“The forceps may be introduced with great _ease_ and _safety_, like a
  pair of _artificial hands_, by which the head is very _little_ (if at
  all) _marked_, and the woman very _seldom tore_.” Smell. p. 257.

Footnote 42:

  In this case of a monster of two heads, which happens so rarely as
  that it might almost be reputed null or of no consideration, _once
  more_, it is neither a midwife’s business, nor even of one of the
  common men-practitioners of midwifery. Application should be instantly
  made to one of the best and ablest surgeons procurable, for reasons
  too obvious to need specification.

Footnote 43:

  Smellie, p. 248.

Footnote 44:

  See Reaumur’s art of hatching domestic fowls, &c.

Footnote 45:

  If any of my readers imagine that I have, in my objection to the
  men-midwives, exagerated matters, I intreat of them to consider the
  following quotation from a _male-practitioner_, from Daventer, who
  endeavoured, as much as Nature would allow him, to be a good midwife,
  however he fell short of it. These are his own words translated, from
  p. 11. of the French quarto edition.

  “Can any thing be more shocking to the mother, and to those about her,
  than to see a man in liquor, scarce knowing what he is about, divested
  of all compassion, of all sentiment of humanity, his hands _armed_
  with a _knife_, a _crotchet_, a _pair_ of _pinchers_, or other
  _horrible_ instruments, come to the ASSISTENCE of a woman in agonies,
  begin, for his first attestation of skill, by _wounding_ the _mother_,
  then go on to _destroy_ the _child_, bring it away piece-meal, with
  exquisite tortures to the woman, and, after all, grumble in the
  notion, that he could not be PAID enough for such a fine spot of work?
  had not such better at once take on to be _butchers_ or _hangmen_,
  than treat thus the image of God, and render the profession odious?”

  Have I any where said any thing STRONGER than this? Daventer, however,
  certainly did not mean by it to insinuate, that _all_ men-midwives
  answered intirely this description; no, nor I neither. But leaving the
  brutality out of the question, the mischief and mercenariness of them
  all differ perhaps in no very considerable degree. Please to remark in
  the following quotation, the DOCTRINE and practice of that famous
  _man-midwife_ Peu. “He determines himself, without much ceremony, to
  the _breaking_ a child’s _arm_ or a _thigh_, when he _imagines_ this
  _operation_ will facilitate the delivery, and that, on the PRINCIPLE
  of its being _easy_, to repair such _damages_ of _new-born_ infants.
  For the same reason the luxation of a jaw-bone gives him no scruple.”
  (Translator of Daventer’s Preface.)

                          TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

 1. P. 11, changed “at the mercy of these excutioners” to “at the mercy
      of these executioners”.
 2. P. 19 and subsequent, changed “womens” to “women’s”. The authors
      usage was inconsistent.
 3. P. 30 and subsequent, changed “it’s” to “its” where possesive was
      intended. The authors usage was inconsistent.
 4. P. 156, changed “may be reduce” to “may be reduced”.
 5. P. 171, changed “during some lisgering labor” to “during some
      lingering labor”.
 6. P. 173, changed “sometimes inseparably damaged” to “sometimes
      irreparably damaged”.
 7. P. 175, changed “very uncautions of concealing them” to “very
      uncautious of concealing them”.
 8. P. 208, changed “signs of abborrence” to “signs of abhorrence”.
 9. P. 216, changed “ames” to “âmes”.
10. P. 220, changed “than in those antient times” to “that in those
      antient times”.
11. P. 237, changed “elevées et ecartées, les pieds rapprochés des
      fesses, et maintenus en cette situation par des aides dont on soit
      sur. Levret, Utilite” to “élevées et écartées, les pieds
      rapprochés des fesses, et maintenus en cette situation par des
      aides dont on soit sûr. Levret, Utilité”.
12. P. 237, changed “arrétoit au precepte general” to “arrêtoit au
      précepte général”.
13. P. 241, changed “inaminate things” to “inanimate things”.
14. P. 246, changed “ballanced by their incompetency” to “balanced by
      their incompetency”.
15. P. 250, changed “evidently consist less” to “evidently consists
      less”.
16. P. 253, changed “they cry down every instrumen of other
      practitioners” to “they cry down every instrument of other
      practitioners”.
17. P. 347, changed “diamatrically opposite” to “diametrically
      opposite”.
18. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling.
19. Retained anachronistic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as
      printed.
20. Footnotes have been re-indexed using numbers and collected together
      at the end of the last chapter.
21. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.