 and ,greek3 eatrinai1 which have been  
preserved to us4  ,such was the         
chasteness of the times1 that lithotomy 
on the female subject was practised by  
one of their own sex4 ,at ,athens the   
positive enactments of the land were    
inefficient to overcome their scrupulous

 modesty4 ,it is said the ,athenian     
doctors procured a legal enactment      
transferring the practice of midwifery  
to themselves2 but at the very attempt  
the women rose en masse1 and declared   
they would die rather than submit to    
such an outrage upon common decency4444 
,the ,romans#ac also employed women     
only4 ,pliny1 in his ,natural ,history1 
speaks of midwives1#ad explains their   
duties1 and mentions some of great      
reputation4 ,according to ,roman law1   
midwives were recognized as a distinct  
class in society1 and enjoyed certain   
rights and immunities in common with the
 medical profession4#ae  ,we have shown1
 on the testimony of medical writers1   
that the practice of man-midwifery was  
introduced in ,france1 or rather in     
,paris1 for it was never generally      
adopted in the provinces1#af so early as
 the end of the seventeenth century2 but
 more than a hundred years elapsed      
before the unnatural and debasing custom
 became fashionable in ,england3 and we 

find that late in the eighteenth century
 it was considered so objectionable1    
that few persons1 excepting in those    
rare cases where danger was imminent1   
ever permitted a medical man to usurp   
the duties of the midwife3 and it is    
only within the last fifty years that   
man-midwifery has prevailed in these    
kingdoms4 ,indeed ,dr4 ,ramsbotham1 in  
#ahde1 in the preface to his work on    
obstetric medicine and surgery1 alludes 
to the difficulty which it would appear 
had not even then been entirely got rid 
of1 in overcoming the very natural      
aversion of women to the regulations of 
midwifery practice as laid down in the  
many swollen and prurient treatises on  
the pretended art4  ,nothing appears    
more extraordinary1 or more opposed to  
all our preconceived notions of         
propriety1 than that this man should    
bustle into the marriage chamber1 our   
holy of holies1 with so much privileged 
assurance1 and that the world should    
look upon the affair with such perfect  

indifference4 ,but we suppose that his  
presence is a necessary evil1 and the   
whole proceeding quite a matter of      
course1 in which sensible people see no 
harm whatever2 honi soit qui mal y      
pense4 ,some such train of ideas may    
have been suggested by the arrival of   
,dr4 ,a4 ,b4 or ,c41 ,m4,d4 and         
accoucheur1 whom you1 perhaps1 still    
young in the world's ways1 have         
summoned1 you know not why1 but that you
 had been told1 it may be by your wife's
 mother1 that it was absolutely         
necessary to engage a fashionable       
ladies' doctor to attend your first     
born's introduction into the world2 in  
fact1 you began to have grave doubts    
whether it would be possible for the    
child to arrive without the doctor2 7you
 may have since ascertained1 much to the
 chagrin of ,a4 ,b4 or ,c41 ,m4,d4 and  
accoucheur1 that such an event is not   
altogether beyond the circle of         
probabilities47 ,you have also hired a  
month nurse1 recommended by the doctor  

as an experienced and skilful woman1 in 
every way fitted for her office4 ,the   
critical moment approaches2 in a state  
of nervous excitement and anxiety you   
are advised to retire to the            
drawing-room1 which1 like a fool1 you   
do4 ,from time to time you are assured  
that all is going on as well as         
possible1 and at length you are         
gratified by the intelligence that you  
are a father4 ,you are1 of course1      
utterly ignorant of all that has been   
done1 what the nurse's share of duty may
 have been1 and what the doctor's1      
although you have perchance a sort of   
vague and undefined suspicion that you  
were wrong in leaving all that you held 
dearest in the hands of a stranger1 and 
that stranger a man1 at a moment when   
she1 the loved one1 required your       
presence to comfort1 console1 and       
strengthen her in the hour of trial4    
,nor would your ignorance be            
enlightened1 unless1 as we did after    
years of credulity and miserable        

evasion1 you catechise the doctor4 ,then
 will break upon you1 in all their      
horrible reality1 the indignities to    
which you have subjected her for whom   
you would have given life itself1 the   
purest of the pure1 the idol of your    
love1 the very essence of your being1   
your heart of hearts6 ,then1 indeed1    
will you repent1 when it is all too     
late1 your folly in trusting to the     
candour of ,dr4 ,a4 ,b4 or ,c41 ,m4,d41 
and the actual crime which you have     
committed in not acquainting yourself1  
while there was yet time to prevent it1 
with the process by which the           
man-midwife pretends to improve upon the
 all-powerful machinery of nature1 and  
the infinite wisdom of nature's ,god4   
,in the bitterness of your thoughts you 
may1 perhaps1 venture to question the   
doctor's mode of proceeding1 upon the   
supposition that the nurse1 having been 
recommended by him as a skilful and     
competent person1 should alone have     
actively#ag interfered1 when you may be 

truculently told that he was not there  
only to stand by and make reports2 or   
that an accoucheur is not necessarily an
 old woman2 that there are no           
feelings2#ah that the first thing he    
always does1 when he comes to the       
bed-side1 is to make an examination per 
vaginam6 with other observations equally
 harrowing to the sensibilities of a    
husband4  ,what shock so terrible to a  
man who1 rejoicing in the delightful    
sentiment of a wife's purity1 discovers 
that all he held dearest and most       
sacred1 all which he would shield from  
profanation with the last drop of his   
life's blood1 has been invaded by the   
presence1 and violated by the actual    
contact of the man-midwife8 ,the doctor 
may be a sober1 discreet1 oily man1 of  
staid appearance1 and a very pattern of 
propriety2 or he may be a vulgar1       
low-bred person1 in his leisure         
consorting with those of a similar bent2
 or    ,yonder a vile physician1        
blabbing   ,the case of his patient4442 

or he may be a tippling1 jovial fellow1 
who at some roystering party is always  
called on for a good song1 sure to have 
as its theme wine1 love1 and woman1--for
 accoucheurs are mortals like other men2
 or he may be some tyro in the art1 just
 let loose from his course of walking   
the hospitals1 strong in syphilitic     
cases1 and with all the recollections of
 a young surgeon's life fresh upon him3 
nevertheless1 whatever he be1 the very  
inmost secrets of your wife's person are
 known to him1#ai the veil of modesty   
has been rudely torn aside1 and the     
sanctity of marriage exists but in the  
name4          ----,such an act1   ,that
 blurs the grace and blush of modesty2  
,calls virtue hypocrite2 takes off the  
rose   ,from the fair forehead of an    
innocent love1   ,and sets a blister    
there2 makes marriage vows   ,as false  
as dicer's oaths3 oh1 such a deed1   ,as
 from the body of contraction plucks    
,the very soul1 and sweet religion makes
   ,a rhapsody of words3 heaven's face  

doth glow2   ,yea this solidity and     
compound mass1   ,with tristful visage  
as against the doom1   ,is thought-sick 
at the act4     ,,chapter ,,ii4  ,o     
shame6 where is thy blush8   ,it now    
becomes our most painful but necessary  
task to explain what that process is to 
which we have alluded1 by giving some   
extracts from one of the principal works
 on midwifery1 and in the very words of 
the treatise1 to prove the gross        
outrages to which women are obliged to  
submit when attended by these male      
practitioners4 ,nothing but a sense of  
the enormity of this monster evil would 
induce us to contaminate our pages by   
the introduction of such garbage2 but we
 are well aware that general            
observations make little impression on  
the mind even of the most reflecting    
reader1 if not attended with a detail of
 facts which proves that it is well     
founded2 and one authentic example will 
produce a stronger conviction than whole
 chapters of assertion4  ,,extracts     

,,from ,,dr4 ,,ramsbotham',s ,,obstetric
 ,,medicine ,,and ,,surgery4  ,duties of
 the ,medical ,attendant under ,natural 
,labour4  ,from the knowledge which the 
foregoing pages will afford of the      
beneficence displayed by nature         
throughout the processes of             
utero-gestation and labour1 and of the  
admirable contrivances adopted by her to
 overcome difficulties and avert        
dangers1 it will be evident that1 in a  
very large proportion of cases1 the     
duties of the obstetrician must be few  
and simple4 ,generally1 indeed1 no      
active assistance is necessary1 until   
after the birth of the child2 all that  
is required of the attendant being1 that
 he should remain an observant1 though  
unofficious spectator of the process1   
ready to exert himself with promptitude 
and energy on the first accession of any
 alarming symptoms1 but equally or more 
ready to allow the changes necessary for
 the completion of nature's object to   
proceed1 uninterrupted by any meddlesome

 interference2 for no maxim in obstetric
 science is of more universal           
application than that unnecessary       
'assistance1' rendered with a view of   
expediting the termination of the case1 
or shortening the sufferings of the     
patient1 is not only useless1 but in the
 highest degree injurious1 and directly 
calculated to defeat its own end4  ,let 
it not be supposed this declaration     
includes the admission1 that a partial  
acquaintance with the obstetric branch  
of medicine is sufficient for the safe  
practice of the profession2 for         
although1 in thirty-nine cases out of   
forty1 little is required to be done    
beyond protecting the extended          
structures from injury1 separating the  
child1 and extracting the placenta from 
the vagina after its total exclusion    
from the uterine cavity2 still1 in the  
fortieth danger may occur1 only to be   
arrested by the promptest1 the most     
decisive1 and most judiciously directed 
help4  ,much knowledge#bj is necessary  

to discriminate the kind of cases in    
which assistance is proper1 and         
determine the time at which that        
assistance ought to be employed1 as well
 as the mode of its application4 ,it is 
this which distinguishes the scientific 
from the ignorant obstetrician2 it is   
this important knowledge on which the   
life1 the future health and comfort of  
many a parturient woman must depend2    
which1 nevertheless1 has been held in   
such low estimation by some members of  
the profession1 as to be thought        
unworthy of cultivation by the          
scientific and literary mind2 unfit to  
be possessed by men of respectable      
station in society2 and the adaptation  
of which knowledge to practice has been 
characterized1 in an official document  
under the seal of the highest of our    
medical corporate associations1 as 'an  
art foreign to the habits of gentlemen  
of enlarged academical education4'#ba   
,in the same communication it is        
asserted1 'that the most successful     

practice of midwifery requires no such  
laborious preliminary study as is       
necessary for the practice of medicine1 
else discreet matrons1 and plain        
uneducated men in the country1 who      
frequently arrive at great notoriety in 
this calling1 would not acquire that    
credit which they often attain4'444 nor1
 perhaps1 are we generally expected to  
regulate the number of individuals to be
 present1 though we may be called upon  
occasionally to exercise our authority  
in this respect4 ,the only persons whom 
,i would willingly admit are the nurse  
and some female married friend1 the     
mother1 or other near relation1 or an   
intimate acquaintance1 to act as        
confidante to the sufferer1 into whose  
sympathizing ear she may whisper all her
 apprehensions and distresses1 and from 
whom she may receive those numberless   
comforts and sustaining consolations of 
which she stands so eminently in need4  
,unmarried females are neither the most 
fit companions for the patient1 nor the 

most useful assistants to the           
practitioner4#bb  ,on being ushered into
 her chamber1 we may engage her in some 
general conversation1 which will give us
 an opportunity of observing the        
frequency1 duration1 strength1 and      
character of the pains2 and our conduct 
must be framed according4 ,should they  
be of trifling importance1 we may       
content ourselves with giving some      
ordinary directions and retire from the 
apartment4 ,but if they are returning   
with frequency and activity1 we must not
 allow much time to elapse before we    
require to make an examination ,,per    
,,vaginam4#bc ,an objection may be      
raised by the patient to the necessary  
examination being then instituted1 under
 the idea that no assistance can be     
rendered her so early in the labour4 ,as
 ,i would regard the feelings of a      
parturient woman in a degree only       
secondary to her safety1 ,i would by no 
means insist on putting her to this     
inconvenience1 unless ,i thought it     

quite indispensable4 ,but as much       
valuable information may be gained by   
this first examination1 and as it is    
highly desirable to obtain that         
information during the progress of the  
first stage1 it is right firmly1 but    
gently1 to urge its propriety4 ,it is   
seldom1 indeed1 that she will not accede
 to the recommendation of her medical   
attendant1 provided he possesses her    
confidence1 and conveys his request with
 becoming delicacy4#bd  ,much knowledge 
must be acquired during the first       
vaginal examination4 ,it is1 first1     
whether the woman be pregnant2#be       
secondly1 if she be in labour2 thirdly1 
whether the membranes have ruptured1 or 
are still entire2 fourthly1 how the     
child is presenting2 fifthly1 how far   
the labour is advanced2 and1 sixthly1   
the state of the os uteri1 vagina1 and  
perineum1 in regard to their            
distensibility4444 ,she should be also  
covered by a light counterpane1 or a    
blanket and a sheet4 ,in this position  

7lying on her left side1 with the nates 
brought to the edge of the bed7 the     
vaginal examination is to be conducted  
in the following manner3--,the          
attendant1 sitting rather behind her1   
and having anointed the two first       
fingers of his right hand1 with some    
unctuous substance1 mostly in readiness1
 is to place them on the labia externa2 
then gently separating these organs1 he 
must introduce the first finger into the
 vagina1#bf in the direction of its     
entrance1 which is backwards and        
upwards3 or he may take the perineum as 
his guide1 and insinuate his finger     
within the genital fissure posteriorly1 
close to the fourchette4 ,having        
introduced it as high as he conveniently
 can1 he must pronate his wrist1 so that
 the junction of the first and second   
finger shall fit in under the symphysis 
pubis4 ,in this way he will be able     
usually to reach the os uteri without   
difficulty4 ,should that organ1 however1
 be situated so high that he cannot     

perfectly command it1 rather than remain
 in ignorance of its condition1 and of  
the presentation of the child1 he may   
introduce the first two fingers of his  
left hand1 and as these may be passed   
higher within the pelvis1 they will give
 a greater facility for inquiry4  ,these
 examinations are commonly made during  
the urgency of pain2 and this has given 
rise to the phrase of 'trying a pain4'  
,it is1 however1 desirable1 on many     
accounts1 that we should not introduce  
our finger up to the os uteri at the    
time when the uterus is acting strongly1
 because then the membranes are         
protruded into the vagina1 and if we    
press against them at that moment1 we   
may1 probably1 rupture the cyst1 and    
lose its influence in the after progress
 of the labour4 ,besides1 it is         
impossible1 under such protrusion1 to   
ascertain the presenting part of the    
foetus with precision1 because of the   
quantity of water which is then         
interposed between our finger and its   

person4  ,nevertheless1 as it is        
expected that we should examine while   
the uterus is in action--and1 indeed1 as
 in many cases the patient would not    
allow us to pass our finger at all1 were
 it not for the belief that we can      
'assist' her--and that only in the time 
of pain1 it is necessary that we should 
request her to inform us when there is a
 return1 and take that opportunity of   
introducing our finger within the       
external parts4 ,having gained this     
advantage1 we must allow it to remain   
inactive in the vagina while the pain   
continues2 and upon its cessation1 which
 we have seldom any difficulty in       
ascertaining1 we may direct it up to the
 os uteri4  ,frequent examinations      
should not be made during the first     
stage of labour4  ,we can do no good by 
such a practice after we have once      
gained the information we require4 ,we  
cannot facilitate the descent of the    
child2 we cannot dilate the parts2 but  
we may do a great deal of injury1 for we

 denude the vagina of that soft relaxing
 mucus which is designed by nature to   
protect it2 and we1 moreover1 run the   
risk of destroying the integrity of the 
membranous cyst4 ,we may1 therefore1    
predispose the parts to inflammation1   
and retard the dilatation of the os     
uteri itself4 ,as1 however1 it is a     
common idea among women that1 under each
 examination1 material assistance is    
rendered1#bg we shall frequently be     
urged1 during the first stage1          
especially if the labour be rather      
slower than usual1 to remain in close   
attendance on the patient's person2 and 
these solicitations are generally       
advanced with a degree of fervency1 that
 it appears the extreme of cruelty not  
to accede to4  ,should this be the case1
 the finger may be introduced from time 
to time1 with the greatest care and     
gentleness2 more to pacify the patient's
 mind1 and assure her she is not        
neglected1 than with any other view     
beyond that1 and also watching the      

progress of dilatation4 ,the more rigid 
the parts are1 the more do they require 
the softening influence of the natural  
secretion1 and the more careful must we 
be to preserve it4444 ,in about an hour 
444 we may see her again1 and we may    
then1 if we think it right1 make another
 examination1 to ascertain that the     
labour is proceeding satisfactorily4    
,duties during the ,second ,stage4  ,the
 second stage of labour having          
commenced1 we are summoned to the       
patient's room1 if we have been absent1 
and told that 'the waters have broken4' 
,she is most likely found reclining on  
the bed1 and1 probably1 the pains are   
more urgent than they were before2 or1  
perhaps1 they are somewhat suspended4   
,we now require to make another         
examination1 because it is possible that
 the head may have fully entered the    
cavity1 and may be soon expelled4       
,finding it low in the pelvis1 finding  
the os uteri almost entirely dilated1   
the membranes broken1 and the pains     

strong and coming on frequently1 it is  
right not to leave the room2 but unless 
the perineum is somewhat on the stretch1
 we need not yet take our post exactly  
by the bed-side4 ,but as soon as the    
head has come to press upon the external
 parts--particularly when it has made   
its turn1 and is beginning to extend the
 structures at the outlet of the pelvis1
 it becomes our duty to take our seat by
 the bed-side1 and never to move from   
our position till the child has passed4 
,this we do to protect the perineum1 in 
order to prevent laceration4#bh  ,for   
the purpose of supporting the perineum  
we sit rather behind the patient1 and   
apply the palm of the left              
hand--guarded1 for the sake of delicacy1
 cleanliness1 and convenience1 with a   
soft napkin--steadily and firmly against
 the perineal tumour4 ,i have already   
mentioned that the thighs must be drawn 
up towards the abdomen1 and the legs    
bent a little back upon the thighs1 and 
the whole person lying on the left side2

 and the patient is usually placed so   
that her feet may rest against the      
bed-post4#bi  ,we render the shoulders  
also another fixed point1 so as to      
steady the upper part of the body1 by   
tying a long napkin1 or a round towel1  
to the same bed-post1 and desiring her  
to hold it in her hand4 ,we tell her1   
when the pain comes on to press with her
 feet against the bed-post1 and pull    
gently at the towel1 cautioning her     
against straining violently4 ,the       
consequence is she so fixes her person  
as to render it almost impossible for   
her to jump away suddenly1 or to recede 
to any distance from us4 ,independently 
of this little manoeuvring1 when the    
head is in any degree extending the     
vulva the nurse must be required to     
raise the right knee to some distance   
from the other1 by which means the      
thighs are separated1 and an increased  
facility given to the exit of the head  
through the external parts1 as well as  
some control exerted over the patient's 

movements4444 ,after having examined the
 uterus through the parietes of the     
abdomen1 we must make an internal       
examination1 more perfectly to assure   
ourselves in what way the placenta is   
disposed of4 ,twisting the funis        
umbilicalis around the first two fingers
 of the left hand1 and bringing it to   
its bearing1 we pass the first finger of
 the right hand1 previously anointed1   
into the vagina1 as in a common         
examination4 ,if the placenta be        
entirely in utero1 which1 as just       
remarked1 is most commonly the case     
immediately after the child's expulsion1
 we shall either not be able to touch it
 at all1 or if it be within reach1 we   
shall only detect a very small portion  
of it2 we may just feel it offering     
itself at the os uteri2 but we cannot   
surround its volume1 nor can we probably
 discover the insertion of the funis4   
,removal of the ,placenta4--,there is no
 part of natural labour which requires  
so much judgment as the conduct of the  

third stage2 for the slightest          
mismanagement of the placenta may be    
productive of most serious mischief1 by 
converting a perfectly natural into a   
most dangerous and complicated case4 ,as
 long1 then1 as the placenta remains in 
utero1 so long we must wait1 within a   
certain limit--provided there be no     
flooding--for those contractions which  
are to expel it from the uterus into the
 vaginal cavity1 c42 while we are thus  
watching1 we shall most likely be       
informed of the return of uterine       
action1 by the woman complaining of two 
or three comparatively trifling pains   
affecting the back and loins4 ,as it is 
probable that under these pains the     
placenta may have somewhat descended1   
another examination may then be made per
 vaginam to satisfy ourselves on this   
point1 c4  ,the removal of the placenta 
from the vagina is easily effected4     
,twisting the funis umbilicalis two or  
three times around the first and second 
finger of the right hand1 we draw it    

down in a line tending towards the      
coccyx1 and receive it in the left1     
placed under the perineum2 or we may    
introduce the two first fingers and the 
thumb of the left into the vagina1      
embrace the mass between them1 squeeze  
it as we would a sponge1 and slowly     
extract it4444  ,having perfectly       
satisfied ourselves on this point1 we   
may a second time take away the napkins 
soiled with the accumulated discharges1 
and envelope the lower part of the      
patient's person in others that are warm
 and dry4 ,three will be sufficient3 one
 must be partially slid under the left  
hip2 another may be placed over and     
around the right hip2 and the third     
carried between the thighs1 directly on 
the vulva1 c4444  ,some practitioners   
adapt the bandage themselves1 and apply 
it immediately after the placenta has   
been removed4 ,i think it preferable1 in
 common cases1 to leave this duty to the
 nurse2 and that it should not be put on
 until the body linen of the patient is 

shifted2 because1 in the first place1 it
 appears to me more desirable that      
perfect quietness should be preserved   
until the first changes in the uterus   
consequent upon labour are effected1    
that no disturbance may interrupt their 
progress2 and1 in the second1 ,i cannot 
help thinking that there is something   
highly indelicate in its being applied  
by a man--much more so1 indeed1 than any
 of the duties we are ordinarily called 
upon to perform under natural labour4   
,it is of most service when next the    
skin4 ,it must be sufficiently broad to 
reach from the pubes almost to the      
ensiform cartilage2 and it cannot be    
properly adapted unless the abdomen be  
quite uncovered4 ,in addition1 ,i would 
remark that the nurse must know very    
little of her duties1 if she cannot draw
 a properly contrived bandage round the 
person1 and give it the due degree of   
tightness without incurring danger4     
,the reader of the preceding extracts   
will have observed that they begin with 

a panegyric on the extraordinary powers 
of nature in adapting means to an end2  
which1 nevertheless1 the author         
forthwith proceeds to qualify1 as if he 
had admitted too much1 in giving nature 
credit for the due execution of her own 
work1 and her capability for enforcing  
her own laws1 by enlarging on the       
profound and scientific knowledge       
required in the man-midwife1 the opinion
 expressed by the ,royal ,college of    
,physicians to the contrary             
notwithstanding2 and in effect impiously
 detracting the infinite power and      
wisdom of ,god1 who created man in his  
own image1 in the image of ,god created 
,he him2 male and female created ,he    
them4 ,and ,god blessed them1 and ,god  
said unto them1 be fruitful and         
multiply4  ,and ,god saw everything that
 ,he had made1 and behold1 it was very  
good4  ,after descanting on the         
inutility1 and even positively          
detrimental effects of active           
interference in natural labour1 he warms

