"Such devils would pull angels out of heaven, Provided they could reach them; 'tis their pride; And that's the odds 'twixt soul and body-plague! The veriest slave who drops in Cairo's street, Cries, 'Stand off from me,' to the passengers; While these blotched souls are eager to infect, And blow their bad breath in a sister's face, As if they got some ease by it." If the reader views with disgust and horror the above rules of ordinary practice in _man_-midwifery--and what man is base enough (save an accoucheur) not so to regard them?--these feelings will be intensified a thousand-fold by the contemplation of the latest invention[31] of "obstetric art." We allude to the SPECULUM. The adoption of this instrument, as we are informed, is now becoming general; and its employment plunges its wretched victim, woman, down into the lowest deep of infamy and degradation. We will not pollute our pages by describing its method of action; suffice it to say, that, to the sense of _touch_, common to all midwifery practice, is added, in its application, that of _sight_; exposure the most complete of all which modesty, even in the most abject of races, invariably conceals. [Illustration: G. Morant. Inc. THE SPECULUM] In confirmation of our own view of this most villanous invention, we will convict its advocates by the testimony of distinguished members of their own profession. The denunciations of the speculum, by these morally-courageous men, addressed, for the most part, solely to their fellow-practitioners, shall now go forth to be read and pondered on by every reflecting Englishman who may chance to open these pages. "We have already exposed, with our utmost vigour, the improper practice which Drs. Ashwell and Lee so strongly condemned. All we said on that occasion we repeat now.... To employ it (the speculum), as it is rumoured certain persons in London have employed it, to attract notice, and place themselves prominently before the public--to use it merely as a means of personal advancement--in fact, _to gain practice_--is a crime against the laws of morality, and treason against professional honour.