A letter to Sir William Garrow, His Majesty's attorney-general, on his proposed bill for regulating the practice of surgery throughout the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland / by James Hamilton.

  • Hamilton, James, 1749-1835.
Date:
1817
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter to Sir William Garrow, His Majesty's attorney-general, on his proposed bill for regulating the practice of surgery throughout the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland / by James Hamilton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    parts of England and Ireland, illiterate, uneducated women are chiefly had recourse to for the delivery of those in the lower ranks, and it is unquestionable, that they do infinitely more mischief, both to individuals and to society, than all the irregular practitioners of Surgery could com- mit, supposing that all of them were to blunder in every case that falls under their charge. Half a century ago, the propriety of employing men in the Practice of Midwifery was very much questioned, but at present the popular opi- nion seems changed, and many most respectable Medical Practitioners con- sider that women ought not to be permitted to exercise that profession. To this proposition I cannot assent. In about ninety-four cases of the hundred, the act of human Parturition requires no other assistance than what women can be taught to give, and there are certain marks by which they may be warned to send in time for additional assistance in the few deviations which occasionally occur. In the great majority of cases, therefore, Midwives, if properly educated, could undertake with safety the management of women in labour ; and as they can afford to give their time and trouble for a much smaller recompence than regular male Practitioners, they necessarily must prove highly useful to Society. It is, however, quite obvious, that no woman can practise Midwifery with safety to her patients, unless she understands the precise nature of the requisite professional assistance. All this is so incontrovertible, that in no other part of Europe except Great Britain, are Midwives allowed to practise without being duly in- structed. In Scotland, public opinion has long ago had the effect of law in this respect, and there are very few country parishes in which a regu- larly educated Midwife is not established. Since the year 1780, above a thousand such women have been taught by the Professor of Midwifery in Edinburgh, and a great many have also been instructed at Glasgow and at Aberdeen.