 with his subject1 and1 in the course of
 the three stages by which he limits and
 defines the operations of nature in    
introducing man into the world1 enjoins1
 in language horribly disgusting from   
its technical obscenity1 an amount of   
grossly indecent interference1 only to  
be measured by the credulity and        
endurance of his miserable patient4 ,if 
the maxim of non-interference which he  
inculcates holds good1 he deceives and  
wrongs his patient to a most shameful   
extent1 by permitting and encouraging   
the delusion that by these vaginal      
examinations he can render her          
assistance1 or mitigate the sufferings  
which nature has ordained2 and we       
assert1 without fear of contradiction1  
that the man who should dare to practise
 upon the weakness of women in such a   
manner1 and at a moment when they are   
least able to resist his solicitations1 
deserves the severest condemnation4 ,in 
all this foul tissue of verbiage        
descriptive of the practice in natural  

labour there is nothing which a female  
attendant of the most ordinary          
intelligence could not accomplish with  
the greatest ease1 and yet the nurse1   
who is generally a well instructed      
midwife1 is scarcely mentioned at all1  
and her duties appear to be confined to 
a trivial and unimportant               
after-operation1 which the conscientious
 and sensitive doctor deems an act of   
far greater indelicacy than those eight 
times repeated examinations per vaginam1
 and other contact with the patient's   
person1 so sedulously prescribed1 and   
which1 in truth1 appear to constitute   
the whole art1 so far as the treatment  
of natural labour is concerned4 ,one    
more extract will more than suffice to  
show the nature of this abuse1 which we 
fear is1 from its daily increasing power
 and influence upon the female mind1    
becoming more and more difficult of     
cure2 but which1 when considered in all 
its hideous bearings1 should arouse even
 the most callous and indifferent to a  

sense of its criminality1 and cause the 
hearts of all who reverence modesty in  
woman to swell with righteous           
indignation at the insults which a vile 
custom has mercilessly heaped upon the  
sex3--  ,she now1 at length1 submitted  
to an examination per vaginam1 which ,i 
made from behind1 as she stood erect by 
the bed4 ,the finger failed at first to 
reach the os and cervix uteri1 until1 on
 pressing upwards1 as far as possible1  
,i found the uterus lying transversely1 
the os higher than the body1 pointing to
 the right side1 and the body of the    
uterus lodged in the left side of the   
pelvis1 near the groin1 where it seemed 
to be firmly fixed4 ,i now made her     
kneel on the bed1 with the head low1 so 
as to elevate the nates1 and cautiously 
tried through the rectum1 as well as per
 vaginam1 to raise the uterus from its  
position into the median line1 but      
without success4 ,an attempt on the     
following day was with no better        
result4444 ,after the interval of a     

month1 ,i made another examination per  
vaginam1 also of the nipples1 and found 
no change in either4 ,after the interval
 of another month ,i found the nipples  
and areolae precisely as at first2 but1 
to my great satisfaction1 the uterus had
 nearly righted itself in position1 and 
the body of it was rounded and plainly  
enlarged4 ,the lady also hinted a       
suspicion that she had quickened4444    
,in this instance my suspicion of       
pregnancy 7which at first was very      
slight7 rested on the interruption of   
menstruation alone4 ,the health improved
 from the time of quickening1 and the   
pregnancy went on4 ,i may add that ,i   
have no doubt the latero-version of the 
womb occurred at the period of the      
miscarriage2444 and that its righting   
itself1 at length1 was the consequence  
of its increasing bulk4#cj  ,such is the
 practice of man-midwifery6 ,we observe 
that1 in this revolting case1 the       
disgrace1 the shame1 the infamy of the  
poor patient was endured in vain1 and   

that after all the tentatives1 and      
manipulations1 and experiments1 so      
perseveringly repeated by the           
accoucheur1 without any beneficial      
result whatsoever1 nature alone was the 
true physician4  ,we will conclude this 
chapter of horrors in the strong and    
earnest language of the late ,sir       
,anthony ,carlisle1 with the conviction 
that his burning words will go right    
home to the hearts of those who may not 
hitherto have given a thought to this   
fearful violation of the rights of      
nature4  ,the woman who sacrifices her  
modesty to fashion1 her person to       
indignity1 and her husband's honour to  
the sneers and contempt of her male     
midwife1 is below contempt4 ,she is a   
disgrace to her sex6  ,it is my firm    
opinion that the practice of            
man-midwifery compromises the character 
and morality of our country4 ,it is     
demoralizing to society1 an insult to   
virtuous women1 and a foolscap to men4  
,if not checked and abolished1 the      

pretensions to female modesty1 and a    
respect for the decorums of society1    
will eventually be altogether excluded  
from the female character4     ,,chapter
 ,,iii4    ,such devils would pull      
angels out of heaven1   ,provided they  
could reach them2 'tis their pride2     
,and that's the odds 'twixt soul and    
body-plague6   ,the veriest slave who   
drops in ,cairo's street1   ,cries1     
',stand off from me1' to the passengers2
   ,while these blotched souls are eager
 to infect1   ,and blow their bad breath
 in a sister's face1   ,as if they got  
some ease by it4   ,if the reader views 
with disgust and horror the above rules 
of ordinary practice in                 
man-midwifery--and what man is base     
enough 7save an accoucheur7 not so to   
regard them8--these feelings will be    
intensified a thousand-fold by the      
contemplation of the latest invention#ca
 of obstetric art4 ,we allude to the    
,,speculum4 ,the adoption of this       
instrument1 as we are informed1 is now  

becoming general2 and its employment    
plunges its wretched victim1 woman1 down
 into the lowest deep of infamy and     
degradation4 ,we will not pollute our   
pages by describing its method of       
action2 suffice it to say1 that1 to the 
sense of touch1 common to all midwifery 
practice1 is added1 in its application1 
that of sight2 exposure the most        
complete of all which modesty1 even in  
the most abject of races1 invariably    
conceals4   ,illustration3 ,g4 ,morant4 
,inc4  ,,the ,,speculum   ,in           
confirmation of our own view of this    
most villanous invention1 we will       
convict its advocates by the testimony  
of distinguished members of their own   
profession4 ,the denunciations of the   
speculum1 by these morally-courageous   
men1 addressed1 for the most part1      
solely to their fellow-practitioners1   
shall now go forth to be read and       
pondered on by every reflecting         
,englishman who may chance to open these
 pages4  ,we have already exposed1 with 

our utmost vigour1 the improper practice
 which ,drs4 ,ashwell and ,lee so       
strongly condemned4 ,all we said on that
 occasion we repeat now4444 ,to employ  
it 7the speculum71 as it is rumoured    
certain persons in ,london have employed
 it1 to attract notice1 and place       
themselves prominently before the       
public--to use it merely as a means of  
personal advancement--in fact1 to gain  
practice--is a crime against the laws of
 morality1 and treason against          
professional honour4  ,the erroneous and
 one-sided opinions1 which the advocates
 for the indiscriminate use of the      
speculum hold1 prove how little they    
have presented to themselves the true   
facts of the case4 ,dr4 ,locock1 who    
made the startling assertion that       
delicacy ought not to be considered in  
matters of disease1 and was both for and
 against the speculum1 said1 that he    
looked into the vagina as he would into 
the throat4 ,true enough1 so far as he  
simply is concerned4 ,he would look into

 the vagina as an ordinary matter of    
business1 and think only of what1 in the
 course of business1 it might be        
necessary to do there4 ,but would the   
woman regard it in this philosophical   
light8 ,is it the same to her whether   
her tongue is pressed down with a       
spatula1 or her vagina distended with a 
speculum8 ,is her moral state to be left
 out of account altogether1 and are we  
to treat the most sensitive organ in her
 frame as if it was so much inert       
matter1 whose great use was to be       
cauterized8  ,we do not hesitate to say1
 that no man1 who regards properly his  
science and himself1 can ever use this  
instrument without feeling that he is   
driven to it2 that other means have     
failed1 and that it has become necessary
 to adopt additional modes of           
investigation and of cure4 ,and if it   
appear from the inquiries which will1   
doubtless1 now be made--that the        
necessities for its employment have been
 knowingly exaggerated by its advocates1

 no condemnation can be too severe for  
so great a breach of scientific         
honour4--,medical ,times1 #hth ,june1   
#ahej4  ,dr4 ,marshall ,hall describes  
in the ,lancet a new form of hysteria1  
connected with and caused by the abuse  
of the speculum4 ,in his preliminary    
remarks1 alluding to the manner in which
 the charge of indecency was received by
 one of the speakers at the late meeting
 of the ,medico-,chirurgical ,society1  
on the ground of the non-necessity of   
the exposure of the person1 he says1    
',but if there be no exposure of the    
person1 is there1 at first1 no wounding 
of the feeling1 and is there afterwards 
no deterioration and blunting of those  
feelings by the repeated daily or weekly
 use of the speculum vaginae in the     
virgin1 and in the very young1 even     
amongst the married8' ,he declares that 
there is such deterioration1 and that   
the female who has been subjected to    
such treatment is not the same person1  
in delicacy and purity1 she was before4 

,dr4 ,marshall ,hall's declaration on   
this point is fully confirmed by the    
results of experience4 ,the consequences
 of the abuse of this practice are1     
indeed1 lamentable4 ,dr4 ,hall says he  
has known cases of the most revolting   
attachment on the part of the patients  
to the practice and the practitioner4   
,the current of the ideas becomes       
hypochondriacally directed to the organs
 of generation4 ,the very mind is       
poisoned4 ,a new and lamentable form of 
hysteria is induced4 ,the patients      
become reserved1 and moody1 and         
perverse1 and speak unintelligibly in   
broken sentences2 the peace and         
happiness of the family are broken up2  
subjects are discussed on the domestic  
hearth which ought never to be mentioned
 except in the sick room--words which   
wound are spoken1 and thoughts which are
 derogatory are expressed by others1    
perhaps by the male1 members of the     
family4 ,dr4 ,hall mentions cases in    
which the speculum has been repeatedly  

employed1 and had induced this sad1     
wretched state1 and yet no uterine      
disease existed4 ,he believes the cases 
in which the young1 and especially the  
unmarried1 are afflicted1 so as really  
to justify the use of the speculum1 to  
be rare1 and the cases in which the     
injection of a solution of nitrate of   
silver1 by the patient herself1 may not 
take the place of the application of    
this valuable remedy in substance by the
 hand of the practitioner1 to be rare   
indeed4 ,we heartily thank ,dr4         
,marshall ,hall for this additional blow
 at 'the pollution4' ,it is greatly to  
his credit4--,medical ,times1 #aeth     
,june1 #ahej4  ,i have no doubt that ,i 
was one of a considerable number1 who1  
at the last meeting of the ,royal       
,medical and ,chirurgical ,society 7a   
meeting which will long be memorable in 
its annals71 wished to express their    
sentiments on the subject of the use of 
the speculum vaginae1 without having    
what they deemed a perfect opportunity4 

,i regret that the discussion was not   
adjourned to another evening4  ,i think 
the profession deeply indebted to ,dr4  
,robert ,lee for bringing this question 
forward for discussion4 ,it is not one  
of mere medical or surgical treatment1  
but of medical and public ethics2 and ,i
 confess myself astonished at the light 
manner in which a vaginal examination   
was spoken of by one of the gentlemen   
present at the ,society4 ,i think the   
challenge of ,dr4 ,bennet should have   
been accepted at once1 and that a       
committee should have been1 and should  
now be1 appointed to test the existence1
 or the non-existence1 of the thousand  
and one 'ulcers1' or 'abrasions1' of    
which so much has been said of late4    
,the gentleman to whom ,i have alluded  
above1 huffed the idea of indecency in  
making a vaginal examination4 ,there    
need be no exposure of the person of the
 patient4 ,surgeons make no scruple     
about an examination of the rectum 7as  
if the two examinations could1 morally  

speaking1 be compared74 ,but1 if there  
be no exposure of the person1 and if the
 examination of the rectum be frequently
 made1 is there1 at first1 no wounding  
of the feelings8 and is there afterwards
 no deterioration and blunting of those 
feelings by the repeated daily or weekly
 use of the speculum vaginae in the     
virgin1 and in the very young1 even     
amongst the married8 ,i loudly proclaim 
that there is such deterioration1 and   
that the female who has been subjected  
to such treatment is not the same       
person1 in delicacy and purity1 that she
 was before4  ,i have known cases of the
 most revolting attachment1 on the part 
of such patients1 to the practice and to
 the practitioner4 ,i have known them to
 speak of the 'womb' and of the 'uterine
 organs' with a familiarity which was   
formerly unknown1 and which1 ,i trust1  
will1 ere long1 be obsolete4 ,the       
current of the ideas becomes            
hypochondriacally directed to these     
organs4 ,the very mind is poisoned4 ,a  

new and lamentable form of hysteria--,i 
had almost said of furor uterinus--is   
induced1 with this aggravation1 that the
 subject of distress is either concealed
 by the greatest effort1 or explained at
 the expense of virgin or female        
modesty4  ,there is a case of 'poisoned 
mind' in the male sex1 induced by the   
quack doings of the day1 relative to the
 existence of impotency1 which all of us
 must have treated and deplored4 ,a     
similar case of 'mental poisoning' is   
now being induced in the other sex1 by  
the frequent1 constant1 and undue       
reference1 on the part of the           
profession1 to the condition of the     
'uterine organs4'444  ,one poor1        
miserable patient comes to me weekly1   
thus afflicted4 ,she has been treated by
 the speculum and the caustic for       
months1 as an out-patient at ,university
 ,college ,hospital4 ,i sent her to ,dr4
 ,robert ,lee twice4 ,twice that        
gentleman examined1 and declared that   
there was no uterine or vaginal disease4

 ,meanwhile the miserable patient's mind
 is absorbed by this ideal malady1 and  
the peace of her husband's home is      
destroyed4  ,i sent another patient to  
,dr4 ,robert ,lee a few days ago 7whom  
,i had never seen7 under similar        
circumstances1 but moving in a different
 rank of life4 ,the same opinion was    
given1 the miserable patient suffering  
dire disappointment6  ,i recently       
attended a poor curate's wife1 who had  
come to ,london for medical aid1 at1 as 
,i suppose1 great inconvenience4 ,during
 my short attendance1 this patient was  
constantly urged by a friend1 a titled  
lady 7the aristocracy always take the   
lead in quackery71 to send for her      
physician1 who is a strong abettor of   
the speculum4 ,the course which followed
 may be imagined1 and need not be       
described4 ,a case of more complicated  
misery for a husband cannot well be     
conceived4 ,a sickly wife1 afflicted    
with uterine hypochondriasis1 set upon  
by a titled advocate of the uterine     

quackery1 with straitened resources4    
,the advocates of the speculum speak of 
cases which had resisted the efficacy of
 the usual general and local treatment1 
and which yielded to the use of the     
speculum and the caustic4 ,i have seen  
cases in which1 the speculum and caustic
 having been employed--and unduly       
employed1 as ,i believe--the patient    
remained more miserably afflicted in    
mind and body than ever1 and this the   
effect of that treatment4 ,whether the  
former supposition be as well founded as
 the latter1 ,i will not presume to     
determine2 but ,i believe the cases in  
which the young1 and especially the     
unmarried1 are afflicted1 so as really  
to justify the use of the speculum1 to  
be rare1 and the cases in which the     
injection of a solution of nitrate of   
silver1 by her own hands1 may not take  
the place of the application of this    
valuable remedy in substance1 by the    
hand of the practitioner1 to be rare    
indeed4  ,i will not advert even to the 

epithets which have been applied to the 
frequent use of the speculum by our     
,french neighbours1 who are so skilled  
in these matters2 but ,i will ask1      
,,what ,,father ,,amongst ,,us1 ,,after 
,,the ,,details ,,which ,i ,,have       
,,given1 ,,would ,,allow ,,his ,,virgin 
,,daughter ,,to ,,be ,,subjected ,,to   
,,this ',,pollution'8 ,let us1 then1    
maintain the spotless dignity of our    
profession1 with its well-deserved      
character for purity of morals1 and     
throw aside this injurious practice with
 indignant scorn1 remembering that it is
 not mere exposure of the person1 but   
the dulling of the edge of the virgin   
modesty1 and the degradation of the pure
 minds of the daughters of ,england1    
which are to be avoided4 ,dr ,marshall  
,hall in the ',lancet4'  ,dr4 ,dickson1 
an eminent medical reformer1 and        
accomplished surgeon and physician1     
formerly on the staff1 and now1 and for 
many years past1 in extensive practice  
in ,london1 says3--  ,but of all the    

medical quackeries that have sprung up  
in these times1 none can compare with   
the infamous speculum treatment of      
certain members of the faculty1 who     
confine their practice principally to   
females4 ,no matter what may be the     
woman's real complaint--a cough1 pain of
 the side1 or anything else--she is at  
once assured that it proceeds from      
'disease of the womb4' ,a pretended     
examination must1 forsooth1 be gone     
through1 which1 in every case1 is made  
to confirm the dishonest assurance given
 in the first instance4 ,the patient is 
forthwith victimized1 week after week1  
and month after month1 with a host of   
operations1 for a disease which1 in the 
beginning1 at least1 never existed at   
all1 but which is very soon brought on  
artificially by the horrible appliances 
of men1 who ride in their carriages1 by 
this daily and hourly outrage to the    
constitutions and the decency of our    
women4--,the ,forbidden ,book1 vol4 ii4 
page #aie4  ,again1 in the same work1   

appears the following letter1 under the 
head of ,obstetric ,quackery in         
,edinburgh3--,,sir1--,the members of the
 ,town ,council of ,edinburgh are the   
patrons of the ,university4 ,most of    
them are known to be conscientious men1 
and keenly alive to all that can affect 
the honour and the usefulness of the    
institution over which they preside4 ,it
 appears extraordinary that they should 
have remained so long unacquainted with 
the leprosy which has infected some of  
the professors2 or that they should not 
have summarily driven these persons from
 the chairs they were polluting1 when   
the fact was discovered4444 ,it is to   
him 7,dr4 ,simpson7 that we chiefly owe 
the infinitely more dangerous and       
disgusting quackery in midwifery1 which 
rages like a pestilence in ,london1 and 
in every town and village throughout the
 empire1 and in some of our most distant
 colonies4 ,on the present occasion1 it 
may be sufficient to enumerate the      
proceedings to which ,i allude3 ,to ,dr4

 ,simpson we owe the invention of the   
dangerous weapon called the             
uterine-sound or poker--pessaries which 
have justly been designated infernal and
 impaling uterine machines1 to cure     
retroversions which never existed2      
instruments for pumping the uterus1 to  
excite menstruation2 and the proposal to
 rub its inner surface with lunar       
caustic1 for the same purpose4 ,to him  
we owe the hysterotome1 for slitting    
open the os uteri1 to cure sterility2   
and to his efforts1 more than any other 
individual1 we are indebted for the     
profligate use of the speculum which has
 prevailed1 and the practice of         
destroying the os and cervix uteri with 
caustic potash4 ,to ,dr4 ,simpson we owe
 the attempt to revive the brutal       
practice of turning in cases of         
distortion of the pelvis2 of attempting 
to substitute the ,caesarian operation  
for the induction of premature labour2  
to him we owe the attempt to subvert the
 established practice in placental      

presentation1 by extraordinary statistic
 tables2 and1 lastly1 we owe to the     
genius of the ,professor of ,midwifery  
in the ,university of ,edinburgh1 the   
baby-sucker6 ,are these specimens of    
what the ,edinburgh ,monthly ,journal   
for this month calls 'the simple        
treatment taught and practised in       
,edinburgh1 and which1 if adopted in    
,london1 would reduce many practitioners
 from comfort to starvation8' ,we may   
well excuse the members of the ,town    
,council if they are not so dexterous in
 harliquinade as the ,university        
,professor4--,i am1 ,sir1 your obedient 
,servant1 ,,isaac ,,irons1 ,m4,d4       
,sept41 #ahea4  ,we now proceed to quote
 the words of a ,fellow of the ,royal   
,college of ,surgeons1 which appear in a
 pamphlet entitled1 ,the ,speculum3 its 
,moral ,tendencies4 ,we believe the     
author to be very well known1 both as a 
writer in the medical periodicals1 and  
as a skilful and accomplished surgeon4  
,he says--,were fame and fortune1       

however1 the only results1 were the     
public simply gulled1 there would be    
nothing in its consequences to take this
 imposition out of the ordinary         
category4 ,but1 unfortunately1 this is  
not the case4 ,the practices of these   
men leave results of a far more serious 
and lasting character1 not to be sought 
for amongst material things1 but in the 
lowered and loosened state to which it  
is rapidly bringing the morality of the 
country4  ,this is a strong assertion1  
but not stronger than the facts that    
support it4 ,the profession is well     
aware of the baleful tendency of the    
proceedings of these men1 whilst they   
deplore their inability to prevent or to
 expose them4 ,scarcely a member of it  
whom you meet but has a tale to tell of 
their practices1 which1 if made public1 
would bring the mighty from their seats2
 but there is too much indecency        
involved in the disclosure to allow of  
its publicity4 ,thus are they doubly    
hedged2 their diploma checks suspicion1 

whilst the nature of their performances 
secures them secrecy4  ,to believe in   
the necessity for this constant and     
general use of the speculum1 is to admit
 a sad deterioration in nature itself4  
,either this1 or that anterior          
generations were great sufferers without
 being aware of it4 ,perhaps1 like the  
,spartan boy they endured in silence1   
rather than betray a want of courage1   
or1 what was more laudable1 a want of   
delicacy4  ,but ,i do not believe in    
this4 ,i believe the workmanship of the 
,creator to be as perfect now as of     
yore1 and that the modern and           
multitudinous disorders attributed to   
the uterine system are wicked inventions
 put forth to sanction unnecessary      
interference4 ,why1 if we are to believe
 these men1 there is scarcely a patient 
who applies to them that is not         
suffering from one or the other of these
 numerous affections4 ,the womb1 with   
them1 is so invariably out of order or  
out of position1 that disease and       

dislocation are more constant than its  
normal conditions4 ,young or old1       
married or single1 whatever their age1  
whatever their condition1 the same      
opinion1 the same treatment1 varied only
 in the selection of the instrument4 ,no
 matter what the complaint1 or what the 
ailment1 the fons et origo mali is      
declared to be the uterus4444  ,nor are 
these practices confined to the high    
priests in these temples of immorality2 
faith in their professions now pervades 
a large portion of female society2 like 
the flame in a stubble field the mania  
has spread1 the convert quickly becomes 
the proselyte1 and the consequence is1  
that some men1 in the general practice  
of our profession1 are induced to shape 
their treatment less by the nature of   
the complaints1 than the suggestions of 
their patients4444  ,the result of this 
can be easily imagined2 unskilfulness is
 associated with fraud4 ,the ,speculum  
is brought into play1 and startling are 
the revelations made by its glittering  

wall4 ,alarmed or amused1 no matter     
which1 the patient is secured1 and      
remains long enough under treatment to  
familiarize her with indecency1 and to  
enable the practical hand of the        
neophyte to attain the tour de maitre1  
both in handling the instrument and the 
fee4444  ,then again1 these uterine     
complaints1 contrary to the laws that   
govern local affections1 are made to    
assume an almost epidemic character1 for
 it is by no means uncommon to hear that
 several members of the same household  
are under treatment1 as they call it1 at
 the same time4444  ,but besides those  
whom ,i have mentioned as abusing the   
,speculum1 there are others1 who1 more  
honest1 yet not less dangerous1 are1    
unconsciously perhaps1 contributing     
their share to this work of             
demoralization2 ,i mean that portion of 
the profession who1 unable to form      
opinions for themselves1 are ready at   
all times jurare in verba magistri1     
adopting any practice1 provided the     

