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:
1837
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.)

    16/690
    xu iNTRonuoTi6tf. presentation of the child, the best construction, and the most healthy play of the powers concerned in this operation, never to be assailed by accident, or complicated by disease—the opi- nions of those who contend for the supremacy of unassisted na- ture, would deserve much, and perhaps exclusive attention. But it is too well known, that this never has, nor ever can, be the case; for the powers of nature must necessarily have their limits, and consequently the interference of art becomes some- times absolutely necessary. I am very far from wishing to be understood, as advocating the indiscriminate interference of art during the progress of a healthy labour—it is the very reverse of my opinion, and of my practice; I wish merely to insist, that nature is not compe- tent to all exigencies. For in very many instances, when per- mitted to proceed without interruption, and is eventually able to effect her object, the sufferings of the patient, most probably, might have been very much abridged by the judicious interpo- sition of skill. Of this, from long experience, I am entirely convinced.* If this be true in the most healthy or practicable labour, how much more important does the judicious and timely application of adventitious aid become; when it is well known, that the de- viations from healthy power and structure, are almost constant' in their occurrence, and almost infinite in their variety. It is the knowledge of these aberrations, and the mode of obviating them when necessary, that emphatically declare midwifery to be a science—for it has, and must have, its principles; principles, that must not only be known in the abstract, but constantly employed; and it is the happy application of these fundamental rules, that makes one.practitioner superior to another. I trust my last assertion will not be considered gratuitous; • * I was once told, after my lecture, by a gentleman, who attended it, and who had been forty years in practice, that he never knew, or cared for the presenta- tion, provided the head presented; and he thought that I unnecessarily multiplied them, or, m-other words, that I indulged in fancy, in making them. He beLd me if.an opportune should occur, that I would show himfon the machine !he different presentaUons I had made, and the mode of redressing them. S5 him to call at a certain hour of the day, and I would glad.y prove to him h, absolute necess.ty there was for them. He accordingly called; and I showed h, ' the vanous presentat.ons, and the difficulty there was in some of them and h impossibility ,n others, for the woman to relieve herself. He was sufficient^ r vinced of their truth, and said, had he known this fact in the beginning ofT i practice, that he could have saved his patients much pain and danger