THOSE are the _Four_ most difficult and principal wrong, or chief _preternatural Situations_, of the _WOMB_; from whence we may easily frame a competent Conjecture of the _Rest_; to wit, when the _Bottom_ of the _WOMB_ is more or less turn’d to the _right_, or the _left Side_, or _forwards_, or _backwards_: Since as _that_ differs more or less from the _natural Position_, so the BIRTH in like manner is (of consequence) the more or less _Difficult_, as will hereafter manifestly appear. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAP. XIV. _Of TOUCHING or HANDLING the Woman._ THE _Midwife_ ought to have a special _Knowledge_ in _This_ Matter, since a Thing of so much Moment as LIFE itself often depends upon it; yea, and _this Knowledge_ is of absolute Necessity to all Persons practising MIDWIFERY, because many different Points of the greatest _Importance_, are thereby plainly discover’d: But before I enter upon these Things, I would have it rightly understood, that nothing else is meant here by the _Performance_ of the TOUCH, than (upon having first pared the _Nails_ short, equal, and smooth) _passing the two Fore-fingers of either Hand, (previously well anointed with Fat or Butter, when proper Oils are not to be had) through the_ VULVA _into the_ VAGINA, _in order to reach the Orifice of the WOMB_, and to discern its FORM, by feeling it on each Side. AND it is not only requisite that the Woman in LABOUR be _touched_, before her _Pains_ come on, because then the _Membrane_ containing the _Humours_ being loose, the INFANT’s _Posture_ may be the better distinguish’d; but the same TOUCH also is to be continued during the _Force_ of the _Pains_, the better to know their _Nature_ and _Effects_; whether the INFANT continues still at the _Passage_ or not; and whether the _Humours_ are contracted _length-ways_, or press’d into a _Flat Form_, and the like. For after the _Pains_ are over, it is easily to be perceiv’d, whether they have _promoted_ the BIRTH or _Not_. BUT during this _Performance_ of the TOUCH, great Care must be taken not to handle the _Membranes_ containing the _Humours_ too roughly, lest they should break in the Action. NOW that the MIDWIFE may the more readily perform her TOUCH, she must take good Heed to what is said of the _Cavity_ of the[157] PELVIS: for as it rises from the _Bottom_ obliquely, ascending forwards; so, upon this Occasion, in seeking for the _Orifice_ of the WOMB, she must not thrust her _Fingers_ streight along according to the _Length_ of the Body, towards the bending of the OS SACRUM; but guide them _upwards_ from the _Bottom_, as if thro’ the VAGINA, she would touch the _Navel_: For Thus her _Hand_ being turn’d inward, and her _Fingers_ tending towards the _Navel_, the _Orifice_ of the WOMB lying directly in the way, she meets with it readily at first. Whereas they who go otherways to work, seek it in vain, and find it with Difficulty.