_Indications._ The artificially delivering the child with the hand alone, or the extraction of it with the feet foremost (which of course presumes that it has presented with the feet, either originally or has been brought into that position by interference of art,) is indicated in all cases where the labour requires to be artificially terminated either on account of insufficiency of the expelling powers, or from the occurrence of dangerous symptoms. Under this head, on the part of the mother, are violent floodings, especially under certain circumstances, convulsions with total loss of consciousness, great debility, faintings, danger of suffocation from difficulty of breathing, violent and irrepressible vomiting, rupture of the uterus, death of the patient, &c.;--on the part of the child, prolapsus of the cord under certain circumstances. (Naegelé, _Lehrbuch der Geburtshülfe_, §§ 394, 395. 3d edit.) Hence, therefore, the general indications of turning are the same as those of the forceps, it being indicated in all those cases where nature is unable to expel the foetus, or which demand a hasty delivery of the child, but which cannot be attained by the application of the forceps. Turning is an operation which is far inferior to that of the forceps, both as regards the safety of the mother and her child, and also the ease with which it is performed. Whenever the circumstances under which it is undertaken are unfavourable, it not only becomes a very difficult operation, but also one of considerable danger: for the child especially is this the case, as the very circumstance of its being born with the feet foremost shows that it is necessarily exposed to the same dangers as those already mentioned in nates presentations, in addition to those of the first part of the operation, viz. the changing its position. The most favourable moment for undertaking the operation of turning is when the os uteri is fully dilated and the membranes are still unruptured. In this state, the vagina and os uteri are most capable of admitting the hand, and the uterus, from being filled with liquor amnii, is prevented contracting upon the child, the position of which is changed with great ease and safety; but when the os uteri is only partially dilated, its edge thin and rigid, the membranes ruptured, and the liquor amnii drained off for some hours, it becomes a matter of great difficulty and danger either to introduce the hand into the uterus under such circumstances, or to attempt changing the child's position: the os uteri tightly encircles the presenting part, and the uterus contracts upon the child itself so as to render it nearly, if not altogether immoveable.