THIS Observation I thought the more requisite in this Place, because _MIDWIVES_ not accurately understanding the _Situation_ of the _Bones_ of the PELVIS, think that the WOMB and its _Neck_ or VAGINA reach according to the _Length_ of the Woman, and make use of their _Hands_ accordingly: First hurting the VAGINA and RECTUM in the Bending of the SACRUM; and then finding no farther _Passage_ for their _Fingers_; but being altogether ignorant of the above-mentioned Method of finding the said _Orifice_, they are very often surpriz’d, fall into great _Confusion_ for want of better _Instruction_. Whence I proceed to—— [Illustration] CHAP. XV. _Of the various Uses and Advantages of the TOUCH._ BY the TOUCH then, to be brief, the _MIDWIFE_ gains the certain _Knowledge_ of the following important _Heads_: viz. FIRST, Whether a _Woman_ be with _CHILD_ or not: For I must needs own, that some of the most certain _Signs_ of _Pregnancy_ are discover’d by the _TOUCH_; since the WOMB shuts itself close up, immediately after CONCEPTION, and its _Orifice_ becomes more _pointed_, _hard_, and _solid_, resembling (according to _Mauriceau’s_ just Comparison) the _Mouth_ of a _Puppy_ newly pupp’d. BUT in time of the _INFANT_’s ripening, this _Orifice_ begins to _swell_, and becomes _softer_, _smoother_, and _thinner_ than it was Before. SECONDLY, The _MIDWIFE_ discovers by the _TOUCH_, whether the Time of BIRTH is near at hand, and how near it is. However, in speaking to this Point, I desire to be rightly understood, not meaning _Miscarriages_, or _Illegitimate BIRTHS_, but only such as are intirely _Legitimate_. AS then the _INFANT_ advances in _Maturation_, so the _Orifice_ of the WOMB from the _Third Month_, grows _smoother_, _thinner_, and _softer_; and consequently the more _smooth_, _thin_, and _soft_ it appears at any time afterwards to the _TOUCH_, so much the _nearer_ draws on the _Time_ of BIRTH. IN _some Women_, this _ORIFICE_ begins to open two or three _Months_ before BIRTH; and this _Aperture_ enlarging itself by degrees, becomes soon as wide as a _Shilling-Piece_, when the _Motion_ of the _INFANT_ may be distinctly perceiv’d: And in _others_ it is so much more enlarged, that one single _Pain_ or two accomplishes the BIRTH. BUT as all _Women_ are not _alike_, so this _RULE_ will admit of sundry _Exceptions_; for _strong-body’d_ Women, Women of their _First Child_, and those somewhat in Years, their WOMBS continue generally shut up to the last, and open not without the severest _Pains_: And not only so, but the _Orifice_ of the WOMB differs also, in all difficult and _Preternatural Cases_, as well by reason of its own _oblique Situation_, as of the _INFANT_’s ill Posture. For this Reason it is, that an Experienced and Judicious _Hand_ is most requisite upon such Occasions; since such an _One_ can clearly distinguish, what _Another_ cannot so much as guess at.