example be set in high places4444 with  
these men one would like to deal        
charitably2 but the best of motives must
 not be allowed to compensate the       
consequences of dangerous acts2 ,,they  
,,must ,,not ,,be ,,allowed ,,to        
,,jeopardise ,,the ,,modesty ,,of ,,the 
,,sex1 ,,so ,,long ,,the ,,pride ,,and  
,,the ,,property ,,of ,,england4  ,that 
an instrument1 capable in its           
application of such wide-spreading      
mischief1 should possess some           
compensating good1 some power whereby   
diseases1 hitherto obscure and          
intractable1 should be compelled to     
render up the morbid secrets on which   
they rest1 and to take their place      
amongst curable disorders1 was to have  
been expected1 and had this been so1 the
 case would stand far differently4444   
,but unfortunately this is not the case2
 the diseases here alluded to1 though   
obnoxious to its application1 instead of
 being benefited are materially         
aggravated by its use2 take1 for        

instance1 the scirrhous affections1 in  
these cases its use is not only         
inefficacious1 but positively           
injurious--it only adds torture to      
torment4444  ,driven1 then1 from the    
field of real disease1 these advocates  
of the ,speculum are obliged to invest  
with a false character ailments that the
 profession has hitherto regarded as too
 trifling to admit of any save the      
simplest treatment4444 ,the ,speculum   
has been greatly extolled as the means  
of conveying appliances immediately to  
the parts affected4 ,but it must not be 
forgotten that the effects of local     
remedies in constitutional affections   
are short-lived in the extreme1 or that 
those can hardly be called remedies1    
that are notoriously so slow in their   
operation1 as to leave it doubtful      
whether they have not1 after all1 been  
robbing time of the merit of the        
recovery4  ,that the profession is      
silent on these abuses is1 in my        
opinion1 to be deplored4 ,such silence  

may arise from the fear that the        
denunciation of them would tend to lower
 it in the estimation of the public1    
more than the continuance of the abuses 
themselves4 ,yielding to none in the    
desire to uphold the dignity of my      
order1 ,i must say that ,i share in no  
such apprehensions4 ,the public in      
return for the confidence they repose in
 us1 have a right to such protection1   
and if they find that it has been       
withheld1 that1 in a mistaken solicitude
 for our own interests1 we have         
neglected theirs1 they will bind us all 
up in one common withe together1 and the
 diploma1 though it may still indicate  
the man of science1 will cease to insure
 us the position of gentlemen4#cb  ,the 
last extract which we shall give appears
 in the ,lancet1 a periodical whose very
 title is behind the age1 indicative of 
professional bigotry1 a record of       
antiquated fallacy and prejudice4 ,the  
tide must surely be on the turn1 or the 
exposure of these speculumizing         

villainies would never have been        
permitted to grace its columns3--  ,on  
the use of the speculum in the diagnosis
 and treatment of uterine diseases1 by  
,dr4 ,robert ,lee1 the author referred  
to the tabular statement of #bbj cases  
of real and imaginary disease of the    
uterus1 published in the #chth volume of
 the ,medico-,chirurgical ,transactions1
 and presented in a similar tabular form
 the details 7of7 eighty additional     
cases1 which had since come under his   
observation4 ,of the #cjj patients      
forty-seven were unmarried1 one had     
barely completed her eighteenth year1   
several were under twenty1 and the      
majority under thirty years of age1 and 
were suffering from hysteria1           
leucorrhoea1 dysmenorrhoea1 or some     
nervous affection of the uterus1 without
 inflammation1 ulceration1 or any       
structural disease or displacement of   
the organ4 ,in ,case #bef the patient   
had been told that the womb was         
prolapsed and much ulcerated1 and an    

instrument had been introduced for six  
weeks1 with an aggravation of all the   
symptoms4 ,the hymen was found so       
perfect on examination that it was      
impossible to reach the os uteri without
 using an unjustifiable degree of       
violence4 ,on the ground of morality1   
and on every other ground1 he could see 
no defence for the employment of the    
speculum in these forty-seven cases4 ,of
 the #cjj patients seventy were barren1 
and the sterility was not removed1 nor  
the other symptoms relieved in a single 
instance4 ,,several ,,of ,,these        
,,individuals ,,spoke ,,with ,,horror   
,,and ,,shame ,,of ,,the ,,treatment    
,,to ,,which ,,they ,,had ,,been        
,,submitted4 ,a considerable number of  
the cases were suffering from cancerous 
disease1 in all of which the symptoms   
seemed to have been aggravated by the   
treatment4 ,in ,case #bcf the character 
of the disease was unmistakable1 but    
after an examination with the speculum a
 favourable prognosis had been given1   

and the actual cautery employed for     
months1 and hopes of recovery held out  
to the last4 ,the author expressed his  
conviction that neither in the living   
nor in the dead body had he ever seen a 
case of simple ulceration from chronic  
inflammation of the os or cervix uteri2 
and to apply the term to states of the  
os uteri in which the mucous membrane   
or1 as it is termed by some1 the        
basement membrane1 is not destroyed by  
ulceration1 was an abuse of terms       
calculated only to deceive and mislead  
the members of the medical profession1  
from whom the truth has been carefully  
concealed4 ,the speculum emanates from  
the syphilitic wards of the hospitals at
 ,paris1 and it would have been better  
for the women of ,england had its use   
been confined to those                  
institutions4--,the ,lancet1 ,july #be1 
#aheg4  ,such is the language of        
earnest1 honourable men1 who have dared 
to dispel1 by the light of true         
philosophy1 the fog of scientific       

rascaldom--that empiric haze so         
desolating1 so destructive to the       
inwrapped and blinded public4 ,few will 
deny that there are1 in the foregoing   
extracts1 sentiments which do honour to 
their authors1 and revelations for which
 society should feel the deepest        
gratitude4  ,were we to relate the      
numbers of weak and deluded creatures   
who1 upon the slightest pretext1 submit 
to this accursed rite1 it would appear  
incredible4 ,we know that one           
fashionable pretender to peculiar skill 
in the diagnostics of uterine           
affections1 has boasted of five such    
examinations in one family in a single  
day6 and that another has spoken of the 
exposure of fifty women to his          
professional gaze in the same space of  
time4 ,these are facts--horrible1 but   
undeniable1 facts6 ,o shame6 where is   
thy blush8 ,o woman6 where is thy       
vaunted modesty1 in a country tainted by
 such unspeakable and hideous mysteries1
 permitted--nay1 tacitly encouraged--as 

they are1 under the hypocritical guise  
of scientific discovery1 and the        
pretended mitigation of human ills8 ,is 
it possible that in this age1 and in    
this our land1 men should be found so   
utterly insensate1 so beggared of all   
feeling1 so lost to all the chivalry of 
manhood1 that1 with this libidinous     
iniquity made patent1 they would not    
arise1 and1 in one mighty and           
overwhelming surge of execration1 crush 
its perpetrators1 and abolish this      
obscene invasion of marital rights4 ,no6
 perish the thought6 ,the azure blood1  
which throbbed and pulsated in the      
,british heart in those far off days of 
the second ,richard1 when the indecent  
outrages of the poll-tax gatherers      
lashed the people into fury at their    
daughters' wrongs1 still runs in the    
veins of ,englishmen2 and we will not   
believe that the halo of purity1 which  
made the homes of merrie ,england the   
watchword of our sires1 can have        
departed for ever from those of their   

descendants4     ,,chapter ,,iv4    ,the
 chariest maid is prodigal enough1   ,if
 she unmask her beauty to the moon2     
,virtue itself 'scapes not calumnious   
strokes2   ,the canker galls the infants
 of the spring1   ,too oft before their 
buttons be disclosed2   ,and in the morn
 and liquid dew of youth1   ,contagious 
blastments are most imminent4   ,be     
wary1 then1 best safety lies in fear4   
,we have already1 in the foregoing      
pages1 quoted the words of ,roussel1 a  
celebrated ,french physician of the last
 century1 whose delicate and sensitive  
mind revolted at the indecency of the   
practice which had then but lately been 
adopted in his country2 and before we   
proceed to quote more largely from the  
same author1 we think it proper that our
 readers should be made acquainted with 
the character of the man who so lovingly
 exerted his great talents to release   
his countrywomen from the gross thraldom
 of designing charlatans and empirical  
impostors4  ,dr4 ,cerise1 in the account

 of ,roussel prefixed to the edition of 
the ,physical and ,moral ,system of     
,women1 published in ,paris1 #ahee1     
says3 ,among the celebrated physicians  
that ,france has produced1 a great      
number have distinguished themselves not
 only by their erudition1 but still more
 by the elegance of their language1 by  
the elevation of their sentiments1 by   
the profundity of their conceptions2    
their names belong to letters and       
philosophy1 as much as to medicine4     
,roussel is a member of that glorious   
family of ,petits1 ,bordeus1            
,vicq-d',azyrs1 ,cabanis1 ,aliberts1    
which1 at the present day1 is honourably
 represented by two writers1 ,pariset   
and ,reveille-,parise4 ,through them    
medicine is not only a useful1 but it is
 also an agreeable science4  ,let us    
hope1 that so illustrious a family will 
not become extinct1 and that descendants
 worthy of it will faithfully keep alive
 the sacred fire1 perpetually threatened
 by the freezing breath of scientific   

materialism4  ,roussel was born at ,ax1 
in the department of ,ariege1 in #agdb4 
,his education1 commenced in that town1 
was finished at ,toulouse4 ,his taste   
for medical study manifested itself     
early4 ,he betook himself to            
,montpellier1 where he profited by the  
scientific lectures of ,lamure1 ,venel1 
and ,barthez4 ,these medical studies    
completed1 he was desirous of further   
instruction1 and came to ,paris4 ,he    
closely allied himself with ,bordeu4    
,this physician1 according to the       
expression of ,alibert1 was too         
illustrious to be happy2 the friendship 
of ,roussel consoled his vexations2 but 
,bordeu soon died1 and ,roussel had the 
melancholy commission to pronounce his  
funeral elogy4 ,we are assured that love
 was the genius of ,roussel4 ,he was    
still very young1 says his biographer1  
when this sentiment was awakened in his 
soul2 it was then that his inspired     
imagination began to meditate on the    
tastes1 the manners1 the passions1 and  

the habits of women1 and that he made a 
constant study of their physical        
constitution1 and of the moral          
attributes which they derived from it4  
,he soon arranged the fruits which he   
had collected1 and composed a body of   
science interesting as its subject4     
,thus was written the ,physical and     
,moral ,system of ,woman4 ,this         
treatise1 which agreed in its           
development with a title so imposing1   
has remained superior to all those which
 have been written upon woman1 without  
excepting the remarkable work of ,m4    
,virey1 which failed1 perhaps1 in       
eclipsing that of ,roussel1 solely from 
its severer method and more scientific  
manner of treatment4 ,he soon undertook 
another treatise1 intended to serve as a
 pendant to the former4 ,this new       
treatise1 entitled the ,physical and    
,moral ,system of ,man1 was not         
completed1 which1 judging from what he  
had published1 is much to be regretted4 
,he caused to be inserted in the        

journals of the day1 ,an ,essay on      
,sensibility2 ,an ,account of ,madame   
,helvetius2 a short dissertation1       
entitled1 ,historic ,doubts on ,sappho2 
some remarks ',on the ,sympathies4' ,he 
had commenced a lengthened work on      
,stahl1 the celebrated head of the      
medical college1 called ,animist1 but   
this work remained unpublished2 he      
reviewed the work of ,madame de ,stael1 
upon the ,affinities of ,literature with
 ,social ,institutions2 he applied      
himself to combat the doctrine of the   
indefinite perfectibility of the human  
spirit1 developed by ,condorcet1 in one 
of his most remarkable writings4 ,the   
problem was then proposed in terms such 
as could not afford any satisfactory    
conclusion--as yet the science of       
history did not exist4 ,he wrote upon   
the right of making a will1 which he    
regarded as inviolable and              
imprescriptible2 he addressed public    
exhortations to political electors1 to  
remind them of their duties and of their

 rights2 he admired the institutions of 
,lycurgus1 and published a dissertation 
on the government of ,sparta4 ,it is    
thus that the empire of circumstances   
under which ,france at present exists   
dominates over all minds4 ,roussel1 yet 
meditating with a tender partiality upon
 the physical and moral constitution of 
woman1 could not resist descending into 
the arena of political discussion4      
,thanks to the moderation of his        
character1 his voice1 in the midst of   
revolutionary storms1 was hardly        
understood1 and his existence was not   
disturbed4  ,roussel loved retirement   
and unaffected manners4 ,traits of a    
charming simplicity are related of him4 
,alibert congratulating him one day on  
the marriage of one of his brothers1    
suggested that he should follow his     
example and marry4 ',i assure you1'     
replied the irresolute bachelor1 'that  
this idea often occurs to me1 but one   
must go before the priest1 before the   
magistrate--there is no end to the      

affair4' ,there are persons for whom    
pleasing and indefinite fantasies have a
 charm which they love to prolong2 they 
seem to dread a real happiness which    
might deprive imagination of its most   
smiling visions4 ,roussel was one of    
these persons4 ,he was smitten with a   
violent passion for a young and         
beautiful person whom he had restored to
 health4 ,happy1 doubtless1 in secretly 
bearing a cherished image in his heart1 
he refrained from giving utterance to   
his thoughts4 ,one day it was announced 
that this person was going to be        
married4 ',ah1' cried he1 ',i am so     
grieved2 ,i could not have believed it2'
 and he shed abundant tears of regret4  
,he was often sorrowful2 in one of these
 fits of melancholy1 he ran at midnight 
to a physician of his acquaintance--',my
 head turns1' said he2 ',i feel myself  
very ill4 ,i am come to you to implore  
your attention4' ,imbert reassured him1 
and calmed his alarmed imagination4 ,the
 two friends engaged in conversation1   

and ,roussel forgot his malady4         
,roussel was good2 benevolence1 a       
quality so precious to a physician1 was 
in him lovely and expansive4 ,when he   
suffered1 study was an asylum for his   
grief1 a refuge for his afflicted       
spirit4 ,he found in the joys of the    
mind a defence against the sorrows of   
the heart4 ,his internal agitations     
dissipated themselves thus without gall 
and without bitterness4 ,his excellence 
was proof even against evil days4 ,he   
lived poor1 but the affectionate and    
delicate hospitality of a respectable   
family never allowed him to perceive it4
 ,he could1 thanks to the care of ,m4   
,falaize1 neglect1 quite at his ease1   
both his affairs and his fortune1       
exercise his profession with the        
confident and noble freedom so agreeable
 to elevated minds2 meditate without    
interruption upon ,plato1 ,plutarch1 and
 ,rabelais1 and withdraw himself1       
without peril1 from those petty torments
 which impose themselves under the name 

of social proprieties4 ,a perfect       
courtesy with him was marvellously      
allied to good nature a little rough1   
and which was not without a dash of     
mischief4 ,roussel no more sought       
honours than fortune4 ,he refused the   
offer of an honourable employment1 made 
to him by the ,great ,frederic4 ,he     
failed1 however1 to be called to the    
legislative body4 ,he wanted only two   
votes4 ,powerful friends had designed   
him for the ,tribuneship4 ,he declined  
that honour1 urging the weakness of his 
voice1 and his timidity4 ,roussel was   
timid through excess of modesty4        
,roussel was endowed with a delicate    
constitution4 ,he had been suffering    
more than usual for many days1 when he  
quitted ,paris to retire into the       
country1 to ,m4 ,falaize1 near          
,chateaudun4 ,enfeebled by prolonged    
sufferings1 he soon yielded to the      
attack of a fever which raged           
epidemically in the neighbourhood4 ,he  
sank under it the second complementary  

day of the year ,x4 7#ahjb71 aged about 
sixty years4 ,roussel had possessed     
devoted friends2 those who survived him 
remained faithful to his memory4        
,alibert recorded his life with touching
 eloquence4 ,he did more2 he collected  
his principal writings1 of which some   
were disseminated in the journals1 and  
published an edition of his works4      
,this account of ,roussel1 brief as it  
is1 will suffice to inform our readers  
that he was no ordinary man1 and that1  
from his learning1 and long experience  
as a physician1 his opinions and        
reflections upon the pretended art of   
man-midwifery are entitled to the       
greatest respect4 ,those who would      
ridicule his sentiments1 and treat his  
arguments as false and visionary1 and   
his ideas as antiquated and unsuited to 
the taste and advancement of the present
 day1 are those who1 from mean and      
despicable motives of self-interest1    
would confirm the vicious system which  
,roussel has denounced1 and1 while      

destroying woman's modesty1 would erect 
their own fortune on its ruins4         
,towards the end of the preface to the  
,physical and ,moral ,system of ,woman1 
will be found the following sentences1  
which we would commend to the serious   
consideration of every man whose sense  
of decency has not been altogether      
obliterated1 and whose mind still       
retains any of those finer feelings1    
which ,god1 when he made man in his own 
image1 implanted in the human breast4   
,it is not the same1 perhaps1 with the  
abuses introduced by that art1 almost   
unknown among the ancients1 which1 under
 the pretence of assisting nature in    
producing man1 itself sometimes prevents
 his seeing the light1 in attempting to 
do that which she unaided could more    
effectually perform2 which enervates in 
woman1 by effeminacy and the needless   
lengthening out of precautions1 the     
instinct1 which alone puts them in a    
condition to do without it4 ,in fine1   
which1 by a usage1 as indecently as     

unreasonably repeated in men's          
attendance upon women1 enfeebles1 and at
 length annihilates the sentiment which 
most adorns the sex4 ,i have made some  
reflections upon this pretended art in  
the chapter which treats of natural     
labour4 ,again1 in the chapter on       
pregnancy1 ,roussel speaks              
trumpet-tongued1 not only against the   
indelicacy1 but of the absolute         
inutility of those digital examinations 
per vaginam now in vogue1 and so        
dogmatically prescribed in the text     
books of midwifery4  ,as the instant    
when a woman conceives does not manifest
 itself in her by any well characterized
 expression1 and the consequences of    
this act remain for some time concealed 
by a thick veil1 that spirit of unrest  
which ordains that man1 dissatisfied    
with the present which he may enjoy1    
should ever press on towards that       
future1 which he perhaps shall never    
see1 induces him to seek with eagerness 
the as yet hidden signs of pregnancy1   

and to question nature long before she  
deigns to speak4 ,men might1 in this    
respect1 spare themselves the torments  
of needless impatience1 since it can    
neither accelerate nor retard its       
object4 ,it would be much more in order 
to wait patiently until the natural     
signs themselves announce pregnancy1    
than that the tentatives by which it is 
pretended they are anticipated should   
annoy women weak enough to submit to    
them1 without throwing any more light on
 the motive which suggests a recourse to
 them4  ,these tentatives are the work  
of a shameless charlatanism1 which      
solicits them1 and which disports itself
 with chastity and decency1 to establish
 its empire upon the ruins of a virtue  
to which the sex owes its own most solid
 foundations4  ,we here feel ourselves  
compelled to inform women1 that those   
whom they employ at this kind of trials 
deceive them1 in affecting a knowledge  
which they do not possess4 ,all         
information derived from the touch is   

very uncertain4 ,the concurrence of     
external and obvious signs can alone be 
reckoned on2 such as the increased size 
of the abdomen1 the swelling of the     
bosom1 preceded by qualms1 nausea1 and  
suppression of the menses4 ,but the most
 decisive of all1 by the actual avowal  
of all men-midwives1 the sole           
indubitable proof consists in the       
movements of the infant1 which make     
themselves felt towards the fourth month
 of pregnancy4 ,thus women can inform   
themselves better than any one whether  
they are with child1 and the            
men-midwives1 who are forced themselves 
to acknowledge this1 ought to erase from
 their treatises on midwifery the       
nonsensical rules which they give upon  
the touch4#cc ,to give an idea of the   
solidity and wisdom of these rules1 ,i  
need cite but one1 taken from a work of 
one of the most celebrated men-midwives4
 ',when one is called on1' says he1 'to 
examine a girl by the touch for some    
suspicion of pregnancy1#cd one ought at 

first to introduce the finger with      
caution1 for fear of deflowering her1 if
 she was not so4' ,is not this the very 
climax of absurdity to be willing1 upon 
the simple suspicion of an evil which1  
perhaps1 is imaginary1 to produce a real
 injury1 to expose one's self1 for the  
sake of knowing whether a girl had      
committed a fault1 to the rendering more
 easy to her all those which she might  
commit in future1 by destroying the     
prime bulwark which in her opposes      
itself to vice2 in fine1 to deflower a  
girl in order to discover whether she   
had lost her virginity8#ce ,and         
unhappily again for the rule1 the means 
which it points out are insufficient to 
attain the desired information4 ,it is  
from time alone that this revelation may
 be expected4 ,three or four months of  
patience will enlighten you more than   
can this dangerous practice1 the        
disgraceful essays of which are worse   
than the doubts that they would         
dissipate4 ,although the inconveniences 

of this practice are not so considerable
 for women as for girls1 we would never 
do them the injustice to suppose1 that  
it would not be painful for them to     
consent to an examination which ought to
 humiliate them in their own eyes1 and  
which must sometimes render them        
contemptible in the eyes of others3 they
 should free themselves from this       
torturing ceremony1 though there was no 
other reason for it than its inutility  
for the object which induces them to    
submit to it4#cf ,again1 in the chapter 
on natural labour1 ,roussel says3--     
,final causes1 which some philosophers  
would banish as a barren principle      
7which is perhaps true in natural       
philosophy71 are in medicine the        
foundation of the most solid truths1    
which the ancients1 and above all1      
,hippocrates1 have transmitted to us4   
,they have perhaps supposed that it was 
too trite and too commonplace to think  
that the ,creator1 who presided at the  
formation of our bodies1 had made the   

mouth to eat1 the eyes to see1 and the  
ears to hear4 ,we know not if it        
required much effort and subtle         
reasoning to divest them of the first   
ideas of common sense1 but it seems to  
us1 that they who reject altogether     
final causes discard perhaps as much    
truth as those who have most misused    
them1 for it must be owned1 that certain
 writers have made a strange use of     
them4 ,not to travel out of the subject 
which occupies us1 we may quote ,m4     
,astruc1#cg who alleges that the        
coverings of the foetus1 in engaging    
themselves at the same time with it in  
the orifice of the womb1 serve to line  
that passage1 and to defend it against  
the bruisings of the foetus1 and the    
fingers of the midwife4 ,to suppose that
 nature1 in arranging the objects which 
should assist delivery1 had contemplated
 the awkwardness of male and female     
midwives1 is to impute to her a         
foresight which unhappily would be only 
too necessary1 but that she had little  

for the errors that we are able to      
commit4 ,she has done all for the best  
in our favour1 so much the worse for us 
if we mar her work4 ,it must be1 said   
the same author1 that its face 7of the  
foetus7 was turned from the side of the 
os sacrum1 to prevent its nose from     
being crushed by the bones of the pubes1
 and that it might not be suffocated by 
the waters of the amnios4 ,a child that 
had been living nine months in water to 
be suffocated1 when passing out of it1  
by a few drops6 ,o ,astruc6 have you    
well considered this8  ,without1 then1  
ascribing to nature frivolous fears1 or 
confining her to details which she      
disdains1 we may reasonably believe that
 after having alloted to different      
organs destined to aid in generation1   
the modifications most suitable to the  
conception of the child1 and its        
preservation during pregnancy1 she would
 afford those also which should1 with   
the least inconvenience1 effect its exit
 from the maternal bosom4#ch  ,after    

