An essay, historical and critical, on the mechanism of parturition.

  • Leishman, William, 1834-1894.
Date:
1864
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay, historical and critical, on the mechanism of parturition. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    were guided by it in a course which soon led to important results. I trust that my anxiety to place this matter in a clear light before my readers, will be my excuse for the length to which I have carried the translation and analysis of the works of Saxtorph and Solayrds de Renhac. Without a thorough knowledge of what these men have contributed to science, it is impossible to under- stand the question as it stood before Naegele, As these works have never been translated, and are somewhat rare, I think no one who takes an interest in midwifery will think that labour lost, which places before him a record of what was discovered by writers between Smellie and Naegele. During this period Eng- land had decidedly lost the prestige and position in things obste- trical, in which the labours of Ould and Smellie had placed her. The development of the truth was worked out by the hands of those whose names are scarcely known in this country; and if we look at the state of knowledge in this country at the time that Dr. Kigby translated Naegele's essay, we cannot doubt but that we were far behind our continental brethren. There is, I think, a tendency on the part of most English writers to attribute to Naegele even more than he deserves, and it is, therefore, from a wish to render honour where honour is due, that I shall attempt to show what share of what is known in this country as the doctrine of Naegele is due to the two eminent men I have named. Matthias Saxtorph was born in 1740, and was educated at the University of Copenhagen, where he received instruction in mid- wifery from the celebrated Berger. Having been thoroughly instructed in physics and mathematics previous to beginning his medical studies, he paid particular attention to the mechanism of parturition. The force and originality of his writings, and the great success of his practice, soon raised him to an eminent posi- tion ; and at the time of his death, in the year 1800, he stood at the head of the profession in his own country. In the year 1772 he published an essay under the following title— Theoria de