to confirm the authenticity of my relations—but I have already been called “_indelicate_”—and if I was to write the horrors my pen could unfold—delineate facts, painting _the indecencies_, and _barbarities_ of men _whom I could name_, I should _indeed be indelicate_. What must then the _ACTS have been, which NO LANGUAGE can convey a description of, without offending the virtuous_, and _shocking_ the _humane_! yet I should look on myself as very culpable if I had instanced these men _as standards_ for the whole profession to be judged by. I gave the preference _to women, NOT because all men WERE BRUTES_, but because _the greatest Saint_ on earth, _IF a MAN in health_, could not answer for his principles being proof against the _irresistible temptations arising_ from being _freely indulged_ in _the most luxurious_ liberties with all _the feminine_ beauties of lovely women,—and because their knowledge of anatomy, and their _INSTRUMENTS being ready at hand_, too often _tempt_ them to use _force_, and do mischief in parts of the most _exquisite_ sensibility, which _no_ art, _no_ care, _no_ remedy, can _ever_ after repair; where, if _nature_ had been allowed to do her office, she would have been _a safe_ operator, and all would have ended happily; and let any impartial person decide _whether a man_, who knows every method of forcing the birth, _or a woman_, who is conscious of being _unacquainted_ with THAT DANGEROUS KNOWLEDGE, _are MOST LIKELY to alter the COURSE OF NATURE, by interfering_, where she ought to be THE SOLE actor?⸺It is an indisputable fact, that women have such a peculiar sympathy for females big with young, that ninety-nine out of an hundred carry it to such an excess as to be anxious about _brutes_ in that situation. I have often heard ladies uneasy about mares they have seen with foal, and bitches with whelp. It is _an instinct_ implanted, and interwoven with their natures _by the Great Source_ of all things, for the wisest purposes. Those _who have felt_ the agonies of child birth, surely must be able to sympathize _more feelingly_ than men who can only form an idea of them by theory. Women must be allowed to have more tenderness in their natures than men⸺so that _in every view_ we cannot contest the point of sensibility with them. Yet this author asserts women are improper for Midwives because they are _most_ inhuman—because they drive their fellow-creatures up and down stairs—and shake them into convulsion fits! did old Chiron write ironically? or did he mean to betray the cause of the male-practitioners, by asserting fictitious nonsense, which carries falsehood on it’s face?⸺Let any one _view the forceps_, and then judge _whether_ it is _a GENTLE INSTRUMENT? it speaks it’s office!_—Let any one _view the crotchet_, crooked scissars, &c. sharp knives to be sure are instruments fit to be trusted in every hand! they pursue _healing_ measures! they never commit _murder_!