describing the process of nature in     
parturition1 ,roussel goes on to        
say3--,o ,rubens6 ,i leave to your      
pencil the care of expressing that      
touching state in which the last        
impressions of abated pain still tinge  
the serenity of purest joy2 where the   
melancholy1 caused by sufferings now    
terminating1 is not yet effaced by the  
most delightful sentiments which can    
animate the soul2 where the dread of    
losing life1 natural enough in          
suffering1 gives place to the delicious 
pleasure of having presented it to a new
 being4 ,but wherefore must it be1 that 
this state is the price of a train of   
inconveniences1 and a gradation of      
suffering often insupportable2 and why  
are we here compelled to envy the kinds 
of animals amongst which pregnancy is   
without embarrassment1 and delivery     
almost without a pang1 or at least      
exempt from the sad or fatal            
consequences which so often follow it in
 the human species8 ,it would1          

nevertheless1 be wrong to tax nature    
with injustice4#ci ,we yet find races in
 whom her primitive impress has never   
been effaced by the abuses of a refined 
society1 and amongst whom women enjoy   
nearly the same privileges as the       
females of animals4  ,the women of the  
,ostiaks1 it is said1#dj never have any 
uneasiness about the time of their      
delivery1 and take none of those        
precautions which ,european effeminacy  
renders almost indispensable4 ,they are 
delivered wherever they may happen to be
 without any inconvenience2 they1 or the
 persons who assist them1 plunge the    
new-born infant into water or snow1 and 
the mother returns immediately to her   
ordinary occupations1 or continues her  
march1 if on a journey4#da ,as these    
people dwell in the vicinity of the     
,samoeides1#db between the fifty-ninth  
and sixtieth degree of north latitude1  
they do not fail to attribute this      
vigorous constitution to the severity of
 the climate4  ,meanwhile1 in the same  

history1 we read that the wives of the  
dwellers in the island of ,amboina1     
towards the third degree of south       
latitude1 are in the same category2 and 
the author or compiler of that history1 
in reporting the fact1 discovers the    
cause of it in the heat of the climate1 
which renders women's members supple and
 capable of accommodating themselves    
with ease to the labours of parturition4
 ,one may perceive from this how        
versatile are the explanations obtained 
from cold and heat1 and how1 in the     
jargon of mechanicians1 causes          
altogether opposite can serve with more 
vraisemblance than actual truth for     
proof of the same effect4 ,we repeat    
again1 the effect of manners and custom 
is not often enough considered4 ,in all 
climates nature has given both to man   
and brute the faculties necessary for   
fulfilling the functions of life with   
ease4 ,the former has very often        
perverted their use1 believing that     
luxuriousness1 precautions1 and an      

abundance of all things could supply    
their place4  ,without seeking for      
examples beyond those to which we shall 
refer1 we might disabuse ourselves of so
 dangerous an error1 if we would        
compare1 without prejudice1 even in our 
own climate1 the women in the rural     
districts with those resident in towns4 
,the former1 having their attention     
continually diverted by their necessary 
occupations1 often find themselves in   
the middle of their pregnancy almost    
without perceiving it1 and this is      
already a great deal gained4 ,this novel
 state1 without changing anything in the
 course of their health1 or in their way
 of living1 obliges only some           
preparations more necessary for the     
infant than for themselves4 ,arrived at 
the end of the ninth month 7as they are 
never in a hurry to lie in7 they do not 
aggravate the troubles which accompany  
this function by the anxieties of       
vexatious expectation4 ,nature sometimes
 surprises them in the midst of the     

rustic employments in which they are    
occupied during their pregnancy1 and    
which only prepare them the better to   
support those of labour4 ,finding in    
them healthy organs and a calm mind1 she
 operates without obstruction1 and1 in  
consequence1 delivers them with less    
suffering and more celerity4#dc ,the    
consequences of labour1 which are1 to   
the majority of women in towns1 in part 
a real malady1 and partly a kind of     
etiquette and convention1 which subjects
 them1 during a fixed period1 to the    
regimen of sick persons1 when they have 
ceased to be so1 are almost nothing to  
women in the country4 ,nature1 having   
neither caprice nor excess to combat in 
them1 only occupies herself for their   
re-establishment2 and as they yield     
nothing to custom or opinion1 they enjoy
 as much as possible the favours of     
nature4 ,they have not time to crawl    
methodically1 during many weeks1 from   
their bed to a sofa2 they have almost   
always that courage which increases     

their powers1 and which necessity       
sometimes gives even to women resident  
in towns4 ,among these even it is by no 
means rare to see the wives of poor     
workmen1 who walk to a midwife at the   
moment of parturition1 and who return   
the next day free and exempt from       
accidents1 which the woman of higher    
rank does not always escape1 in the     
midst of the studied precautions which  
are taken on her account2 their         
condition in life does not permit them  
to be inconvenienced for more than three
 or four days4 ,it seems that nature    
gives us powers in proportion to the    
necessity that we have to make use of   
them4 ,we have known a young girl who   
found the means to conceal from her     
parents the humiliating signs of her    
weakness1 and the operation which       
relieved her from it4 ,as her pregnancy 
was not legitimate1 she had not the     
right to be an invalid4#dd  ,as for most
 women in towns1 and above all those of 
the upper classes1 instead of courage   

capable of annihilating the sentiment of
 evil1 all concurs to nourish a         
pusillanimity in them1 which renders it 
more vivid4 ,the eager curiosity with   
which they endeavour to find out whether
 they are pregnant1 the new regimen to  
which they submit themselves when they  
are declared to be so1 the preparations1
 the anxieties1 the alarms1 real or     
feigned1 which reign around them1 the   
number of persons who besiege them1 the 
inaction to which they are condemned1   
should give them a frightful idea of    
their state1 and would seem to deprive  
them of the ability to make use of their
 proper powers1 and so to render them of
 no effect4 ,the feebleness and inertia 
of their minds1 passing to their organs1
 cannot but dispose them to a stormy    
pregnancy1 and prepare them for a       
painful and sometimes fatal labour4 ,the
 instinct which watches for the         
preservation of our lives1 which knows  
so well how to manage its resources in  
the most serious evils1 must weaken and 

lose itself amidst the throng of        
succours with which the patients are    
sometimes overwhelmed4 ,what could it   
have to do when so many are acting for  
it8  ,delivery is an animal function    
which1 in all likelihood1 nature had no 
desire to render a disease4 ,this       
function exercises itself almost without
 pain and without danger in the brute4  
,in all places where the means of       
assisting it have never been reduced to 
art1 women have ordinarily labours less 
severe and more fortunate than in those 
localities which swarm with accoucheurs 
and midwives4 ,whence comes this        
distinction1 if it is not from the      
difference of manners and methods of    
treatment in the one and the other1 or  
from the abuse which1 in the latter     
places1 is made of a pretended science8 
,if the delicacy which results from a   
luxurious and inactive life renders the 
movements of the womb more painful1 we  
should attribute the irregularity which 
renders them sometimes fatal to the     

mother and the child1 to a disordered   
sensibility1 which is excited by        
attempts almost always ill-directed1 and
 almost always executed by mischance4   
,it is in this disturbance that the     
infant assumes those disadvantageous    
positions of which the accoucheurs and  
midwives unquestionably exaggerate the  
danger1 to put a higher value on their  
'manipulations2'#de but which1 in       
effect1 render the delivery longer and  
more laborious3 disturbance maintained  
and augmented by the embarrassment which
 the presence of a number of persons1   
some dear1 others odious1 some unknown1 
who in general fill the chamber of a    
woman in labour1 must naturally produce1
 ,,by ,,the ,,torments ,,of ,a ,,modesty
 ,,too ,,little ,,regarded1 by an air of
 importance too much affected1 which the
 assistants1 and others who are to      
operate1 throw over the affair in which 
they are engaged4 ,all these objects    
must excite a variety of sentiments in  
the woman1 which1 by distracting her    

mind1 necessarily disturb the organic   
action of the parts which should perform
 the delivery4 ,happy is it1 if too     
presumptuous accoucheurs and midwives do
 not1 by their precocious tentatives1   
solicit in her a nature which is not yet
 prepared to engage itself1 precipitate 
its movements1 and consequently abort   
the fruit which they ought to await1    
weary the parts already too much        
irritated1 and rendered too sensible by 
the orgasm and tension which they have  
suffered1 and hurry both mother and     
child into inevitable ruin4  ,women who 
have the good fortune not to be annoyed 
by numerous attendants1 and in whom     
nothing discomposes nature1 are seldom  
subject to those catastrophes which1    
very far from bringing discredit on the 
operator1 who is often the cause of     
them1 only make him appear the more     
necessary4 ,nature1 when she works      
alone1 knows so well how to combine and 
graduate her action that she does that  
only which she ought to do4 ,ah6 why    

should she not with ease accomplish an  
operation for which she has foreseen1   
and well prepared everything8 ,why      
should she not succeed in extracting    
with facility from the centre of the    
womb1 from an active1 flexible1 and very
 vigorous organ1 a body which is        
familiar to it1 and which1 from its form
 and consistence1 cannot much injure the
 parts which it touches8 ,why should she
 be embarrassed in bringing to light an 
infant whose situation is so near the   
outlet through which it is to issue1 she
 whom we have sometimes seen conducting1
 without accident1 pointed or           
sharp-edged bodies through the windings 
of the urinary ducts1 and the tortuous  
folds of the long passage of the        
intestines8 ,there are1 besides1        
operations which she loves to execute in
 silence and in secret4 ,this delicate  
instinct manifests itself even in some  
species of animals1 which never fulfil  
certain functions in presence of        
witnesses1 and fly from the gaze of man 

to perform them4 ,delivery1 from its    
nature1 and from all the circumstances  
which characterize this function1 is one
 of those which1 in the human species1  
requires most especially to be covered  
with a veil4 ,it cannot be doubted that 
they would assist her in a way the most 
efficacious1 if the number of persons in
 attendance on a woman in labour was    
limited to two or three of her most     
intimate friends1 who1 by a gay and     
lively manner1 should divert her from   
her sufferings1 or by their confident   
appearance pacify her apprehensions2 and
 to a midwife1 whose presence of mind1  
patience1 reserve1 and protection should
 be a guarantee for her tranquillity4   
,it is not to be doubted1 ,i say1 that a
 woman would be by those means more     
effectually succoured than by the       
tumultuous assistance of a number of    
persons1 sorrowful1 aghast1 impatient1  
whose multiplied and often mis-directed 
attentions magnify in her imagination   
the evil which she must endure1 and the 

danger which she fears1 and above all by
 the awful appearance of a man ever     
ready to operate1 always armed with     
suspicious instruments1 and to be       
dreaded from his sex4  ,it must be owned
 that although the midwife's function   
belongs to the healing art1 it was not  
intended to be exercised by men4#df ,the
 character of this function1 the small  
amount of knowledge which it requires1  
the entire and absolute confidence which
 persons of the same sex must naturally 
have in each other1 in fine1 everything 
demands for it the agency of women2 this
 employment seems their proper          
existence2 they possess all the         
advantages necessary to fulfil it with  
success4 ,we know with what address and 
with what dexterity their hands1 small  
and supple1 glide and insinuate         
themselves everywhere without annoyance1
 capable of penetrating to the very     
source of the evil without augmenting   
it1 and conveying the remedy to the part
 diseased1 without awakening1 by the    

act1 pangs which had been allayed4  ,it 
is these precious talents1 as well as   
that delicate attention capable of      
divining the wants which there is not   
strength to express1 and that           
enlightened sensibility which knows how 
to regard the very caprices of the      
complaint1 which gave rise to the       
proverb1 honourable to the sex1 that    
wheresoever there is a suffering being1 
his sighs summon woman to console       
him4#dg  ,they will tell us that long   
and serious studies1 to wit1 physics1   
mechanics1 and even mathematics1 are    
necessary to insure skill in the art of 
midwifery4 ,eh6 where is it that they   
have not introduced1 especially of late1
 physics and mathematics8 ,all that     
which is material2 all that which is    
within the jurisdiction of the senses1  
belongs1 without doubt1 to physics and  
to mechanics3 one could not move a step1
 one could not lift a straw1 without its
 being done by the laws of physics2 but 
every one performs these mechanical     

operations1 as the ,bourgeois gentleman 
did prose1 that is to say1 without      
suspecting it4 ,there are natural       
mechanics with which not only all men1  
but even all animals are acquainted     
without having studied them4 ,all       
perform actions1 without having been    
trained to them1 wherein sparkle the    
most subtle mechanics2 all know of      
themselves1 and without previous        
practice1 how to assume the most        
convenient postures which their         
different wants demand4 ,those who      
compose treatises on midwifery describe 
at great length the position which a    
woman ought to take during labour1 and  
that which is proper for the accoucheur4
 ,the legs of this latter1 say they1    
ought to describe an angle of forty-five
 degrees4 ,an operator1 to give lustre  
to his art1 may well appeal to that of  
mechanics and geometry2 but he ought not
 to say that it is above the capacity of
 women4 ,the sole difference which      
exists1 perhaps1 between them is1 that a

 woman1 in abandoning herself to her    
natural dexterity1 in liberating herself
 from the constraint of a fixed         
position1 and in effecting the movements
 which circumstances require1 rather    
than those which the rule demands1 will 
go about the work better than the       
man-midwife gravely moored 7affourche7  
at his angle of forty-five degrees4     
,the art of midwifery1 stripped of      
regulations1 useless or of little       
moment1 and of the frivolous finery     
wherein it has been arrayed1 reduces    
itself to a very small number of simple 
principles1#dh easy to attain1 and most 
suitable to the capacity of women4 ,they
 soon learn what are those faulty       
positions which the infant may take in  
the womb3 what are those which they may 
rectify2 and those which1 not being     
remediable1 leave nothing to the address
 of the operator but the wise resolution
 to diminish1 as much as possible1 their
 inconveniences4  ,again1 it must be    
considered1 that those principles are   

not to be applied1 excepting in cases   
wherein nature1 insufficient in herself1
 demands the assistance of another's    
hand2 for1 by the avowal of accoucheurs 
themselves1 natural labour1 which is and
 ought to be the most common1 can       
conduct itself without the intervention 
of art4 ,we may then conclude1 with     
certainty1 that accoucheurs who         
'manipulate1' who instrumentalize us    
much as they can1 most frequently do it 
without necessity1 and from this cause  
are prejudicial to the success of the   
operation4 ,we may also1 in that way1   
reduce to their just value the          
exaggerated details which they give of  
pretended obstacles which they have had 
to overcome1 of the address and         
dexterity which was necessary to        
surmount them2 details which seem       
intended to show that the delivery had  
been their work1 or that1 at least1 much
 of it was theirs1 and very little      
nature's own4#di  ,either1 in the time  
of the ,greeks1 women were delivered    

with greater ease than now1 or they     
judged better than us of the true degree
 of influence that the midwife or the   
accoucheur possesses in this function4  
,by the appellation which they gave to  
their midwives1 it appears that they    
limited them to the duty of cutting the 
umbilical cord2 they called them ,greek3
 omphalotomoi1 umbilical cord-cutters4  
,the females of animals perform this    
operation with their teeth2 and as the  
umbilical cord can in their case do     
without a ligature1 there are authors   
who doubt whether it is as essential in 
man as many persons pretend4 ,there are 
observations for and against it4 ,this  
is not the place to discuss this        
question2 but we believe that they may  
much deceive themselves if they look    
upon the umbilical cord as a simple     
continuation of the vessels of the child
 or of the mother1 and not as a fragment
 of affinity which only serves1 for a   
certain time1 as a point of             
communication established between the   

mother and the infant1 that nature      
retains so long as she requires it1 but 
which she leaves to decay1 and fall     
away1 when it is no longer useful to    
her4 ,after the delivery she contracts1 
compresses1 and closes up the part of   
the infant to which it adheres2 and by  
intercepting the blood and the life     
which gives it subsistence1 she soon    
causes it to wither and dry up1 without 
any prejudice to the child4  ,although  
the easiness of the art of midwifery    
might have been1 among the ancients1 a  
motive for intrusting it to women1 they 
also doubtless had a regard for natural 
propriety1 which suggested that the     
infant1 on coming into the world1 should
 be received into the hands of a        
midwife1 to pass into those of a nurse1 
and from the hands of the nurse into    
those of a governess1 who should prepare
 him to receive from men a masculine    
education4 ,a repository so weak and so 
delicate would perhaps have found1 in   
the rough and unbending kindness of the 

latter1 aid less adapted to its state2  
it required a gentle and yielding       
support1 knowing how to be pliant as    
itself1 the better to defend it4 ,in    
fine1 the care of infancy is the        
destination of women2 it is a task which
 nature has assigned them4 ,it is woman 
who must bear the infant during nine    
months in her womb2 it is woman who     
ought to facilitate the means of its    
exit2 it is woman who should furnish the
 first nourishment which it requires2 in
 fine1 it is woman who should keep watch
 over the first developments of its     
organs and of its mind1 and prepare it  
for the lessons which should elevate it 
to the condition of man4 ,but the       
principal reason which1 among the       
ancients1 forbade the belief that the   
duty of aiding delivery could be proper 
to any but women1 excepting in cases of 
very rare occurrence1 where every       
consideration might necessarily yield to
 a pressing danger1 was the grand       
interest of manners4#ej ,this was an    

object to which ancient governments had 
always special regard4#ea ,they knew    
morality to be the foundation of all    
legislation1 and that good laws would be
 made in vain1 unless good morals       
insured their execution4 ,the cruelty of
 ,archagathus' surgical operations drove
 the medical men from ,rome4 ,she       
banished also from her bosom the ,greek 
philosophers and orators1 who were      
accused of having introduced and        
cultivated the taste for the arts and   
vices of ,greece4 ,she would surely not 
have permitted1 for any length of time1 
the existence of an art which1 practised
 by men1 would1 under the specious      
pretence of utility1 threaten the       
sanctuary of marriage1 and which1       
striking a blow at the chief safeguard  
of families1 would next attack the      
mainsprings of the state2 an art which1 
with power to alarm the modesty of      
women1 would soon leave them without a  
blush1 and cause them to lose even the  
recollection of that severe virtue which

 had merited the respect and veneration 
of the ,romans1 and which of old had    
been the principle of the grandest      
revolutions4 ,cato1 always careful to   
protect the hearts of the citizens from 
corruption1 would never have permitted  
their wives1 when presenting children to
 the republic1 to tarnish the favour by 
a forgetfulness of the first of all     
decencies4 ,all nations were            
sufficiently agreed1 up to the middle of
 the last century1 never to admit the   
agency of men in delivery4 ,m4          
,astruc#eb alleges that it was not until
 #affc that they began at court to make 
use of a man-midwife1 and this was1 say 
they1 on one of those occasions when    
honour in danger takes counsel but from 
the perplexity which misleads it1 and   
violates one part of its rules to save  
the other4 ,who would believe it8 ,it   
was shame which compelled recourse1 for 
the first time1 to men4 ,a king1 who    
knew the force of example on the throne1
 and who wished to conceal his          

weaknesses1 and to be tender of the     
delicacy of her who shared them1        
believed that he could not place in     
better hands an interest so dear4 ,it is
 thus that ,jupiter sometimes confided  
to the inferior gods1 rather than to the
 goddesses1 his embarrassments1 and the 
care of concealing from the eyes of     
,juno the fruits of his infidelities4   
,whatever it might be1 unquestionably it
 was not in a tranquil moment that a    
woman could1 for the first time1 make up
 her mind to abandon herself to the     
mercy of a man to deliver her4 ,the     
first examples having been given by     
those persons whose rank and condition  
carried opinion with them1 the usage of 
men-midwives is since extended and      
spread with that rapidity which is      
common to all inventions of luxury1     
although even physicians#ec are         
themselves forced to expose its         
inconveniences4#ed     ,,chapter ,v4    
----,mine honour's such a ring3   ,my   
chastity's the jewel of our house1      

,bequeathed down from many ancestors2   
,which were the greatest obloquy i' the 
world   ,in me to lose4   ,mrs4         
,jameson1 in her admirable essay1 ,the  
,communion of ,labour1 most truly       
observes--,that some departments of     
medicine are peculiarly suited to women1
 is beginning to strike the public mind4
 ,again1 in her ,sisters of ,charity1   
she quotes the following words of the   
late ,dr4 ,gooch3--,many will think that
 it is impossible to impart a useful    
knowledge of medicine to women who are  
ignorant of anatomy1 physiology1 and    
pathology4 ,a profound knowledge1 of    
course1 would not1 but a very useful    
degree of it might--a degree which1     
combined with kindness and assiduity1   
would be far superior to that which the 
country poor receive at present4 ,i have
 known matrons and sisters of hospitals 
with more practical tact in the         
detection and treatment of disease than 
half the young surgeons by whom the     
country poor are commonly attended4#ee  

,perhaps1 says the author of ,women and 
,work1 there is no profession which so  
calls for women as that of medicine4    
,much suffering would be saved to young 
women if they had doctors of their own  
sex1 who1 with friendly counsel and open
 speaking1 would often prevent many     
forms of severe disease by attending to 
first symptoms4  ,elizabeth             
,blackwell1#ef one of those noble women 
who1 braving the servile                
conventionalisms of the world1 with     
right and reason1 morality and religion 
on their side1 have triumphed over      
prejudice and bigotry1 by firmly        
establishing themselves as female       
physicians#eg--;in an appeal on behalf  
of the medical education of women1 after
 referring to the establishment and     
opening of medical schools for women in 
,philadelphia1 ,boston1 and other towns 
of the ,united ,states1 in the nine     
years since the first woman was admitted
 as a regular student to a medical      
college1 and graduated with the usual   

honours1 says3--,in all these places    
public opinion has expressed itself     
heartily in favour of the action of the 
colleges4 ,the majority of the female   
graduates have entered upon the practice
 of their profession1 and many of them  
have already formed a large and highly  
respectable practice4 ,the intense      
prejudice which at first met the idea of
 a female doctor1 is rapidly melting    
away4 ,if further evidence were needed  
of the vitality of the new idea1 and its
 adaptation to a real want in the       
community1 it might be found in the     
character of the practice which has come
 to those physicians now most firmly    
established4 ,intelligent1 thoughtful   
women1 of calm good sense1 who          
appreciate the wide bearing of this     
reform1 and foresee its important       
practical influence1 have been the first
 to employ the new class of physicians  
in their families1 and encourage them   
with their cordial approbation4  ,dr4   
,dickson says1 in ,the ,destructive ,art

 of ,healing3--,one of the greatest     
obstacles to the progress of medical    
truth in ,england1 is the employment of 
surgeon-apothecaries as midwives--almost
 entirely monopolizing the practice of  
medicine by the influence which they    
have gained over the minds of our women2
 these people will countenance no       
physician who does not prescribe large  
quantities of useless1 and too          
frequently deleterious medicine4  ,the  
ladies of this country should take a    
lesson from the ,american ladies1 who   
not only prefer midwives of their own   
sex1 but actually employ female         
physicians4 ,female modesty and morality
 alike require that the diseases of     
women should be attended to solely by   
women2 and all through the ,united      
,states you now meet with regularly-bred
 female physicians1 most of them having 
the degree of ,m4,d4 from a university1 
and many of them being in the enjoyment 
of large and lucrative practice4  ,we   
have the pleasure of an acquaintance    

with ,mrs4 ,dr4 ,longshore--she is a    
lady possessing a strong and original   
mind1 close powers of perception and    
reasoning1 and a thorough medical       
education4 ,as a practical anatomist she
 has few superiors1 even among          
practitioners of the 'sterner mould4'   
,mrs4 ,dr4 ,longshore is 'a ,friend1'   
and her whole character is marked by the
 excellencies of the ',friends1' or     
,quakers1 as they are called4 ,placid1  
thoughtful1 observant1 full of sympathy1
 and governed by an active benevolence1 
she delights in doing good4 ,her        
practice is large1 rapidly increasing1  
and generally successful1 and she is    
devoutly attached to her noble          
profession4444  ,medicine and midwifery 
are both domestic arts2 woman is all but
 born a doctor4 ,ladies of ,england1    
think of this4 ,hitherto you have left  
the field of 'labour' to men who would  
be better employed with your distaffs   
and spindles4 ,mothers of ,england1 you 
have a mission--fulfil it2 proclaim to  

your daughters that the birth of a child
 is not a surgical operation1 but a     
natural process2 and that there is no   
case of parturition so difficult that   
may not be better managed by a well     
instructed woman than by a man1 whose   
very presence in the sick chamber       
disturbs the uterine action1 and causes 
the greater number of difficulties that 
occur in such cases4  ,in a country like
 ,england1 to clear away a given folly  
is too often1 unfortunately1 only to    
make room for some other folly equally  
egregious4 ,this1 in our day1 has been  
the case with medicine4 ,just as a      
considerable number of physicians had   
come to adopt my own view of the true   
constitutional origin of diseases1 up   
sprung a class of people who will have  
it1 that in the majority of female      
complaints1 at least1 there must ever be
 more or less of local wrong1 which no  
possible constitutional treatment can   
cure6 ,whispering mysteriously the words
 'engorgement1' 'tumour1'               

