An introductory lecture on the rise and progress of midwifery, from the earliest period to the present time : delivered at the Central Infirmary, Greville Street, Hatton Garden, May the 30th, 1828 / by Michael Ryan.

Date:: 1828

Credit: An introductory lecture on the rise and progress of midwifery, from the earliest period to the present time : delivered at the Central Infirmary, Greville Street, Hatton Garden, May the 30th, 1828 / by Michael Ryan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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$10 midwifery practitioner, without our attempting to anglicise the Gallican term accoucheur, as the profession in general seem to sanction, and some of our modern lexicographers have also adopted ; for my own part, I shall always prefer the word obstetrician. That part of medicine which has for its object the consideration of the structure, functions, and diseases of the organs peculiar to females, is called midwifery, or the obstetric art, and this includes the arrangement that I have pointed out, when describing the province of the obstetrician. We have no accurate terms which comprehend, in a scientific and classic manner, the anatomy, physiology, pathology, and therapeutics of the female organs of generation ; nor for the process of parturition. From much consideration on these deficiencies, I would propose the following nomenclature, part of which is sanctioned by Hippocrates. The father and foun- der of medicine left a work entitled, rwowxenj? tyvaeuq, on the nature of woman ; another, UapGevuuv, on diseases of virgins ; and a third, Ywaixetav on diseases of women. The classification I propose is as follows:—1st, TwaivtoTopia, Gynaecotomy, or the anatomy of woman ; 2d, TwaMocpva-euKoyia, Gynaecophysiology, the physiology of woman ; 3d, TLap6evo<roXoyta, Parthenosology, or diseases of unimpregnated woman ; 4th, Feveo-eaXoyict, Gene- seology, on generation, or conception ; 5th, Eywofoa-oXoyia., Ency- onosology, on diseases of pregnant woman ; 6th, 1 oWoyja, To- cology, on parturition ; 7th, Ao%eia.vo<ro\oyia,, Lochianosology, ■on puerperal diseases ; and, 8th, Ua^oioa-oXoyta,, Paidonosology, -on diseases of infants and children. Such is the order I will adopt in the following lectures, as it is decidedly the most natural that could be devised, and is infinitely superior to any •other that has been hitherto adopted. The order of arrangement to be adopted is, 1st, then, the anatomy, physiology, and patho- logy of the female organs; 2d. On conception and its con- sequences ; 3d. On diseases of pregnancy; 4th. On the me- chanism and process of parturition, including the various ■classes of labours; 5th. On puerperal diseases ; and 6th. On diseases of infants and children. When I consider the vasl importance of these subjects, I feel the great responsibility$