A compendious system of midwifery : chiefly designed to facilitate the inquiries of those who may be pursuing this branch of study, illustrated by occasional cases / by William P. Dewees.

  • Dewees, William P. (William Potts), 1768-1841.
Date:
1835
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A compendious system of midwifery : chiefly designed to facilitate the inquiries of those who may be pursuing this branch of study, illustrated by occasional cases / by William P. Dewees. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    INTRODUCTION. It has often been declared, that labour, being a natural act, it did not require the interference of art for either its promotion, or its accomplishment; and, consequently, that when this be- comes necessary, it only forms an exception to the rule. This view of the subject has had many followers; and has, from its influence, retarded, more perhaps than any other circumstance, the progress of improvement in this most important branch of medical science. It so entirely comported with the theories of the fastidious admirers of nature; it so completely coincided with the feelings of those, whose supineness made them averse from inquiry; so effectually apologized for ignorance, and so plausibly extenuated the evils arising from neglect, or the want of the proper and judicious application of skill, as to secure in its favour by far the greatest portion of the practitioners of Mid- wifery. Errors in premises must almost necessarily lead to errors in deduction; hence, the too exclusive reliance on the powers of nature to overcome all the obstacles connected with parturition hence the almost total disregard of the first, and most impor- tant principles in the art of midwifery! These errors doubt- lessly originated in ignorance; and were perhaps at first excusa- ble from this cause: but how reprehensible do they become now, since the powers of nature are better calculated, and the re- sources of art better understood! In what light, then, should we view writers, who still inculcate such doctrines—teachers who make the whole art of midwifery consist, in doing nothing! Were the constitutional powers of the system, the physical conformation of the pelvis, and the size of the child's head, al- ways and undeviatingly the same; were the most favourable