'inflammation1' 'ulceration of the os1' 
'version1' and 'retroversion'--phrases  
for the most part invented for the mere 
purpose of striking panic into the      
hearts of families who must ever be in  
the dark here--these men straightway    
confine the patient to her couch--in    
which unnatural position they keep her  
for months1 and1 if possible1 for years 
together--during which they subject her 
to the most odious treatment2           
performing1 with speculum1 caustic1 and 
other dangerous appliances1 the most    
daring and indecent operations4444  ,by 
the people to whose practices ,i have   
just alluded a woman is told all        
possible and impossible things--things  
the most frightful that imagination can 
conceive--to cure which1 forsooth1 she  
must lie on her back for months4 ,and if
 this oracular sentence be enforced by  
two or more of their number1 acting in  
consultation--anglice in collusion--the 
weak creature believes accordingly4     
,from that moment she is the dupe and   

the victim of the most unprincipled     
scoundrels1 many of whom1 by mixing up  
religion with their medical cant1       
contrive to bring some of the richer    
class of women to such a state1 that    
they become annuities to those impostors
 throughout the greater part of their   
most unnatural and most miserable       
lives4444  ,if1 in common with these    
medicines1 then1 every medicinal force  
will produce its own peculiar local     
effect1 when swallowed by the mouth1    
why1 in the case of 'uterine disease1'  
of all others1 should any woman submit  
to the local application of any remedy  
that cannot be used thus without the    
odious manipulations of the persons     
whose conduct every right mind1 when    
properly instructed1 must deprecate8    
,but1 as a matter of fact1 these        
manipulations1 so far from curing any   
disease of the womb or its appendages1  
have actually set up in the sound       
structure a very large share of the     
possible diseases for which these people

 pretend to apply them2 and some of the 
disorders thus set up too frequently    
cease only with the life of the victim4 
,men of ,england6 if you only knew what 
your wives and daughters                
needlessly--mark that word6--needlessly 
experience at the hands of those        
ruthless cheats1 your brows would burn  
with shame and indignation4 ,how such   
brutality as these creatures practise   
ever came to pollute our shores1 is one 
of the miracles of the times4 ,a proper 
feeling in the minds of our women should
 have preserved them from the           
humiliation and torture to which they   
have been subjected2 while ,englishmen  
of all ranks should have united1 long   
ere this1 to expel from the land the    
sordid wretches who first introduced the
 grossness and indecency of the         
hospitals of ,paris to the houses and   
hearths of a too-confiding nation6      
,again1 the ,author of ,physic and its  
,phases brands these counterfeit        
professors with infamy in racy and      

vigorous verse3--    ,men1 are you      
men--who lead such hybrid lives1   ,who1
 being surgeons1 sink into midwives8    
,if with the sex you seriously would    
vie1   ,why not the distaff and the     
spindle try8   ,throughout the ,orient1 
,arab1 ,turk1 and ,jew   ,on such       
occasions1 never send for you2   ,not   
even the ,nubian1 by the harem door1    
,dare show his face1 until the birth is 
o'er4   ,talk of the sanctity of married
 life--   ,nation of fools6 who thus    
degrade the wife6   ,at such a moment1  
when the feminine mind   ,shrinks from  
the succour of her nearest kind1        
,could you do worse1 were she a         
courtezan1   ,than to her chamber       
introduce a man8   ,no longer left to   
woman's gentle care1   ,travail is now  
her terror everywhere4           99     
99       99       99    ,once in the    
sick room1 with an eye to fees1#eh      
,tales they get up of uterine disease2  
,disease1 the realms of ,physic never   
knew1   ,till 'speculating ,simpson'    

gave the cue2   ,and1 working thus on   
woman's weaker nerves1   ,they raise    
whatever ghost their purpose serves4    
,then1 not the young alone1 but graver  
dames1   ,fooled by mere phantoms with  
un-,english names1   ,endure            
'examinations'--,ladies1 speak6   ,do   
these not shock the soul and blanch the 
cheek8   ,surprise comes first--next    
horror1 ill disguised1   ,but soon to   
worse some get familiarized6   ,for what
 will trusting woman not believe   ,and 
bear1 when 'scientific men' deceive8    
,with no suspicion of the game these    
play1   ,their tales of terror haunt her
 night and day4   ,now she dreads       
'tumour1' now 'occlusion1' now          
',version' she talks of1 with a 'why'   
and 'how4'   ,reasons1 of course1 and   
numberless occasions1   ,have these     
quick rogues for their 'manipulations4' 
,but who--immortal truth6--can justify  
,the frightful means they locally apply8
   ,caustics1 that keep their patients  
always ill1   ,yet ever ready to indorse

 their skill2   ,while abscess1 ulcer1  
haemorrhage itself1   ,attest what men  
may ,,cause for love of pelf4   ,note   
the result--whatever the pretext1   ,in 
soul1 at least1 the woman is unsexed2   
,words that of yore would make her      
forehead flush1   ,she now blurts out to
 men without a blush6   ,heavens6 how   
can husbands1 fathers1 brothers lend    
,their countenance to such an odious    
end6   ,in all the animal kingdom1 where
 or when   ,were such things            
needed--tell us1 ,englishmen6   ,of     
'base chirurgery' let the world take    
heed1   ,for this is base chirurgery    
indeed6  ,dr4 ,ewell1 in the            
introduction to his ,letters to ,ladies1
 says3--  ,the serious object of my     
present solicitude is to wrest the      
practice of midwifery from the hands of 
men1 and transfer it to women1 as it was
 in the beginning1 and ever should be4  
,i have seldom felt a more ardent desire
 to succeed in any undertaking1 because 
,i view the present practice of calling 

on men1 in ordinary births1 as a source 
of serious evils in child-bearing2 as an
 imposition upon the credulity of women1
 and upon the fears of their husbands2  
as a means of sacrificing delicacy1 and 
consequently virtue2 and as a robbery of
 many good women of their proper        
employment and support4  ,several       
observing moralists have remarked that  
the practice of employing men-midwives  
has increased the corruption among      
married women4 ,even among the ,french1 
so prone to set aside the ceremonies    
between the sexes1 the immorality of    
such exposures has been noticed4 ,in an 
anecdote of ,voltaire1 it is related1   
that when a gentleman boasted to him of 
the birth of a son1 he asked who        
assisted at the delivery2 to the answer1
 'a man-midwife1' he replied1 ,then you 
are travelling the road to cuckoldom6   
,the acutely observing historian of     
nature1 ,count ,buffon1 observes1       
virginity is a moral quality which      
cannot exist but with purity of heart4  

,in the submission of women to the      
unnecessary examinations of physicians1 
exposing the secrets of nature1 it is   
forgotten that every indecency of this  
kind is a violent attack against        
chastity2 that every situation which    
causes an internal blush is a real      
prostitution4444  ,but the opposition1  
the detestation of this practice cannot 
be so great in any husband as among some
 women4 ,the idea of it has driven some 
to convulsions and derangement2 and     
every one of the least delicacy feels   
deeply humiliated at the exposure4 ,many
 of them1 while in labour1 have been so 
shocked at the entrance of a man into   
their apartment1 as to have all their   
pains banished2 others1 to the very last
 of their senses1 suffering the severest
 torments1 have rejected the assistance 
of men4 ,to be instrumental in relieving
 one of this truly interesting class1   
will be a heavenly consolation to all   
who can be alive to the pleasures of    
serving the virtuous4  ,dr4 ,beach1 in  

his work on ,midwifery1 has the         
following3--  ,who shall officiate in   
parturition8 ,in consequence of the     
practice which prevails in the present  
day1 this has become a grave question4  
,the physician contends1 with much zeal1
 that it is his province to officiate4  
,females1 he alleges1 are incompetent2  
and these assertions of physicians have 
influenced the minds of females to such 
an extent1 that they are forcibly       
impressed with the belief that there are
 no others competent2 and when it is    
proposed to many women to employ a      
midwife1 they appear to shrink with     
horror1 and many even suppose that in   
trusting themselves to the most         
accomplished female accoucheur1 they    
jeopardize their lives4444  ,the        
physician takes it for granted1 and even
 boasts1 that if he can attend one      
single case of midwifery in a family1 he
 has for ever after secured their       
patronage2 so that both interest and    
prejudice operate as obstacles and      

barriers to any improvement or change in
 the practice2 and although the most    
fearful consequences have 7occurred71   
and are still daily occurring1 modern   
females cling to this unnatural         
practice4  ,notwithstanding1 however1   
the existence of the above obstacles1 we
 are well assured that females1 if      
rightly qualified1 are not only as fully
 capable as men1 but are even more so2  
and1 therefore1 the most valid and      
conclusive reasons may be assigned why a
 reformation should take place in this  
department of the practice4 ,what more  
conclusive than the fact of the actual  
attendance of women in child-birth in   
all nations1 previous to the sixteenth  
century2 and the attestation of         
competent persons during the first      
century of man-midwifery to the fact1   
that not half so many fatal cases       
occurred before as after the innovation4
 ,and1 in the first settlement of this  
country 7,america71 when females#ei     
attended exclusively on such occasions1 

it was as rare a fact to hear of a woman
 perishing in child-birth1 as it is now 
to hear of an ,indian or an animal      
perishing in labour1 who are delivered  
by the unaided powers of nature4  ,a    
letter1 addressed by ,sir ,anthony      
,carlisle1 late ,president of the       
,college of ,surgeons1 to the late ,sir 
,robert ,peel1 on the attempt by some   
members of the medical profession to    
legalize man-midwifery1 is well worthy  
of the perusal and consideration of our 
readers4 ,the letter appeared in the    
,times newspaper1 and raised a ferocious
 howl from the men-midwives2 but the    
ever gullible ,british public looked    
upon the affair as a mere medical       
question in which it had no concern1 and
 the howl carried the day against       
reason1 morality1 and truth3--          
,,sir1--,the high ministerial station   
which you deservedly occupy1 must often 
expose you to the various kinds of      
applications respecting the condition   
and management of our national          

institutions1 and also to personal or   
partial interference about their several
 real or pretended interests4 ,in all   
such instances you must perceive the    
fairness and the ultimate advantage of  
preferring direct information from the  
respective constituted authorities1 of  
requiring advice from rival institutions
 upon doubtful measures1 and of         
regarding with jealousy the private     
communications of interested            
individuals4 ,it is1 however1 reported  
that you are1 at this time1 beset upon  
the subject of introducing an ordeal for
 licensing men-midwives1 by certain     
members of the ,london ,college of      
,surgeons1 and that you are urged by    
popular men 7whose wisdom and           
disinterestedness may be questioned7 to 
favour their scheme with your powerful  
influence4  ,as the prevalent vice of   
avarice may have some share in this     
professional movement1 it is fit that   
you and the public should be acquainted 
with the probably concealed effects of  

granting the solicited privileges2 and1 
for the reasons already given1 ,i am    
induced to address you through the      
press4  ,man-midwifery has only been    
practised in ,england during the last   
hundred years1 and it was introduced as 
a ,french fashion4 ,from the beginning  
it has been strongly opposed on the     
score of its indecency1 by many         
distinguished and scientific medical    
men2 and also1 because the birth of     
mankind appears to them to be a purely  
natural process1 so wisely ordered1 that
 it very rarely demands any other aid   
than experienced mothers can safely     
give4 ,even so late as the illustrious  
mother of his present majesty1 that     
exemplary ,queen was personally attended
 by good ,mrs4 ,draper1 without         
difficulties or misadventures2 whereas  
the contrary result1 under male         
management1 in the fatal affair of the  
,princess ,charlotte and her infant1    
will be long remembered4  ,if it should 
be asked why so many professional men   

addict themselves to a degrading        
vocation1 it may be answered1 that the  
practice of man-midwifery leads to      
unlimited power in every family1 and    
thence to lucrative ends4 ,women1       
naturally timid1 and ignorant of their  
own structure1 are peculiarly exposed1  
during the most important office of     
their existence1 to the persuasions or  
menaces of more knowing persons1 and    
they are thence easily made to believe1 
that the natural and wholesome delays   
and pains of childbed are within the    
controul of medical or surgical art--an 
assumption which is too generally acted 
upon1 and with unvarying evil           
consequences2 because it is a violation 
of the ways of nature4 ,men-midwives    
have continually alleged that ignorant  
women practitioners commit many fatal   
mistakes1 and now they present similar  
objections against unlicensed men4 ,if1 
as ,i believe1 the safeguards of        
child-bed are amply provided for by     
nature1 and that not one instance in a  

thousand calls for any other help beyond
 what any moderately experienced woman  
can give1 why are we to license         
adventurers1 who may seek notoriety by  
desperate acts1 often involving         
manslaughter--operative acts1 the moral 
propriety of which is very doubtful1 and
 the time and the methods for performing
 them still subjects for rancorous      
disputes8 ,but the present affair is not
 respecting the utility of men-midwives1
 but the impropriety of empowering any  
special corporate medical body to coerce
 the rest2 to further impede            
female-midwives in a becoming duty1 and 
to deprive delicate women of that great 
resource of self-respect4 ,already the  
prevalence of man-midwifery has driven  
country surgeons and apothecaries to    
adopt this humiliating office1 and the  
number of women practitioners has been  
thence so reduced1 that paupers are in  
many places delivered by apprentice boys
 under sixteen years of age4 ,the ,royal
 ,college of ,physicians in ,london1 who

 rank the highest for learning and      
decorum1 have lately rescinded their    
admission of licentiates in midwifery1  
whether for considering the practice as 
derogatory to a physician1 or as an     
overweening privilege towards females   
and children1 is not avowed2 but it     
seems that no ,london physician1        
educated at ,oxford or ,cambridge1 has  
yet condescended to be a man-midwife4   
,the ,royal ,colleges of ,surgeons in   
,london1 in ,dublin1 and in ,edinburgh1 
have likewise hitherto renounced every  
connexion with man-midwifery4  ,the     
teachers of midwifery are               
indiscriminately doctors and surgeons2  
but at this moment the majority of      
lecturers and superintendents of        
lying-in charities are physicians1 while
 a multitude of legally appointed       
sub-physicians 7styled apothecaries7 are
 equally entitled1 with the other       
classes of the faculty1 to establish    
tribunals for examining and licensing   
candidates for man-midwifery1 if they   

should deem it expedient4 ,finally1 it  
may be noted1 that the different classes
 of men-midwives have never yet agreed  
among themselves to adopt a common      
ordeal for certifying the qualifications
 of their calling1 and you may be       
assured1 ,sir1 that many worldly        
interests will rage against the         
establishment of any monopoly of this   
kind in any single institution1 because 
man-midwifery is the covert way to      
medical fortunes4 ,if1 however1 the     
greediness of a few individuals should  
expose this subject to free discussion1 
and the judgment of married men and     
modest women should be copiously        
awakened1 perhaps the general custom of 
employing women may be again resorted   
to1 and their competent instruction     
publicly enforced4  ,it is said1 that   
our changeable neighbours at ,paris are 
already tired of their fashionable      
freak2 and when our countrywomen        
reflect1 that not one in ten thousand of
 their sex throughout the globe allow of

 the presence of a man during the rites 
of child-bed1 they may acquire courage1 
and unite their efforts to replace the  
routine of midwifery among themselves4  
,i will not offend you and the public by
 any observations upon the outrageous   
stories collected on this occasion1 to  
prove the violent and fatal injuries    
committed by unlicensed men-midwives1   
because ,i think the privilege sought   
for would increase those evils4  ,with  
the greatest respect1 ,i have the honour
 to be1 your very obedient ,servant1    
,,anthony ,,carlisle4                   
,langham-place1 ,feb4 #ai4  ,in a recent
 number of the ,north ,british ,review  
appeared an excellent article on ',the  
,employment of ,women2' under the head  
of women doctors1 the writer says3 ',but
 the something practical--where is it8' 
,we believe that a great deal1 which is 
very practical1 is scattered over this  
article4 ,but we have still some further
 suggestions to offer4 ,not very long   
ago1 a statement 'went the round of the 

papers1' to the effect that there were  
already eight diplomatized female       
physicians practising in ,boston 7,u4   
,s471 and that there were thirty-eight  
students in the ,female ,medical        
,college4 ',whenever1' says an ,american
 writer1 'there are sufficient data to  
establish the truth 7now little if at   
all disputed in ,america71 that         
child-birth is freed from its worst     
difficulties and dangers when the       
unnatural presence of men is dispensed  
with1 the medical and surgical care of  
women and children will pass into the   
hands for which nature designed it4'    
,there would appear to be nothing very  
unreasonable in this1 but1 on the       
contrary1 something extremely rational  
and hopeful4 ,but see how the facts     
stated above are received by the faculty
 in ,england4 ,the leading medical      
journal of this country thus comments   
upon them3--  ',female physic thrives   
apace in ,america4 ,at ,boston1 where   
,columbia gave birth to the young       

,constitution1 which is now sowing its  
wild oats broadcast1 there is a female  
medical college1 numbering thirty-eight 
students4 ,a grant of government money  
has also been voted towards establishing
 a similar institution at ,new ,york4   
,this is to be under the immediate      
superintendence of ,elizabeth           
,blackwell1 ,m4,d41 late of ,st4        
,bartholomew's1 with a bevy of those    
spinsters mentioned by ,shakespeare as  
free maids who weave their threads with 
bones for anatomical demonstrators4     
',at ,boston1 moreover1 there are eight 
doctoresses with diplomas in full       
practice4 ,we suppose some of these     
female physicians are married1 and this 
involves a great social mystery of which
 we have as yet received no account4    
,when the ,mrs4 ,m4,d4's are attending  
to patients in their boudoirs of        
consultation1 or pointing out           
pathological nicknacks in their         
anatomical drawing-rooms1 or going their
 rounds with stethoscopes in their      

bonnets1 what are their husbands doing8 
,do they superintend the perambulators1 
or are these hitched on to the          
professional broughams of their mammas8 
,is it a part of the husband's marital  
duty to manage the nursery--in short1 to
 attend to the domestic affairs         
generally8 ,perhaps matrimony is ignored
 altogether4 ,indeed1 we do not well see
 how a conscientious doctoress could    
promise to love1 honour1 and obey a     
husband who might order her to give her 
patients a dose of strychnia all round4'
  ,surely this is not the way to deal   
with so grave a question4 ,argument must
 be wanting1 or the sneer would not be  
resorted to by so distinguished an      
authority4 ,the same questions as are   
here put might be employed also to write
 down any description of independent    
female labour4 ,when women go out to    
teach drawing or music1 or when they    
attend to shops1 or make caps and       
bonnets1 gowns or mantles1 what1 it may 
be asked1 are their husbands doing8     

,attending to their own business1 if    
they have any1 or living on their wives'
 earnings1 ,mantalini-like1 if they have
 not4 ,we do not mean to say that there 
are no practical difficulties in the way
 of the effectual working of this       
scheme4 ,objections will readily suggest
 themselves2 but they are not           
insuperable objections4 ,all women may  
not be fit for such work4 ,but all men  
are not fit for it4 ,many women will    
lack the necessary amount of nerve2 but 
many men lack it also4 ,in difficulty   
and danger women have great presence of 
mind4 ,they are often calm and collected
 where men are unhinged and unbalanced1 
and incapable of exertion4 ,women have  
more tenderness and more patience1 and  
they must necessarily understand many   
female ailments better than men4 ,they  
will always have one great advantage    
over male practitioners--female patients
 will be more unreserved in their       
communications to them4 ,many women have
 been sacrificed to their delicacy--to  

their repugnance to state fully their   
ailments to men-doctors2 perhaps even to
 call them in until it is too late4 ,let
 such objections as these be fairly     
balanced against those which may be     
adduced against female practitioners1   
and let us calmly consider the average  
result4  ,we do not pretend to know1    
under the existing order of things in   
,great ,britain1 what proportion of     
children are annually brought into the  
world without the assistance of any male
 practitioner4 ,but we know that in     
humble life it is very common to employ 
only a nurse or midwife4 ,and we do not 
believe that1 under such circumstances1 
more dangerous cases of parturition     
occur than where men are professionally 
employed4 ,but if such were the case1 if
 the number of deaths or injuries were  
proportionately greater1 no argument    
could be derived from the fact against  
the employment of educated and          
diplomatized women4 ,if1 in the present 
state of things1 accidents arise from   

the absence of men1 it is not on account
 of the sex1 but on account of the      
ignorance of the practitioner4 ,the same
 amount of knowledge1 as indicated by   
the diploma1 existing in both cases1 we 
cannot help thinking that the advantage1
 in most cases1 will be on the side of  
the female attendant4  ,we might pursue 
this subject much further2 but time and 
space have alike narrowed to a small    
compass1 and we have by no means        
exhausted our notes4 ,in the early part 
of this paper we have touched on the    
subject of nurses1 but rather in        
connexion with amateur than with        
professional labour4 ,many women of a   
better kind might find profitable       
employment in this path of life2 and if 
licenses1 or diplomas of an inferior    
class1 indicating a certain amount of   
medical and physiological knowledge1    
were granted to them1 the business would
 not be beneath the adoption of women of
 birth and education4 ,but here again1  
perhaps1 the jealousy and selfishness of

 men would step in and thwart our       
efforts2 for the presence of such       
educated nurses would often render it   
wholly unnecessary to call in a regular 
practitioner at all4--,north ,british   
,review1 ,no4 ,,lii4 page #ccc4  ,among 
the highly civilized and numberless     
ladies and women of ,china#fj and the   
,east1 says ,sir ,anthony ,carlisle1    
ordinary matrons are universally        
employed in the sanctuary of            
child-birth3 and they would revolt with 
horror from any proposal to admit the   
presence of a man4 ,this statement1     
coming1 as it does1 from such a high    
authority1 when inveighing against the  
needless outrage upon the modesty of    
women1 which we commit by the employment
 of men-midwives1 cuts from under them  
the argument of the interested          
professors of the art1 who would have us
 believe1 that ,british women1 from the 
peculiarities of the climate1 and a high
 state of civilization1 are more liable 
to accident and danger in the parturient

 state1 than the women of those         
countries in which the fashion of       
man-midwifery is unknown4  ,even        
,roberton1 one of themselves1 is        
compelled to admit1 that any argument   
based upon climatic influence is        
fallacious1 and easily capable of       
disproof1 for he says1 in his apology   
for the study of midwifery as a         
science3--,in reply to such a statement 
as this 7,sir ,anthony ,carlisle's71 it 
has been common to argue that1 in warm  
countries1 the parts concerned in       
admitting the passage of the child are  
so relaxed1 that labour becomes         
comparatively easy2 and that hence we   
are to account for the nonemployment of 
accoucheurs4 ,this is a very false view 
of the subject4 ,in warm countries1     
whose inhabitants live after the same   
manner as ourselves1 parturition is in  
no degree easier than it is here4 ,in   
the town of ,sierra ,leone1 so near the 
equator as latitude #h deg4 north1 we   
are assured by ,dr4 ,winterbottom1 who  

resided there1 that having been present 
at a number of labours1 they in every   
respect resemble those of women in the  
same situation of life in ,england4 ,i  
have met1 says he1 with instances in    
,england where the foetus was expelled  
with more ease than ,i ever knew it to  
be at ,sierra ,leone4444  ,the          
prophetical writings of the ,old        
,testament furnish many allusions to    
painful parturition4 ,the ,jews         
inhabited a warm climate2 and yet1 were 
we to judge of parturition among them   
from the frequent reference the prophets
 make to it in figures and similes1 when
 predicting the sufferings to be        
produced by impending judgments1 we     
should conclude that in no people was   
nature's sorrow more severe4 ,thus1     
,jeremiah1 the coming miseries of ,judah
 passing before his vision1             
exclaims3--',i have heard a voice as of 
a woman in travail1 and the anguish as  
of her that bringeth forth her first    
child1 the voice of the daughter of     

