[42] “There is one subject in which I have long felt a deep, and deepening concern. I refer to _man-midwifery_.... Nature tells us with her own voice what is fitting in these cases; and nothing but the omnipotence of custom, or the urgent cry of peril, terror, and agony--what Luther calls _miserrima miseria_--would make her ask for the presence of a man on such an occasion, when she hides herself and is in travail. And, as in all such cases, the evil reacts on the men as a special class, and on the profession itself.”--“_Locke and Sydenham_,” by Dr JOHN BROWN. “Nothing probably but the deadening force of habit, combined with the apparent necessity of the case, has induced us to endure that anomalous person against whose existence our language itself bears a perpetual protest--the man-midwife. And this single instance suggests a whole class of others in which the intervention of a man is scarcely less inappropriate.”--_Guardian_, Nov. 3, 1869. [43] _Delhi Gazette_, 1866. [44] “In many parts of India--I think I may say most parts--native ladies are entirely shut out from any medical assistance, however great may be their need, because no man who is not one of the family can enter their apartments or see them; and though thousands thus die from neglect and want of timely help, yet nothing can be done to assist them until we have ladies willing and able to act in a medical capacity.”--_The Queen_, June 8, 1872. [45] _Treasurer_, T. B. WINTER, Esq., 28 Montpelier Road, Brighton. [46] _Scotsman_, Oct. 26, 1870. [47] _Brit. Med. Journal_, May 25, 1872. [48] _Macmillan’s Magazine_, September 1868. [49] _Spectator_, April 13, 1867. [50] See _Note C_. [51] “_Theologia Moralis_,” by St Alphonsus. [52] A curious coincidence recently occurred which may illustrate this feeling. Not long ago I was attacked in the newspapers for having alluded to this subject, and a certain doctor published three letters in one week to prove that “ninety-nine out of every hundred Englishwomen suffering from female diseases freely consulted medical men.” During that very week no less than three women, in different classes of society, appealed to me for advice and treatment for sufferings about which they “did not like to ask a gentleman.” In each case I advised them to consult a medical man, as I was not yet myself in practice, and there were no women doctors in Edinburgh; but in each case I found that their feeling in the matter was too strong to allow them to do so. [53] “Concerning her death, it was magnanimous and answerable to the courage of heroes,” &c.--_Gallerie of Heroick Women_, written in French by Pierre le Moyne, and translated by the Marquess of Winchester, 1652. [54] See _Note D_. [55] “_Handbook of Uterine Therapeutics_,” by Edward John Tilt, M.D. [56] See _Note E_.