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The Female Physician: Containing all the diseases incident to that sex, in virgins, wives, and widows; together with their causes and symptoms, their degrees of danger, and respective methods of prevention and cure: to which is added, the whole art of new improv'd midwifery; comprehending the necessary qualifications of a midwife, and particular directions for laying women, in all cases of difficult and preternatural births; together with the diet and regimen of both the mother and child.Maubray, John

Science

The Female Physician: Containing all the diseases incident to that sex, in virgins, wives, and widows; together with their causes and symptoms, their degrees of danger, and respective methods of prevention and cure: to which is added, the whole art of new improv'd midwifery; comprehending the necessary qualifications of a midwife, and particular directions for laying women, in all cases of difficult and preternatural births; together with the diet and regimen of both the mother and child.

Name: The Female Physician: Containing all the diseases incident to that sex, in virgins, wives, and widows; together with their causes and symptoms, their degrees of danger, and respective methods of prevention and cure: to which is added, the whole art of new improv'd midwifery; comprehending the necessary qualifications of a midwife, and particular directions for laying women, in all cases of difficult and preternatural births; together with the diet and regimen of both the mother and child.
Author: Maubray, John

Maubray, John

Midwifery -- Early works to 1800; Obstetrics -- Early works to 1800

AS it is an _Auspicious Crisis_ which happens any Time of the _Critical
Day_, whether anticipated or postponed by a few Hours: And as the
_Fruit_ of _Trees_ have their constituted Time of _Maturity_, which
notwithstanding some are perfected sooner, and some later; so (I think)
it may be also in the present Case of _Births_.

HOWEVER yet, to go a little further, without Offence: As to the
_Legitimacy_ of _BIRTHS_, I don’t see any Reason why every _Birth_,
producing a _vital Child_, may not be justly esteemed timely _lawful_,
whether it be of the _seventh_, _eighth_, _ninth_, _tenth_, or _eleventh
Month_: But because few of our antient and learned _Predecessors_ have
been inclined to admit any standing _RULE_ of such a large _Extent_, in
this _CASE_ we shall be far from desiring to establish any _New One_, or
advance any _Paradox_.

I SHALL therefore (in this Place) only touch upon _That_ which most
_Authors_ seem to have agreed upon, and reckon the most common
_Legitimate Birth_; namely, which happens (at the soonest) about the
_260th_ _Day_ from _CONCEPTION_, being the _first_ of the _38th_ _Week_,
or the _20th_ of the _ninth Month_; as it doth also sometimes fall out
(_ten Days later_) about the _270th_, when it is neither _too soon_, nor
_too late_; and which likewise (at the latest) happens before the
_280th_ _Day_; that is, the _last_ of the _40th_ _Week_, or the _10th_
_Day_ of the _10th_ _Month_.

BUT _This_ (if I may be permitted to speak my Mind) depends much upon
the _Time of Conception_; it being my Opinion, that if the Woman did
conceive when _recently purged_, I mean shortly after the natural Flux,
she may _bring forth_ in the beginning[111] of the _9th_ _Month_;
whereas, if when the _Menstrua_ were almost ready to _flow_, towards
_its Close_, or later: And if in the _Interval_ betwixt these Times, she
may _produce her Child_ in the _middle_ of the Month: Because as
_Plants_ or _Corn_ arrive much sooner to _Maturity_ after the _New_ than
after the _Full-Moon_, so it may be also with the _Fœtus_, because of
the more or less _Vigour_ of the _Womb_.

HOWEVER, in short, it is to be observed, that in all these _Cases_, we
may commonly allow a few _more Days_ for the _GIRL_ than the _BOY_, as
appears from _Sect._ I. _Chap._ 9.

AND, in fine, according to the Opinion of the most Learned and Curious
_Practisers_ in _MIDWIFERY_, this _BIRTH_ happens always[112] at the
_self-same Hour_ of the _Day_ or _Night_, in which the _Woman_
CONCEIV’D: So that from hence it is, that most _BIRTHS_ happen in the
_Night_, or Dawning of the _Day_; wherefore they All agree, that a
_Legitimate BIRTH_ requires not only a certain definite Number of
_Days_, but also of _Hours_, &c. To proceed therefore to




[Illustration]




                              CHAP. XXXII.
                      _Of an ILLEGITIMATE BIRTH._

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