,zion that bewaileth herself1 that      
spreadeth her hands4' ,a multitude of   
passages containing a similar allusion  
might be cited4 ,in the historical part 
of the ,scriptures1 too1 there is       
incidental mention of several cases in  
which parturition proved fatal4 ,so much
 for the relaxing influence of a warm   
climate6 a notion which1 like various   
others respecting the influence of      
climate on the human system1 is at      
variance with facts4  ,among the myriad 
peoples inhabiting the vast ,continent  
which1 in the aggregate1 we term ,india1
 men-midwives are unknown4 ,there have  
been1 no doubt1 attempts made by        
,europeans to introduce the abominable  
custom1 but we believe1 excepting in    
some of the towns most frequented by    
them1 without any considerable success4 
,as the inhabitants of ,tahiti1 and the 
isles of the ,pacific1 once the abode   
and very ,paradise of nature in her     
glorious perfection1 have found to their
 cost1 so we fear in all other portions 

of the world's surface1 where our       
boasted civilization has set its foot1  
the evils which accompany its progress  
invariably take precedence1 and largely 
preponderate over its advantages4       
,wherefore should we add to the primal  
curse fulminated against woman1         
irrespective of locality or race1 in    
sorrow shalt thou bring forth children1 
a far greater one in the ruin of her    
modesty1 by the introduction of man into
 the sanctuary hallowed by his absence  
from the beginning of the world4 ,o ye  
fine ladies of ,england1 who talk so    
glibly of all the virtues1 and blazon   
your moral excellencies before the      
nations6 if ye will not take example    
from the highly civilized and numberless
 ladies and women of ,china and the     
,east1 learn from the poor savage1 in   
whom1 though doomed to the lowest grade 
of earth's inhabitants1 there yet glows 
fresh from ,heaven1 like a pure star    
gleaming through the night of           
heathenism1 that loveliest attribute of 

woman--modesty4 ,over that mysterious   
rite which ,god has confided to the     
female sex1 the rude1 wild1 cruel1      
ignorant1 uncivilized1 naked1           
idol-worshipping natives of ,new        
,holland1 throw a veil impenetrable to  
man4 ,roberton says1 page #dhj1 ,among  
them 7the ,new ,hollanders7 a man is not
 permitted to approach where parturition
 is going on4 ,there are1 however1 rare 
and beautiful exceptions to that        
accursed fashion which now so debases   
the women of this country2 for we have  
undoubted authority for stating that    
there are ladies1 and ladies of rank1   
titled ladies1 who would not let a man  
near them4 ,in these bright examples    
propriety still finds a refuge2 in their
 chaste minds the light of reason and   
refinement shines with a fair and       
unsullied ray amidst the gloom of       
apathetic indecency1 which shrouds in   
its cold and clammy cerements so many of
 their sex4 ,all honour to those        
true-hearted women who so proudly uphold

 their native modesty1 their sex's      
loveliest charm1 above the rank         
pollution which1 in these sensuous and  
degenerate days1 infects the sanctuary  
of marriage4#fa  ,among the ,jews1 the  
peculiar people1 guarded and preserved  
so wondrously by the ,providence of     
,god1 from the day that ,israel went    
down into ,egypt with three score and   
ten souls1 until they had multiplied as 
the stars of the heaven1 and as the sand
 which is upon the sea shore1 no such   
violation of decency was permitted or   
required to insure the fulfilment of    
,god's promise to ,abraham4 ,we learn   
that females were regularly authorized  
and appointed as midwives1 for the      
,sacred writings give us the names of   
two of them3 ,and the ,king of ,egypt   
spake to the ,hebrew midwives1 of which 
the name of the one was ,shiphah1 and   
the name of the other ,puah3 and he     
said1 ,when ye do the office of a       
midwife to the ,hebrew women1 and see   
them upon the stools3 if it be a son1   

then ye shall kill him2 but if it be a  
daughter1 then she shall live4 ,but the 
midwives feared ,god1 and did not as the
 ,king of ,egypt commanded them1 but    
saved the men-children alive4 ,and the  
,king of ,egypt called for the midwives1
 and said unto them1 ,why have ye done  
this thing1 and have saved the          
men-children alive8 ,and the midwives   
said unto ,pharoah1 ,because the ,hebrew
 women are not as the ,egyptian women2  
for they are lively1 and are delivered  
ere the midwives come in unto them4     
,therefore ,god dealt well with the     
midwives3 and the people multiplied and 
waxed very mighty4 ,and it came to pass1
 because the midwives feared ,god1 that 
,he made them houses4 ,we know also that
 there were physicians in those days1   
for ,joseph commanded his servants the  
physicians to embalm his father1 and the
 physicians embalmed ,israel4 ,now1 it  
is most certain that if the great       
protecting power of the ,jews--the      
father of his people1 had deemed it     

necessary or proper1 for the safety of  
mothers or of offspring1 to afford any  
assistance beyond that which nature and 
the midwife supplied1 it would have been
 so ordained1 and as surely mentioned by
 the great historian and leader of the  
,israelites1 or by some other of the    
sacred writers2 but of this there is no 
sign whatever1 and we must1 therefore1  
infer that this innovation was not so   
much as thought of by the ,jews1 highly 
civilized and vicious people as they    
were1 and that it was reserved for us1  
in the nineteenth century of the        
,christian era1 to permit such a        
scandalous breach of decorum as the     
prostitution of our wives to the impure 
touch of a man-midwife4 ,roberton says1 
in his ,apology--,but an objector will  
ask1 cannot a matron practise these     
expedients8 and if so1 where is the use 
or propriety of such a class as         
men-midwives8 ,i reply1 doubtless a     
matron may practise many of the         
expedients referred to1 if they have    

been taught her4 ,it is of the value of 
midwifery as a science1 originating with
 and practised by men1 compared with    
matron or uncultivated midwifery1 of    
which ,i have been speaking4 ,a certain 
proportion of instructed female midwives
 in a community may1 for aught ,i know1 
be a benefit4 ,let the reader mark1     
learn1 and inwardly digest these words6 
,here is the admission of an accoucheur 
of the present day1 confirming the words
 of ,roussel1 and the many other        
authorities whom we have quoted1 as to  
the fitness of women for the practice of
 the expedients necessary in midwifery1 
and1 further1 a most important          
acknowledgment1 as coming from one of   
his class1 that females1 properly       
instructed as midwives1 would be a      
benefit to society4 ,to be sure they    
would6 ,who doubts it8 ,and is there not
 enough of wealth1 and energy1 and right
 feeling in ,england to say--,we will   
that there shall be in every community  
properly instructed midwives2 we will   

that there shall be organized1 in all   
our great towns1 schools of midwifery   
for the instruction of women1#fb who    
shall go forth from them fully competent
 in nine hundred and ninety-nine cases  
out of every thousand1 to perform that  
office which is now1 from their sex1 so 
indecently performed by men4 ,the       
instruction of midwives has nothing of  
novelty in it3 women are so instructed  
in the ,dublin ,lying-in ,hospital1 at  
this day1 and we believe#fc that they   
are so instructed at ,manchester and in 
,london2 they walk the hospital1 as the 
term is1 for six months1 and at the end 
of that time they receive a diploma2 but
 there is a jealousy on the part of the 
accoucheurs1 who fear1 naturally enough1
 that their trade 7a very lucrative     
one#fd7 might be injured if these women 
should assume too much responsibility1  
and the consequences of this jealousy#fe
 are injurious to the full and complete 
instruction and competency of the       
nurses4#ff  ,these nurses are very much 

in the power of the accoucheurs1 for it 
is principally through the latter's     
recommendation that they obtain         
employment1 at least among the upper    
classes1 and the evils which arise from 
this state of things are fatal to the   
interests of morality4 ,the nurse is    
afraid to act without the man-midwife1  
not because she is incompetent1 for she 
has walked the hospital and has her     
diploma of efficiency1 but because it   
essentially concerns the man-midwife to 
play the principal part1 in order that  
the belief in the necessity for his     
presence and assistance should not1 by  
any act of hers1 be shaken2 such is     
their jealousy on this head1 that we    
have known the man-midwife1 on arriving 
too late to be present at the birth1    
roundly rate the nurse of his own       
appointment for not having sent for him 
sooner1 although the case was of the    
most ordinary description1 and great    
additional ease of mind and general     
comfort were experienced by the patient1

 through the absence of the doctor4#fg  
,the nurses in their six months'        
training at the hospital learn much1    
however1 that is useful to them in their
 own after-practice1 for many of them   
are employed by the humbler classes from
 motives of economy1 and we would fain  
believe of delicacy also4 ,through one  
of these nurses we have learnt the      
frightful indignities to which the poor 
hospital patients are sometimes         
subjected4 ,a difficult case of labour1 
as it is termed1 occurs1 the wretched   
victim is stripped naked1 candles are   
placed around the bed1 and the students 
assemble in crowds1 perched on ladders  
and benches1 to watch the progress of   
the labour1 and the manipulations of the
 operator4 ,o ,god6 that in a ,christian
 land1 in our boasted ,britain1 priding 
herself on her civilization and         
proprieties1 such orgies1 which would   
raise a blush amidst the rites of       
devils1 should disgrace the name of     
science6  ,we have said that women are  

admitted as pupils at the ,lying-in     
,hospital in ,dublin1 and that after a  
six months' probation they obtain a     
diploma3 but1 as they are never         
permitted to operate in any but ordinary
 cases1 it cannot be intended that their
 education should obviate the necessity 
for the employment of accoucheurs4 ,now 
we would suggest1 that instead of this  
partial instruction they should be      
afforded ample opportunity for acquiring
 a perfect knowledge of the expedients  
necessary for overcoming the            
difficulties of their profession2 that1 
instead of dismissing them at the end of
 six months1 they should be retained    
until they are sufficiently instructed  
to be able with confidence and facility 
to undertake those extreme cases which  
are now reserved to men4 ,no man of     
intelligence1 who reflects on this      
subject1 will for a moment doubt that   
where nicety of touch and delicacy of   
handling are required1 the female       
organization is more perfectly adapted  

for them than that of men2 and when we  
consider the delicate duties to be      
performed in midwifery1 we cannot but   
think 7and the thought will find an echo
 in the minds of thousands7 that woman1 
and woman alone1 is both morally and    
physically fitted for the office4#fh ,it
 may possibly be urged by the           
men-midwives1 that1 if they were to be  
deprived of their ordinary practice1 and
 to be superseded by women1 in all cases
 of labour in which no extraordinary    
difficulty presented itself1 they would 
not be so well prepared to operate when 
accident might call for their           
interference4 ,we may in all justice    
reply1 what is that to us8 see ye to    
that2 are we to prostitute our wives to 
your impure touchings1 manipulations1   
tentatives1 and experiments1 in nine    
hundred and ninety-nine needless cases1 
in order to afford you the requisite    
experience for the thousandth8 ,we trow 
not2 and the science of surgery must    
indeed be at a low ebb if1 when occasion

 requires1 there are not to be found men
 of that noble profession who could     
undertake with success any needful      
operation4  ,in former times the        
difficulties in certain cases of        
parturition1 which are now trumpeted    
forth by the writers on man-midwifery   
with all the pomp and state of academic 
learning1 were easily overcome by       
discreet and experienced women1 who1    
although innocent of physical1          
classical1 or mathematical science1 knew
 full well how to operate when necessity
 called for their intervention4 ,we find
 the following passage in ,albertus     
,magnus3--,whence it is to be known that
 in some women there is greater         
suffering than in others1 because in    
some it happens that the foetus         
sometimes presents a hand1 and sometimes
 a foot1 all which are hurtful4 ,then   
the midwives carefully thrust back the  
foetus1 and hence great pain is         
produced1 so that many women1 unless    
very robust1 are weakened even to death1

 c4 ,then1 after describing the effect  
of an accident which sometimes occurred 
even with the more appropriate          
assistance of the female hand1 but      
which#fi if the truth was known1 since  
the invention of instruments has        
probably been of much greater frequency1
 he continues3 ,then discreet midwives  
use a certain ointment1 anointing the   
vulva1 because the womb is often injured
 and wounded in the vulva1 and therefore
 it is necessary that discreet women and
 experienced in this operation should be
 employed in delivery4#gj ,but this ,i  
have learnt from some women1 that when  
the foetus presents its head in the     
outlet1 then the business fares well1   
because then the other members follow   
without difficulty1 and an easy labour  
is the result4#ga  ,to the casual reader
 who has the curiosity to wade through  
the filthy and disgusting details of the
 ponderous tomes on obstetricity1 for   
the most part garnished with engravings 
at which purity must blush and          

licentiousness may gloat1 and who       
incontinently pins his faith upon the   
dogmas thereof1 it will seem absolutely 
incomprehensible how unit after unit1 of
 millions on millions numberless1 who   
have peopled earth1 contrived to see the
 light1 from the days of our general    
mother ,eve1 until that happy hour when 
first obstetric science flashed upon the
 world1 and by its magic touch          
scattering the dreams of a primeval     
curse1 vouchsafed its art to teach poor 
feeble ineffectual nature how to act4   
,one result of the frightful tissue of  
imaginable and unimaginable horrors     
contained in these books1 is that almost
 every woman in the upper and middle    
classes believes that the chances are   
ten to one in favour of a cross birth2  
the nurse1 instead of relieving her     
fears1 rather confirms them1 and on the 
strength of that understanding which    
always prevails between the nurse and   
the man-midwife1 she takes care to      
impress upon the sufferer1 wrought up to

 a pitiable state of nervous excitement1
 that nothing but the beastly           
manipulations of the doctor can render  
the labour successful4  ,women1 while   
suffering under the severe pangs of     
parturition1 most frequently lose much  
of that natural delicacy belonging to   
the sex1 and at the moment when terror  
and anxiety overrule every other        
feeling1 the man-midwife approaches1 and
 offers to the trembling victim that    
disgusting insult1 the examination per  
vaginam2 an inquest both morally and    
physically injurious to the patient1 and
 utterly needless1 from the information 
previously obtained by the female       
attendant4  ,furthermore1 these men well
 know that one fool makes many1 and that
 the more they are able to convince the 
public of the dangers and difficulties  
of child-birth1 the more sure are they  
of an unfailing trade in the practice of
 man-midwifery4 ,ce n'est que le premier
 pas qui coute1 and when they had       
successfully achieved one generation of 

patients1 the rest was easy2 all        
henceforward was plain sailing2 the     
mothers1 despite the qualms of outraged 
delicacy1 once convinced that their     
safety had been dependent on the skill  
of the man-midwife1 the daughters1 as a 
matter of course1 followed in their     
wake2 the idea1 if perchance it         
occurred1 of the indecency of the act1  
being promptly set at rest by the       
recollection that their mothers had done
 the same4 ,thus a kind of freemasonry  
is established between the men-midwives 
and women1 which1 from its very nature1 
cannot be free from gross impropriety1  
and is sometimes attended with most     
pernicious consequences1 of which the   
husband is kept in entire ignorance4#gb 
,it is a common occurrence in ordinary  
life to see the man-midwife seated as a 
guest at your dinner-table1 or as a     
morning visitor in your wife's          
drawing-room1 who perhaps but a few     
weeks before may have informed himself  
both by touch and sight of all the      

inmost secrets of her person1 who knows 
as well as you do yourself every hidden 
charm which she possesses4 ,faugh6 the  
very thought is gall and wormwood1 and  
outraged delicacy demands instant and   
eternal redress4  ,sir ,anthony         
,carlisle1 late ,president of the ,royal
 ,college of ,surgeons1 assures us that 
child-birth1 like parturition in the    
lower animals1 is purely a natural      
process1 the safety of which ,divine    
,providence has most wisely secured2 and
 consequently that it is always         
mischievous to tamper with pregnant     
women1 under the pretence of hastening1 
easing1 or retarding their delivery4    
,roberton1 in allusion to the above1    
says--,if this be correct1 it follows of
 course that midwifery is no science1   
but a presumptuous fraud4#gc ,again he  
says1 ,admitting1 as ,i do1 not that    
ninety-nine in a hundred1 but that a    
large proportion of labours1 say        
nineteen out of twenty1 would terminate 
well under the eye of an intelligent    

nurse1 were they left solely to the     
energies of nature1#gd c42 and again1 ,i
 have admitted that a considerable      
proportion of labours would do well1    
unaided1 under the eye of a nurse1 c4#ge
 ,dr4 ,johnson says--,the ordinary      
treatment of women in child-bed is      
irrational1 indefensible1 and most      
preposterously foolish4 ,nothing can be 
more absurd4 ,childbirth is not a       
disease6 ,it is simply the performance  
of a natural function1 like eating1     
drinking1 c41 yet we treat it as though 
it were some formidable and dangerous   
malady4 ,dr4 ,conquest1 a ,london       
accoucheur of repute1                   
says--',child-birth is that natural     
process by which the womb expels its    
contents1 and returns to the condition  
in which it was previously4 ,i call it a
 natural process2 and in my opinion no  
sentiment is more pregnant with         
mischief1 than the opinion which almost 
universally prevails1 that this process 
is inevitably one of difficulty and     

danger4 ,i am well aware that some      
degree of suffering is connected with   
child-birth2 and this applies equally to
 the whole animal creation1 whether     
human or brute1 though the former suffer
 more than the latter1 because the      
habits of brutes are less unnatural4    
,that the suffering of women during     
child-birth is referrible1 in a great   
degree1 to their artificial habits of   
life1 and not to their form and make1 is
 evident from a variety of              
circumstances4 ,history1 in all ages of 
the world1 establishes this position4   
,what made the striking difference      
between the ancient ,hebrews and        
,egyptians1 of whom it is said3 ,the    
,hebrew women are not as the ,egyptian  
women2 for they are lively1 and are     
delivered ere the midwives come in unto 
them8 ,what1 ,i would ask1 made the     
marked difference in the labours of     
these two classes of women1 but the     
plain1 simple1 and industrious habits of
 the ,hebrews1 as contrasted with the   

effeminacy1 and luxurious living of the 
,egyptians8 ,look into more modern      
history1 and you will see the same fact 
established again and again4 ,i could   
mention innumerable proofs1 but a few   
must suffice4  ',the celebrated         
traveller1 ,bruce1 says1 that the       
,abyssinian women retire by themselves1 
and go through the process of           
child-birth with so much ease and       
expedition1 that they do not confine    
themselves a day after labour1 but      
return to their usual occupations       
immediately4  ',the same simplicity1    
expedition1 and freedom from danger1    
attend this natural process amongst the 
natives in most parts of ,asia1 ,africa1
 the ,west ,indies1 and ,america1 where 
the mode of living among the natives is 
more simple and abstemious1 and their   
occupations and general habits more     
laborious1 than in more civilized       
countries4  ',the ,moorish women have no
 midwives1 but are usually alone at the 
time of delivery1 lying on the ground   

under an indifferent tent4 ,they will   
even travel1 on the same day1 a distance
 of fifteen or twenty miles4  ',in      
,morocco the women suffer so little1    
that they frequently go through the     
duties of the house on the day after    
their delivery1 with the child on their 
back4  ',one respectable traveller      
assures us1 that with the native        
,africans labour is so easy1 and trusted
 so entirely to nature1 that no one     
knows of its existence till the woman   
appears at the door of the hut with the 
child4  ',another1 equally respectable1 
tells us1 that as soon as an ,american  
,indian woman bears a child1 she goes   
into the water and immerses it and      
herself4#gf ,one evening he asked an    
,indian where his wife was3 he replied3 
,i suppose she has gone into the woods  
to set a trap for birds4 ,in about an   
hour she returned with a new-born infant
 in her arms1 and holding it up         
exclaimed3 ,here1 ,englishman1 here is a
 young warrior6 ,were it necessary1 many

 more instances might be brought        
forward4 ,but it has been said1 this    
occurs only in warm climates1 where the 
heat relaxes the parts concerned in     
parturition4 ,this objection is not     
consistent with truth1 for the natives  
of ,livonia1 and the savages of ,north  
,america1 retire to some private place1 
and return immediately after their      
delivery to their customary work2 and   
the ,greenlanders do all their common   
business just before1 and very soon     
after their labour1 and a still-born or 
deformed child is seldom seen or heard  
of among them4 ,still further to        
establish the assertion that human      
parturition is not necessarily a process
 of danger1 we know that in this country
 servant girls1 who become              
illegitimately pregnant1 very often     
absent themselves for an hour or two1   
and1 after giving birth to a child1     
return to the discharge of their        
household duties immediately4#gg ,it is1
 therefore1 obvious that the difficulty 

and danger that so often attend         
child-bearing in civilized society1#gh  
are attributable1 principally1 to       
unnatural customs and habits of living1 
in which1 women1 in this and other      
countries1 indulge from their           
infancy1#gi and which operate by        
preventing the constitution from        
acquiring its proper firmness and       
vigour1 and by producing a weak1 feeble1
 and irritable state of body1 c4' ,dr4  
,johnson adds3 ,this is the language of 
,dr4 ,conquest--a metropolitan          
accoucheur physician of much eminence--a
 man who1 from the long and successful  
practice of his profession1 has         
deservedly acquired wealth and          
distinction--a man1 therefore1 who can  
afford to be honest--a man who1 unlike  
,archdeacon ,paley1 can afford to keep a
 conscience4 ,with those1 therefore1 who
 put their trust in authority rather    
than in the light of their own          
reason--that is to say1 with nine       
hundred and ninety-nine persons out of  

every thousand--the opinions of such a  
man as ,dr4 ,conquest cannot fail to    
have more than ordinary weight4#hj  ,in 
the foregoing pages we have sought to   
place before our readers1 in the        
clearest light1 the opinions of ,roussel
 and other eminent men1 touching the    
practice of man-midwifery2 opinions the 
force and truth of which1 based as they 
are upon principles of the purest       
morality1 and the sound doctrines of    
physical science1 cannot be controverted
 or denied4 ,we have shown that the     
,royal ,college of ,physicians1 so      
lately as the year #ahbg1 designated the
 practice of man-midwifery as an art    
foreign to the habits of gentlemen of   
enlarged academical education1 and one  
which might safely be entrusted to      
discreet matrons4 ,we have1 in          
confirmation of these opinions1 quoted  
the sentiments expressed by ,sir        
,anthony ,carlisle1 late ,president of  
the ,college of ,surgeons1 who styles   
the boasted art a pretence1 and         

accoucheurs mere nurses4 ,we have       
proved1 by the admission of men-midwives
 themselves1 that the great majority of 
cases of midwifery would do well under  
the eye of a nurse1 and that skilled    
midwives would be a benefit in every    
community4 ,we have before our eyes the 
example of ,france with her schools of  
midwifery2 and against the arguments and
 dispassionate opinions of men of the   
highest rank in the medical profession1 
mooted as they have been at various     
times1 and in different countries1 yet  
all tending to the same conclusion1 we  
find absolutely nothing but the         
self-interested doctrine of an anomalous
 class#ha of medical men1 whose policy  
it is1 for the furtherance of their own 
selfish views1 to decry the powers of   
nature1 and to abrogate the employment  
of females in the sanctuary of          
child-birth2 a doctrine which suffers   
its disciples1 regardless of all        
delicacy1 and in defiance of the        
contempt of their professional brethren1

 to prey upon the weakness and natural  
timidity of the sex1 and with           
presumptuous indecency to arrogate to   
themselves duties proper only to women2 
a doctrine which1 while it deals an     
irreparable blow#hb at the very heart of
 every family1 threatens with           
destruction virtue1 modesty1 and honour4
  ,husbands1 fathers1 countrymen1       
,,think ,,of ,,these ,,things6  ,we do  
most heartily believe that if1 unbiassed
 by the self-interested and fraudulent  
assertions of quackery and empiricism1  
you would exert your own reasoning      
powers on the question1 the doom of this
 abuse would soon be sealed4 ,but as1 in
 many another usage which men           
individually admit to be blots in that  
high state of civilization to which we  
have advanced1 our apathy overcomes our 
desire for their correction1 and we let 
them pass2 so1 because this wrong has   
forced its prostituting influence       
through the length and breadth of the   
land1 magnified and sustained as it is  

by the terrorism of treatises1 and the  
artistic display of its abettors1       
despite the warnings of our consciences1
 we yield ourselves to its guidance1 we 
dare not lift up the veil which conceals
 its abominations1 and even fear1       
cowards that we are1 to question its    
privileges1 privileges which a damned   
custom has accorded2 privileges the very
 thought of which should make the blood 
curdle in our veins with disgust and    
horror6 ,for if we for a moment reflect 
upon the precepts laid down in the      
indecent farragos of obstetric science1 
and further upon the fact1 that these   
precepts are invariably carried into    
effect1 whenever the patient can be     
induced to submit to the outrages       
therein enjoined1 we must acknowledge   
that in all such cases purity itself can
 oppose no effectual barrier to these   
insidious assaults1 and that modesty    
must fly from the chamber when the      
man-midwife crosses its threshold4  ,o  
hateful1 horrible thought6 that the     

young bride1 radiant with joyous        
innocence1 and love's glowing fantasies1
 beautiful exceedingly1 and pure as     
fair1 must in a few short months1 in    
blind obedience to a spurious custom1   
yield herself to the pollution of a     
stranger's touch1 and banish for ever   
from her husband's soul that dear       
delicious dream1 entirety of possession6
  ,this is no exaggerated picture1 no   
overstrained description of that mortal 
stain which rends into very shreds the  
charm of delicacy2 but a simple truth1 a
 terrible reality1 not to be glozed over
 by the fallacious reasonings of frigid 
philosophy4 ,o men6 if you have the     
souls of men1 if one drop of the old    
chivalrous blood of your ancestors yet  
palpitates in your veins1 if you have   
not irrecoverably bowed down to the idol
 custom1 if mammon1 lust of gain and    
power1 with all the fell catalogue of   
vicious inclinations1 have left but one 
cell unoccupied in your heart's mansion1
 if you yet hold woman to be the        

fairest1 purest1 best of the ,creator's 
works2 oh6 let the cry of out damned    
spot1 rise heavenward from every home in
 the ,united ,kingdom2 let sacred purity
 once more assert her rights1 let       
nature's illimitable powers do their    
work unaided1 undefiled by the sordid   
infamy of charlatanism1 and future      
generations shall gratefully invoke     
unnumbered blessings on the memory of   
those who saved the daughters of        
,england from the curse of a cruel      
degradation4   ,,the ,,end4             
,footnotes3  #a ,in the midst of our    
apparent material prosperity1 let some  
curious or courageous hand lift up but a
 corner of that embroidered pall1 which 
the superficial refinement of our       
privileged and prosperous classes has   
thrown over society1 and how we recoil  
from the revelation of what lies        
seething and festering beneath6 ,mrs4   
,jameson's ,communion of ,labour1 pag4  
#bj4  #b ,anno #affc4 ,vide ,roussel1   
,systeme ,moral et ,physique de la      

,femme1 ed4 #ahee1 p4 #bbd1 and ,astruc1
 ,maladies des ,femmes1 t4 vii4  #c     
,this surgeon was most probably a person
 named ,chison1 of whom ,count ,bussi   
,rabutin relates the following          
anecdote3--,meanwhile ,madame de ,crequi
 went to seek ,madame on the day which  
she had appointed for their party to    
,st4 ,cloud4 ,she there met ,chison1 who
 had come to see one of ,madame's girls 
who was ill2 he is ,la ,valiere's       
medical man1 and is facetious and witty2
 after he had learned the complaint of  
the young lady1 ,cheer up1 said he to   
her1 ,i have remedies for all1 even for 
lovers' hearts4 ,ho6 ,g---- ,g----6     
replied ,madame1 teach me them directly1
 for ten or a dozen that ,i have1 whom  
,i should like to cure1 provided it     
costs me only a few garden herbs4 ,ha1  
,madame1 replied he1 it costs me much   
less than herbs1 it costs me nothing but
 words4 ,in fine1 ,chison1 who          
sacrificed everything for the           
entertainment of ,madame1 related to her

 how the king had sent to him to        
inquire1 and that he had demanded1 with 
extreme emotion1 whether ,mademoiselle  
de la ,valiere could really survive1 and
 if her leanness was not a bad symptom4 
,and what was your answer8 replied      
,madame4 ,what1 said he1 can your       
highness be in doubt8 ,i assure you that
 ,i promised him1 with as much boldness1
 the prolongation of her years1 as if ,i
 had a letter from ,heaven4 ,i spoke as 
a philosopher of life1 and death1 and   
destinies2 it needed nothing 7when ,i   
saw the joy of the king7 but to have    
promised him an immortality for the     
girl4 ,true1 ,g----1 cried ,madame2 what
 secret charms has the creature to      
inspire so great a passion8 ,i assure   
you1 replied ,chison1 that it is not her
 body which supplies them4--,hist4 ,am4 
des ,gaules4 ,amours de la ,valiere1    
page #dcj4  ,the witty and facetious    
,chison spoke with a certainty which    
experience alone could give2 he had     
doubtless attended ,la ,valiere in her  

confinement4 ,do such conversations ever
 occur now8 ,there is nothing new under 
the sun2 what has been will be1 and the 
laureate1 not without reason1 sings in  
,maud3--    ,yonder a vile physician    
blabbing   ,the case of his patient4  #d
 ,alison's ,history1 page #aaa1 vol4 i4 
#e ,ibid4 page #ahj1 vol4 i4  #f        
,alison's ,history1 page #bag1 vol4 i4  
#g ,astruc1 des ,maladies des ,femmes4  
#h ,ex-,maitresse ,sage-,femme1         
,surveillante-en-chef de l',hospice de  
la ,maternite et de la ,maison ,royale  
de ,sante et de l',administration       
,generale des ,hopitaux et ,hospices    
,civils de ,paris2 ,docteur en ,medecine
 de l',universite de ,marbourg1 c4 c4 c4
  #i ,since this was written we have    
ascertained that a ,charity1 called the 
,royal ,maternity ,charity1 has existed 
for a century in ,london4 ,it was       
instituted1 #ageg1 for the gratuitous   
delivery of poor married women at their 
own habitations4 ,the patients are      
attended in their lying-in by skilful   

and well-taught midwives1 7of whom there
 are now thirty-five71 under the        
watchful superintendence of appointed   
physicians1 by one of whom the midwives 
are first carefully instructed at the   
charge1 and expressly for the service of
 this charity2 and1 being located in    
various parts of the metropolis1 and not
 restricted1 in the exercise of their   
profession1 to the patients of the      
,charity solely1 though such patients   
are1 at all times and without exception1
 to have the preference1 their services 
are available to any other persons1 who1
 either from choice or necessity1 may be
 desirous of employing a midwife instead
 of a medical man2 and as these         
occasions are not rare1 some of the     
midwives having from fifteen to twenty  
private patients per month1 it is not   
among the least of the advantages       
incident to the establishment of the    
,,royal ,,maternity ,,charity that it is
 the means of keeping up a class of     
respectable1 intelligent midwives for   

such emergencies4--,prospectus of the   
,royal ,maternity ,charity1 office #ag1 
,little ,knight ,rider-street1 ,doctors'
 ,commons1 ,london4  #aj ,it must be    
acknowledged that1 although the function
 of midwife belongs to the healing art1 
it was never intended to be exercised by
 men4--,roussel1 page #bag4  ,it is     
incompatible with the general           
infirmities of human nature to expect   
that the medical profession1 exercised  
as it is for the daily means of         
maintenance1 can be filled with men of  
science1 with philosophers1 or even with
 honourable gentlemen1 while the        
greatest number are remunerated         
according to the quantity of drugs they 
craftily sell at random1 as pretended   
antidotes1 and others follow the        
business of mere nurses1 with all the   
pomp and state of academic              
learning4--,on ,health1 by ,sir ,anthony
 ,carlisle1 ,f4,r4,s41 late ,president  
of the ,royal ,college of ,surgeons1 and
 ,surgeon of the ,westminster ,hospital4

 #ahda4  #aa ,others1 many others1 less 
industrious1 have been amusing and      
facetious4 ,it is not long since ,i     
stood by the bed of a lady1 who1 between
 every pain1 was making merry in talking
 with the nurse2 and1 the moment after  
the head and no more was born1 commenced
 giving me an amusing account of one of 
my patients1 a relative of hers1 whose  
ailments1 she assured me1 arose from    
inattention to my rules of diet4        
7667--,roberton1 ,physiology1 c41 page  
#dei4  ,oh1 ,roussel1 how prophetic were
 your words6  #ab ,roussel1 p4 #bbb4    
#ac ,female physicians were still known 
at ,rome in the time of the ,emperors1  
according to this verse of ,martial1    
,protinus accedunt medici medicaeque    
recedunt4--,hecquet4  #ad ,olympias1    
,sotira1 ,salpe1 ,lais1 all cited by    
,pliny1 and many others of whom         
distinguished authors make              
mention4--,hecquet4  #ae ,stevens'      
,man-,midwifery ,exposed4  #af ,hecquet 
says3 ,the provinces at a little        

distance from ,paris still find this    
custom very revolting4--,de l',indecence
 aux ,hommes d'accoucher les ,femmes1   
page #h4  #ag ,in labours strictly      
natural1 terminating after a few hours  
of moderate suffering1 scientific       
midwifery is passive2 its interference  
extending only to the division of the   
funis4--,roberton4  #ah ,lives there a  
man who would believe that the strongest
 passion which nature has implanted in  
the human heart is altogether dead in   
the man-midwife1 that he is in fact     
emasculated by his profession1 although 
not necessarily an old woman8 ,it is far
 otherwise1 and many of these gentry    
have the organ of philoprogenitiveness  
strongly developed4  #ai ,by le toucher 
indiscret1 as the ,french term this     
hateful indecency4  #bj ,we are informed
 that in the ,dublin ,lying-in ,hospital
 neither nurses in training as midwives1
 nor male students1 are permitted to    
operate in any case of difficulty4 ,we  
are not aware if this remark applies to 

the ,london hospitals and similar       
institutions in other parts of the      
kingdom1 but we have little doubt that  
in this respect the practice is the same
 in all4 ,it is not easy to understand  
how1 under these circumstances1 either  
nurses or students can acquire much1 or 
indeed any1 knowledge for               
discrimination4 ,it is most painful to  
reflect that any experience which these 
persons may ever possess1 must of       
necessity be gained after they are let  
loose upon the world1 at the sacrifice1 
it may be1 of life1 or at least of moral
 and physical suffering1 and injury to  
those patients who are the unfortunate  
objects of their first essays4  #ba     
,letter from the ,royal ,college of     
,physicians to the ,secretary of ,state 
for the ,home ,department1 dated ,may   
#bnd1 #ahbg1 in reply to a memorial from
 the ,obstetric ,society4  #bb ,no2     
because unmarried females have not      
themselves endured these outrages1 and  
still retain a modesty which is born in 

every woman1 and1 therefore1 might      
possibly re-animate in the patient      
feelings which1 howsoever natural1      
beautiful1 and holy1 would mar the      
doctor's process4  #bc ,generally1      
indeed1 no active assistance is         
necessary until after the birth of the  
child1 c4 ,see ante1 ,ramsbotham ipse4  
,and another reason is1 that such       
patients have been spared the ill       
effects arising from vaginal            
examinations1 c4--,treatise on          
,midwifery4 ,hardy and ,m',clintock4    
,page #i4  ,we here feel ourselves      
obliged to inform women that those      
persons whom they employ in this kind of
 examination deceive them by affecting a
 knowledge which they do not possess4   
,all information derived from 'touch' is
 very uncertain4--,roussel ,systeme     
,moral et ,physique de la ,femme4 ,chap4
 sur la ,grossesse4  #bd ,has the doctor
 first informed the husband of the      
necessity for this vaginal examination8 
,has he1 before entering the patient's  

chamber1 or at least before he dared to 
make such a request to her1 gained the  
husband's confidence by candidly and    
honestly explaining the indelicate      
nature of the usages which his art      
permits him to adopt8  #be ,see         
,roussel1 ante4  #bf ,there is a maxim  
prevalent with accoucheurs1 and the     
hellish aphorism is treated as a jest   
among them1 that a woman will usually   
desire to patronise1 upon all subsequent
 occasions1 the man-midwife who has once
 introduced his finger per vaginam4  #bg
 ,a foul delusion1 promoted and         
encouraged by the doctor1 and the       
midwife1 at his instigation1 well       
knowing1 that in nine hundred and       
ninety-nine cases out of a thousand1    
nothing else would induce a woman to    
submit to so gross an indecency4  #bh   
,it has been said that women delivered  
under circumstances where they had no   
assistance1 generally escape laceration2
 now this is not universally true2 but  
supposing that it were1 it admits of    

this easy explanation3 namely1 that     
inasmuch as these females are almost    
always involuntarily subjected to the   
deprivation we have mentioned1 they     
naturally use their utmost endeavours to
 retard the birth of the child when they
 feel the head in the vagina1 in the    
hope of aid reaching them before the    
critical moment of delivery2 and another
 reason is1 that such patients have been
 spared the ill effects arising from    
vaginal examinations1 c4--,extract from 
,treatise on ,midwifery1 by ,drs4 ,hardy
 and ,m',clintock1 page #i4  ,let the   
reader compare these observations with  
those of ,dr4 ,ramsbotham--look on this 
picture and on that1--and then he will  
be astonished1 not at the difference of 
opinion between the men-midwives1 but at
 the fact that women do so frequently   
escape the terrible consequences of all 
this interference with the laws of      
nature4  #bi ,as if nature would not of 
herself direct the position most likely 
to facilitate delivery4  ,who ever found

 the eagle dead upon her eyrie1 or the  
she-wolf in her lair8 and would the     
doctor have us believe that while giving
 to man dominion over every living      
thing1 thus recognizing his physical as 
well as mental superiority1 and greatly 
multiplying the conception of woman1    
,god had forgotten to instruct her in a 
faculty which he gave in perfection to  
all the lower animals8  #cj ,roberton1  
,physiology1 c41 page #dbe4  #ca ,an    
instrument called the speculum matricis 
was1 however1 in use at the beginning of
 the last century1 and is mentioned in  
the ,bibliotheca ,anatomica1 #agab4  #cb
 ,the ,speculum2 its moral ,tendencies4 
,by a ,fellow of the ,royal ,college of 
,surgeons4 ,london3 ,bosworth           
,harrison4  #cc ,vide ,ramsbotham1 ante4
  #cd ,it was to the midwives that they 
applied1 in the first ages of the       
,church1 to be assured of that fidelity 
which ,christian virgins had vowed to   
their state of chastity4 ,but1 if the   
,fathers found fault from the time when 

,christian females were thus exposed to 
the judgment of their own sex2 if they  
discovered in this practice something   
shameful and infamous1 of what          
criminality would they not have taxed   
the attempt of men at the present day1  
who1 in like cases1 are not ashamed to  
deprive the midwives of this            
employment4--,hecquet1 ,de l',indecence 
aux ,hommes d'accoucher les ,femmes1    
page #g4  #ce ,o ye adepts in           
chloroform1 take heed to your ways1 and 
,o ye fools1 who submit to be made      
dead-drunk under its influence1 beware  
lest a worse thing happen unto you6  ,it
 would be absurd to suppose that the    
cases of sudden death from chloroform   
constitute the full measure of the      
mortality4 ,how few even of these are   
generally known or reported4 ,hardly any
 in private practice2 and now1 even in  
hospitals1 they are concealed4 ,it is   
well known to the frequenters of the    
,london hospitals1 that1 in the same    
week in which the recent death from     

chloroform at ,st4 ,thomas's occurred1  
another took place in another hospital1 
but which did not become the subject of 
judicial inquiry4 ,humanity1 and the    
character of the profession1 demand that
 the whole subject should be            
investigated anew4--,medical ,times and 
,gazette4  #cf ,roussel1 page #agg1 de  
la ,grossesse4  #cg ,maladies des       
,femmes1 t4 v41 p4 #cge4  #ch ,roussel1 
de l',accouchement ,naturel1 page #bjh4 
#ci ,it is a common notion1 that the    
brute enjoys great advantages1 compared 
with woman1 in the act of parturition1  
from the position and configuration of  
its pelvis4 ,is not this groundless8 ,in
 the first place it is said that the    
oblique axis of the brim1 in woman1 is  
less favourable to the descent of the   
foetal head than the axis of the brim in
 the brute1 which is parallel with the  
spine4 ,but the physiologist knows1 that
 ordinarily in woman1 just before the   
commencement of the labour pains1 the   
uterus slowly1 and without pain1        

descends by a mechanism1 which ,sir ,c4 
,bell has so beautifully described in   
his memoir on the muscularity of that   
organ2 and that thus a small segment of 
the foetal head becomes engaged in the  
brim1 and in the position most          
favourable for passing1 before the      
uterine pains commence4 ,the truth is1  
the obliquity of the axis of the brim   
is1 in general1 no disadvantage or      
impediment whatever4 ,in the second     
place1 it is urged1 that the great size 
of the human foetal head occasions      
incomparably more difficulty than the   
sharp-pointed1 small head of the brute  
foetus4 ,for this there is equally no   
foundation4 ,the size and figure of the 
human brim are as well fitted to give   
passage to the large head of the child1 
as the brim of the brute pelvis to allow
 the entrance of the comparatively      
smaller head of the foetal brute1 c41 c4
 ,still looking at the figure of the    
human foetus1 and comparing it with that
 of the foetal brute1 some may be       

inclined to imagine1 notwithstanding    
what has been said1 that the brute will 
pass with far greater facility than the 
child2 such was my own opinion till ,i  
subjected the point to the test of      
experiment4 ,we are not to think1 but to
 try1 as ,john ,hunter advises1         
c4--,roberton1 ,physiology1 c41 p4 #bdg4
  #dj ,l',histoire ,general des         
,voyages4  #da ,during pregnancy the    
squaw continues her usual avocations1   
and1 even in its most advanced state1   
she neither bears a lighter burthen on  
her back1 nor walks a shorter distance  
in a day1 than she otherwise would4 ,if 
on a march she feels the pains of       
parturition1 she retires to the bushes1 
throws her burthen from her back1 and1  
without any aid1 brings the infant into 
the world4 ,after washing in water1 if  
at hand1 or in melted snow1 both herself
 and the infant1 she immediately        
replaces the burthen upon her back      
7weighing1 perhaps1 between sixty and   
one hundred pounds71 secures her child  

upon the top of it1 protected from the  
cold by an envelope of bison robe1 and  
thus hurries on to overtake her         
companions4--,james' ,narrative of      
,expedition from ,pittsburgh to the     
,rocky ,mountains4  #db ,the ,samoeides 
are a tawny1 squat1 miserable race of   
pagan savages1 subjects of the ,russian 
empire4 ,they are found along the       
,frozen ,sea1 on the ,european side of  
the ,jugorian ,mountains1 east of these 
on the ,river ,oby1 and elsewhere on the
 vast shores of ,siberia4 ,according to 
,tooke1 they are mature at a very early 
age1 c4--,roberton1 quoting ,tooke's    
,russian ,empire1 vol4 ii4 p4 #bhf4  #dc
 ,the truth is1 that when the pregnant  
will submit to prepare themselves for   
what is before them1 will be temperate  
in their eating1 regular in their hours 
for sleep1 and for exercise daily in the
 open air1 a considerable proportion may
 secure benign labours4 ,it is the      
sedentary and luxurious who oftenest    
suffer severely in parturition1 c4      

c4--,roberton's ,notes on ,pregnancy1 p4
 #dfj4  #dd ,roberton has a remark to   
the same effect4  #de ,the beasts ca't  
manipulated4--,shepherd on the          
,phrenologists1 ,noctes ,ambrosianiae1  
vol4 ii4 p4 #ba4  #df ,the calling of   
'accoucheur' does not appertain to men4 
,it is with them nothing but a          
usurpation1 or a rash experiment1       
founded upon the timidity of women1 who 
believe that1 by this unworthy          
submission1 they insure their lives2 and
 upon the credulity of husbands1 who1 by
 this dangerous condescension1 imagine  
that they more surely preserve their    
wives4--,hecquet1 ,de l',indecence aux  
,hommes d'accoucher les ,femmes1 page   
#i4  #dg    ,ubi non est mulier1 ibi    
ingemiscit aeger4   ,where woman is not1
 there the sick man groans4  #dh ,at the
 time when this work was published1     
there had appeared a catechism1 in which
 ,m4 ,dufot1 a physician1 who was the   
author of it1 proposed to himself to    
instruct the midwives in the country1   

and he set forth in a manner clear1     
exact1 and perspicuous1 the principles  
of the art of midwifery4 ,it would be   
desirable that these ideas1 which are   
sufficient for their purpose1 should be 
disseminated2 they would prepare the    
public to do without the help of men in 
an office where their agency seems      
necessarily to compromise morals4 ,this 
object1 to which some men only gave the 
attention which it deserved1 is         
doubtless the one which has urged some  
intendants to occupy themselves in the  
instruction of midwives4 ,we learn from 
the ,gazette de ,france1 of #beth       
,september1 #aggf1 that the dame        
,ducoudrai1 commissioned and pensioned  
by his ,majesty1 had1 by the care of ,m4
 ,fontette1 chief magistrate 7intendant7
 of ,caen1 organized more than a hundred
 and fifty midwives in two public courts
 which she had held4 ,that example1     
without doubt1 will not be lost on the  
provinces2 whatever the price of        
knowledge may be1 it is in such close   

contiguity to the temptation to abuse   
it1 that ,i dare hardly put up any      
prayers for my country4 ,in all the     
,county of ,foix1 where ,i was born1    
deliveries are intrusted to women of the
 lower order1 who never have the least  
idea of anatomy1 and with whom the whole
 art is reduced to some practical and   
traditionary customs4 ,but they display 
zeal1 patience1 and uprightness1 while  
the others apply themselves to nothing  
but the glitter of a scientific phantom1
 and the former cannot but succeed the  
best4 ,i remember to have seen but one  
woman perish1 in my little town1 from   
the consequences of labour4 ,it is true 
that1 contrary to custom1 she had been  
delivered by a man4 ,the event was so   
distressing1 that they had every cause  
to believe that nature reprobated such a
 fatal innovation4  #di ,here let us    
illustrate the truth of ,roussel's      
observations1 by a statement of facts   
which have occurred in our own          
day3--,the ,portafoglio ,maltese        

7,october1 #ahef71 in describing the    
frightful effects of a late earthquake  
in ,candia1 gives the following3--,in   
one case a woman was discovered alive   
under the fallen ruins4 ,she had been   
miraculously preserved by a beam falling
 in such a manner as to leave a small   
space1 where she remained eight days    
without food before being discovered4   
,during this time she gave birth to a   
child1 which was also alive4 ,another   
woman was being delivered when the      
earthquake commenced2 the husband and   
three women who were attending her fled4
 ,on the husband returning after the    
panic was over1 on removing the ruins of
 his house1 he found his wife with her  
child in her arms alive in a corner of  
one of the rooms1 which had only partly 
fallen in4 ,during the awful moment she 
had been safely delivered4  #ej ,while  
such are the prominent vices and defects
 of the poor1 vices and defects of a    
different kind1 but no less offensive to
 morality1 are found among the rich4    

,sensuality and excess1 selfishness1    
evil speaking1 want of charity and      
kindness abound4 ,all these are         
obstacles to moral and philosophical    
progress4 ,upon what can we rely to     
counteract them8 ,upon the force of     
civilization8 ,twice have its powers    
been tried and found wanting4 ,in the   
days of ,augustus ,caesar1 when order   
had been established and prosperity     
revived1 when ,virgil and ,horace       
flourished at ,rome1 and the vast       
provinces of the ,roman ,empire were    
blest with peace and tranquillity1      
everything seemed to promise a long     
duration of happiness4 ,but the         
,christian ,apostle and the ,pagan      
,satirist alike prove all was hollow and
 delusive4 ,vice increased1 knowledge   
decayed1 power vanished1 and soon       
everything portended the decline and    
fall of the ,roman ,empire4 ,again1 in  
the eighteenth century of our era1      
civilization had reached a very high    
point4 ,that century1 enlightened above 

all its predecessors1 which enjoyed the 
literature of the age of ,louis ,,xiv4  
in ,france1 and of ,queen ,anne in      
,england1 when ,racine1 ,moliere1       
,boileau1 ,la ,fontaine1 ,dryden1 ,pope1
 ,addison1 and ,swift were read and     
admired2 when ,newton's philosophy was  
established2 when ,la ,voisier1 and     
,black1 and ,cavendish had advanced     
chemistry to a science1 and ,watt had1  
by his improvement of the steam engine1 
rivalled the invention of the printing  
press1 seemed1 in its course1 tending to
 the happiness of nations4 ,but before  
that century ended1 revolutions tearing 
up the foundations of society1 wars     
desolating all the nations of ,europe1  
bore sad testimony to the mistake that  
had been made4 ,what was that mistake8  
,the nature of man is so prone to evil  
that a strong restraint is required to  
keep down his bad passions1 and subdue  
his vicious inclinations4 ,he requires1 
likewise1 some special incentive to     
good4 ,the legislators of antiquity     

sought that restraint upon evil1 and    
that incentive to good1 in powerful     
institutions guarded by sanctity of     
manners4 ,it was thus that ,sparta and  
,rome were led to virtue4 ,but these    
institutions perished when manners no   
longer supported them4--,lord ,john     
,russell4 ,lecture delivered at ,exeter 
,hall1 on the ,obstacles which have     
retarded ,moral and ,political          
,progress1 ,november1 #ahee4  #ea ,i    
know that our philosophy1 always        
abounding in singular maxims1 pretends1 
contrary to the experience of all ages1 
that luxury forms the glory of states2  
but after having forgotten the necessity
 of sumptuary laws1 will she yet dare to
 deny that good manners are essential to
 the duration of empires1 and that      
luxury is diametrically opposed to good 
manners8--,rousseau ,discours1 p4 #fg4  
#eb ,it was 7says ,m4 ,astruc7 at the   
first delivery of ,mademoiselle de la   
,valliere1 and for the safer keeping of 
the secret4 ,it was feared that the     

presence of a midwife in the palace1    
where suspicion reigned already1 would  
furnish fresh food for the malign       
curiosity of the courtiers2 to impose on
 them they made use of a surgeon whose  
practice attached him to the court4 ,for
 the rest1 it cannot be denied that     
there have been1 in every age1 men who  
studied or taught the art of midwifery4 
,we have treatises on midwifery of very 
ancient date1 written by physicians4    
,surgeons1 while exercising themselves  
in other surgical operations1 did not   
neglect that of midwifery4 ,but the     
habitual and daily custom of delivery   
was never established as it is at       
present2 they interfered only in        
difficult cases1 where it was believed  
that an experienced operator was        
required4  #ec ,there is a work of ,m4  
,hecquet1 entitled ,de l' ,indecence    
qu'il y a aux ,hommes d'accoucher les   
,femmes4  #ed ,there are1 nevertheless1 
women1 even now1 whom it would be       
impossible to induce to be delivered by 

men4 ,we speak not of those localities  
where this employment is confided to    
women1 but in towns1 where men-midwives 
are more in vogue4 ,there is1 it is     
said1 a great ,queen in ,europe who has 
an accoucheur of whom she never makes   
use4 ,women deliver her1 and the        
man-midwife is in the ante-chamber1 as a
 witness of the tribute yet paid to a   
custom which had been renounced4  ,we   
fear that1 in these days of advance1    
even ,majesty itself has succumbed to   
the prevailing fashion4  #ee ,sisters of
 ,charity1 page #ge4  #ef ,while ,miss  
,nightingale is showing the world the   
great good to be achieved by ladies     
devoting themselves to the sick and     
suffering in hospitals1 there is a lady 
in ,paris who has actually worked her   
way to the title of ,m4,d4 ,the lady in 
question is ,dr4 ,emily ,blackwell1     
daughter of the late ,mr4 ,samuel       
,blackwell1 of ,bristol1 and has1 it    
appears1 a sister practising in ,new    
,york1 as a regular physician1 armed    

with the authority of a diploma4 ,dr4   
,elizabeth1 like ,dr4 ,emily1 completed 
her medical studies in ,paris4 ,to the  
latter lady the ,paris hospitals have   
been freely opened1 and ,dr4 ,emily     
,blackwell has followed the clinical    
lectures of ,jobert de ,lamballe1       
,huguier1 ,casenove1 ,guersaint1 and    
,blanche2 and on the ,register of the   
great hospital of the ,hotel ,dieu may  
be seen the first woman's name ever     
entered1 as a medical student1 on its   
books4 ,the intense earnestness with    
which the lady doctor labours to make   
herself perfect mistress of those       
branches of the art which chiefly       
concern women and children1 has not only
 overcome prejudice1 but made her a     
favourite with her able instructors1 who
 have been brought to say1 that there   
can be no more objection to the presence
 of ladies in hospitals1 practising as  
physicians1 than to nurses4 ,baron      
,sentin1 one of the ,physicians in      
,ordinary to the ,king of the ,belgians1

 has invited ,dr4 ,emily ,blackwell to  
visit the great women's hospital at     
,brussels4--,daily ,news4  #eg ,a       
respected correspondent has communicated
 to us the following extract from a     
recent paper3--,there are not far from  
twenty of them1 and several of them are 
in excellent business4 ,they confine    
themselves generally to midwifery1 and  
the diseases of their own sex4 ,their   
success in the former branch tends to   
establish them firmly in families4 ,the 
number will probably be gradually on the
 increase1 since they are beginning to  
be employed in the neighbouring cities  
of ,charlestown1 ,cambridge1 ,roxbury1  
and adjacent towns1 much more than      
formerly4  ,among these female          
physicians the ,misses ,emily and       
,elizabeth ,blackwell1 natives of       
,bristol1 are justly celebrated4 ,see an
 interesting sketch of the life of ,miss
 ,emily ,blackwell in the               
,englishwoman's ,review1 ,june1 #aheg4  
#eh ,a correspondent has kindly         

communicated to us the following ower   
true tale of humble life3--,a poor girl1
 married1 at the age of sixteen1 to a   
youth not much older than1 and equally  
poor with1 herself 7so impoverished are 
they71 fell in labour of her first      
child4 ,she was living with her father  
and mother1 and he with his1 for they   
were too poor to keep house1 and her    
father was an old man and paralyzed1 and
 both generations1 on both sides1 were  
as poor as was possible1 consistently   
with living at all4 ,nevertheless1 the  
wife's mother1 having known better days1
 was ambitious of having her daughter   
attended by a doctor1 and1 during her   
pregnancy1 had1 by one device or        
another1 scraped together the sum of    
half a guinea--the doctor's fee--which  
was laid up in store--an uneasy         
possession1 in the meantime1 for the    
poor mother1 whose pressing occasions   
often tempted her to break in upon it4  
,labour1 at length1 coming on1 late at  
night1 as usual1 the chosen doctor was  

sent or rather gone for1 and came4 ,the 
girl was in considerable pain1 but the  
doctor1 after the usual examination1    
declared his services to be1 for the    
present1 unnecessary4 ,the doctor1      
however1 was not so occupied with his   
patient but that he was observed1 by her
 mother1 to cast sundry glances around  
the forlorn and desolate apartment1 as  
if doubtful of his fee4 ,it is but      
justice to the apartment to state that  
it fully warranted the doctor's         
suspicions4 ,the doctor1 however1 not   
being wanted1 as he said1 went home1    
leaving it to be understood that he     
would come again4 ,not coming1 a long   
time having elapsed1 and the labour     
becoming urgent1 the mother went to the 
doctor's house 7this was the third time 
that1 full of trouble1 she traversed a  
mile of windy streets at midnight74 ,her
 application to the knocker was answered
 from the window by the doctor's wife1  
who stated that her husband was in bed1 
and meant to stay there unless his fee  

was paid down4 ,in vain the poor woman  
urged that the fee was ready1 pleading  
besides her daughter's extremity4 ',no1'
 was the reply1 'if not paid then and   
there the doctor would not stir4' ,this 
being simply impossible1 the poor woman 
again sought her home1 which1 by this   
time1 was a scene of pain1 terror1 and  
confusion4 ,and now1 instead of the     
'usurper1' the 'true prince' was first  
thought of in the person of an old woman
 in a neighbouring court1 who was well  
spoken of1 and1 by her timely aid1 the  
long protracted labour was at length    
terminated for the moderate fee of five 
shillings4 ,so the girl did well1 the   
mother saved five shillings and         
sixpence1 and the doctor remains a      
respectable man66  #ei ,dr4 ,stevens    
mentions1 that ,dr4 ,gregory took from a
 gravestone in the old burying ground in
 ,charlestown the following             
inscription3--  ,here lyes interred the 
body of ,mrs4 ,elizabeth ,phillips1 wife
 to ,mr4 ,john ,phillips1 who was born  

in ,westminster1 in ,great ,britain1 and
 commissioned by ,john1 ,lord ,bishop of
 ,london1 in the year #agah1 to the     
office of a midwife1 and came to this   
country in the year #agai1 and1 by the  
blessing of ,god1 has brought into this 
world above #c1jjj children4  ,an       
obituary notice in the ,boston          
,liberator of #ahde1 runs thus3--  ,mrs4
 ,janet ,alexander died in ,boston1     
,september #ae1 #ahde1 after an illness 
of nearly four months1 aged #fa years4  
,she was a native of ,scotland1 and was 
instructed in the theory and practice of
 midwifery by ,dr4 ,james ,hamilton1 the
 celebrated professor of ,midwifery in  
the ,university of ,edinburgh4 ,she     
received her diploma from him in #ahag4 
,she arrived in ,boston in ,november1   
#ahai1 and commenced the exercise of her
 profession on the ensuing ,christmas   
day2 and for a period of more than      
twenty-five years' practice among the   
most intelligent and respectable portion
 of the community1 was most singularly  

successful1 having ,,never1 ,,in ,,any  
,,instance1 ,,lost ,a ,,patient4  #fj   
,we may1 with tolerable safety1 estimate
 the present population of the ,chinese 
,empire as between #cej1jjj1jjj1 and    
#djj1jjj1jjj of human beings4 ,the      
constant flow of emigration from ,china1
 contrasted with the complete absence of
 immigration into ,china1 is striking   
evidence of the redundancy of the       
population2 for though that emigration  
is almost wholly confined to two        
provinces1 namely1 ,kwangtung and       
,fookein1 representing together a       
population of probably from #cd1jjj1jjj1
 to #ce1jjj1jjj1 ,i am disposed to      
think1 that a number nearer #c1jjj1jjj  
than #b1jjj1jjj from these provinces    
alone1 is located in foreign countries4 
,in the kingdom of ,siam it is estimated
 that there are at least #a1ejj1jjj     
,chinese1 of which #bjj1jjj are in the  
capital 7,bankok74 ,they crowd all the  
islands of the ,indian ,archipelago4 ,in
 ,java1 we know by a correct census1    

there are #acf1jjj4 ,cochin ,china teems
 with ,chinese4 ,in this colony we are  
seldom without one1 two1 or three       
vessels taking ,chinese emigrants to    
,california and other places4           
,multitudes go to ,australia1 to the    
,philippines1 to the ,sandwich ,islands1
 to the ,western ,coast of ,central and 
,southern ,america1 some have made their
 way to ,british ,india4 ,the emigration
 to the ,british ,west ,indies has been 
considerable2 to the ,havannah greater  
still4 ,the annual arrivals in          
,singapore are estimated at an average  
of #aj1jjj1 and #bj1jjj is the number   
that are said annually to return to     
,china4--,sir ,john ,bowring4  #fa      
,notwithstanding all our affectation of 
superior delicacy1 and our reprehension 
of the coarse manners of our ancestors1 
we suspect that they would have been    
shocked at the idea of the indelicate   
and unnecessary presence of a man in the
 sanctuary of the lying-in room4--,plea 
for ,physicians1 ,fraser's ,magazine1   

,march1 #ahdh4  #fb ,an institution such
 as ,i have in my mind1 should be a     
place where women could obtain a sort of
 professional education under professors
 of the other sex1--for men are the best
 instructors of women2--where they might
 be trained as hospital and village     
nurses1 visitors of the poor1 and       
teachers in the elementary and          
reformatory schools1 c4--,mrs4          
,jameson's ,sisters of ,charity1 page   
#aaf4  #fc ,roberton says1 ,in speaking 
of the small mortality in child-bed     
among the poor1 ,i limit my remark to   
those of this community 7,manchester71  
who have long had the advantage of being
 attended chiefly by midwives carefully 
trained and educated in connexion with  
our ,lying-in ,charity4--,pag4 #dcg4    
#fd ,we have heard that the almost      
incredible sum of five hundred guineas  
has been paid as a fee to one of the    
fashionable ladies' doctors3 and that   
another caused it to be understood that 
he would not take a less fee than fifty 

guineas1 whereupon the number of        
patients soliciting his attendance      
increased a hundred fold4  #fe ,we know 
a case in point1 where a lady was       
anxious to engage a midwife who had been
 recommended to her as perfectly        
competent to perform her office without 
the intervention of the man-midwife1 but
 the latter would not hear of this1 and 
insisted on the substitution of one of  
his own nurses4 ,it is easy to perceive 
the reason of this manoeuvre4 ,had the  
original midwife attended1 she would    
have undertaken the operation1 and the  
importance of the man-midwife would have
 been materially lessened4 ,the lady's  
delicacy and comfort were not of        
sufficient weight to counterbalance this
 consideration4 ,ex uno disce omnes4    
#ff ,in #ahdh sixty-one mothers died to 
every #aj1jjj children born alive4      
,since that year the mortality has      
progressively declined1 as              
follows3--#eh1 #ee1 #ec1 #eb1 #ej1 down 
to #dg in #ahed4 ,this is a gratifying  

result1 and there can be no doubt that  
by further care and skill1 especially by
 training up a class of educated nurses1
 the deaths in child-birth may be       
largely reduced from their present high 
number1 #cjji4--,medical ,times and     
,gazette4  #fg ,so far from the presence
 of a man-midwife being a source of     
consolation or assurance to the         
sufferer1 as ,dr4 ,ramsbotham alleges1  
we have it on the authority of a lady1  
the mother of many children1 that on    
three occasions1 when the doctor was not
 present1 her labours were much easier1 
and in all respects more thoroughly     
natural and happy in their results2 than
 on those in which the man-midwife      
officiated2 and further1 that the very  
ring of the bell announcing the arrival 
of the hated accoucheur has frequently  
put back the pains of labour4  #fh      
,before we laugh at this short-sighted  
folly and cruelty1 which supposes that  
the interests of the two sexes can      
possibly be antagonistic1 instead of    

being inseparably bound up together1 we 
must recollect that we have had some    
specimens of the same feeling in our own
 country1 as1 for instance1 the         
opposition to the female school at      
,marlborough ,house1 and the steady     
opposition of the inferior part of the  
medical profession to all female        
practitioners4 ,that some departments of
 medicine are peculiarly suited to      
women1 is beginning to strike the public
 mind4 ,i know that there are           
enlightened and distinguished physicians
 both here and in ,france who take this 
view of the subject1 though the medical 
profession as a body entertain a        
peculiar dread of all innovation1 which 
they resist with as much passive        
pertinacity as ,boards of ,guardians and
 ,london ,corporations4--,mrs4          
,jameson's ,communion of ,labour1 p4    
#dj4  ,when educated gentlemen set an   
example of selfishness and              
exclusiveness1 it is only to be expected
 that the working classes should follow 

it1 and so the greed of man is the      
degradation of woman4--,north ,british  
,review1 ,no4 #eb1 p4 #hcg4  #fi        
,according to ,osborne's testimony1     
instruments are used dangerously in     
parturition1 one thousand one hundred   
and seventy-six times in every twelve   
hundred cases2 and the same author1 in  
his reprobation of ,denman's culpable   
and inconsiderate introduction of them  
into practice1 makes this memorable     
remark3 ',i must believe that he must   
have forgotten ,,the ,,many ,,unhappy   
,,effects which have come from their use
 to our mutual knowledge1 even when they
 had been in the hands of very          
experienced and skilful men4'--,the     
,author of ,the ,death-blow to          
,man-midwifery1 quoting ,osborne's      
,essays4  #gj ,the conduct of medical   
men in all former ages proves still     
farther that which we would establish   
7that the profession of man-midwife is  
repugnant to nature74 ,if they required 
information on the state of their female

 patients1 it was to the midwives they  
applied4 ,the midwife1 therefore1 passed
 for the eye of the doctor1 because it  
was through her ministration that he    
assured himself of what he neither      
committed to his own examination or to  
that of another man4--,hecquet ,de      
l',indecence aux ,hommes d'accoucher les
 ,femmes1 page #f4  #ga ,albertus       
,magnus de ,secretis ,mulierum4 ,ed4    
,amst4 #affb1 p4 #he4  #gb ,the         
man-midwife usually intimates his wish  
to make the examination per vaginam1    
through the medium of the nurse of his  
own recommendation1 and should the      
patient1 struck with the daring         
impropriety of his request1 desire to   
inform her husband of the infamous      
proposal1 the nurse dissuades her by    
saying1 that husbands are not supposed  
to understand these things1 and that she
 will probably destroy both her own     
life1 and that of her child1 by refusing
 to submit to it6 ,after this the       
accoucheur soon triumphs1 the           

examination is effected without further 
remonstrance1 and the victim is         
irretrievably entangled in his insidious
 toils4  #gc ,roberton1 ,apology1 page  
#dgj4  #gd ,roberton1 page #dhf4  #ge   
,ibid4 page #dhi4  #gf    ,the moon had 
gathered oft her monthly store     ,of  
light1 and oft in darkness left the sky1
   ,since ,monnema a growing burthen    
bore     ,of life and hope4 ,the        
appointed weeks go by1   ,and now her   
hour is come1 and none is nigh     ,to  
help2 but human help she needed none4   
,a few short throes1 endured with scarce
 a cry1     ,upon the bank she laid her 
new-born son1   ,then slid into the     
stream1 and bathed1 and all was done4   
,southey's ,tale of ,paraguay4  #gg ,see
 ,roussel1 ante4  #gh ,what will the    
men-midwives1 with all their            
precautionary humbug1 say to this8  ,on 
the #crd of ,june1 #aheg1 at ,moradabad1
 amid the terrors of mutiny1 the wife of
 ,captain ,m4 ,b4 ,w----1 ,bengal       
,native ,infantry1 gave birth to a son1 

and on the same day1 with all the       
officers and their families1 escaped to 
,nynee ,tal1 a hill station distant     
about sixty-five miles1 which they      
reached in safety on the #eth instant at
 #aa a4m4 ,they fled with only the      
clothes on their backs1 having been     
plundered of everything4--,correspondent
 of the ,times4  ,well might this       
,english lady exclaim with the ,indian  
mother1 ,here1 ,englishmen1 here is a   
young warrior6  #gi ,there cannot be a  
doubt that the habit of wearing stays is
 as injurious to the internal           
organization of women as it is to their 
external form4 ,physiologists are well  
aware of this1 yet ,european women are  
so enslaved by custom1 that we see them 
tightening up their daughters1 from very
 infancy1 in a framework of iron and    
bone1 until their bodies assume the     
shape which the corset-maker chooses1   
instead of that which nature1 in the    
perfection of her knowledge1 would      
bestow4  #hj ,diseases of ,women1 by ,e4

 ,johnson1 ,m4,d4  #ha ,the most natural
 proof that1 in the first ages of the   
world1 the man-midwife 7accoucheur7 was 
unknown1 is1 that there is no word      
whatsoever in the mother or original    
tongues to signify this profession in a 
man1 whereas that which signifies a     
midwife 7accoucheuse7 is found in all   
languages4--,hecquet de l',indecence aux
 ,hommes d'accoucher les ,femmes1 p4 #a4
  #hb ,let any man who disputes this    
position peruse the case of             
,d----against ,d----1 in ,robertson's   
,reports of ,cases in the               
,ecclesiastical ,courts1 a terrible     
picture of conjugal contention and      
wretchedness in high life1 all clearly  
attributable to the accoucheur1 who     
insisted upon the husband leaving the   
lying-in chamber1 and influenced the    
wife1 fatally for her husband's peace   
and her own1 to concur in his exclusion4
 ,a more flagrant instance of medical   
presumption and insolence could not     
readily be found4  ,here then1 says ,sir

 ,herbert ,jenner ,fust1 in his         
judgment1 is the clue to everything that
 subsequently took place--an end of all 
that happiness and comfort which might  
have been expected to attend the union  
between these parties4  ,the archives of
 the law would afford the inquirer many 
a fearful example of similar evils      
consequent on the unnatural and sinful  
practice of man-midwifery4              
,transcriber's ,notes3  ,passages in    
italics are indicated by italics4  ,the 
original text includes ,greek           
characters4 ,for this text version these
 letters have been replaced with        
transliterations4  ,punctuation has been
 corrected without note4  ,the following
 misprints have been corrected3         
missing be added 7page #bd7   transposed
 lines correced 7pg #fb7                
instrustrument corrected to instrument  
7page #fc7   aros corrected to arose    
7,footnote #aa7   ,pitsburgh corrected  
to ,pittsburgh 7,footnote #da7   surgica
 corrected to surgical 7,footnote #eb7  

,the mismatched quotation mark in       
footnote #fh is presented as in the     
original text4  ,hyphenation            
inconsistencies have been retained from 
the original4