THIRDLY, The _MIDWIFE_ immediately knows by the _TOUCH_, whether the Woman be taken with the real and genuine LABOUR-PAINS or _Not_. Which is a Point of the _greatest Moment_; since as it is of bad Consequence to _delay_ the BIRTH, when the Woman is so taken, especially if the _WOMB_ and _INFANT_ be _Both_ well situated, lest the _Pains_ should vanish, and the Opportunity of DELIVERY should thereby be lost: so, on the other hand, to force a Woman to LABOUR, unseasonably, when but seiz’d with _Bastard-Pains_, is a most pernicious Thing. BUT both these _Cases_ too often happen, even to the _Hazard_, if not the _Loss_ also of both LIVES; especially the _Latter_, when the _MIDWIFE_ does not know how to distinguish these _False Pains_, either the _Cholick_, or other _Gripes_, from the _genuine Pains_ by the _TOUCH_: As will be more fully and amply explain’d in the next following _Chapter_. GIVE me Leave to say then, that BIRTH is not to be provok’d by any Means, until the _MIDWIFE_, by touching the _Orifice_ of the WOMB, is certain, that the Woman labours under the _True Pains_; which is not to be judiciously suppos’d to happen before the _Seventh Month_ at soonest. _BIRTH_ at that Time approaching, the Woman is afflicted with great PAINS in her _Groin_, _Loins_, and about the _Navel_, tending downwards with a depressing Force upon the WOMB and other _Private Parts_. But these PAINS are not continual, for they only go-off and come-on by _turns_; at which Time, by their violent _Depressure_, the _MIDWIFE_ finds the _Orifice_ of the WOMB _open_, or at least _opening_, and upon Renewal of the PAIN, she finds it more and more dilated and relaxed: whereas, on the other hand, when the PAINS are _Spurious_, they disperse themselves through the whole _Body_, as well as the _Abdomen_; and then the WOMB (as if it were securing itself) is found more closely _contracted_. FOURTHLY, It is likewise well known by the _TOUCH_, whether the BIRTH will be _Easy_ and _Speedy_, or _Difficult_ and _Lingring_, on several Occasions: 1. When the _MIDWIFE_ finds the _Head_ of the INFANT and the lower Part of the WOMB fallen into the _Cavity_ of the PELVIS, so that _She_ can touch it in the Confines of the VAGINA: 2. When the _Orifice_ of the WOMB is very soft, thin, and wide-open, so that (through it) she finds the _Head_ of the INFANT foremost, without any Obstruction by the _Arms_ or _Umbilical Vessels_ in the way, between the _Head_ of the INFANT, and _Orifice_ of the WOMB; as often happens: And, 3. When the _Humours_, by the _right Situation_ of the WOMB and the INFANT, are found compressed into a _Flat Form_. I say, when Matters are found so (by the _TOUCH_) in this _Natural Posture_, there is no great doubt (under GOD) of a _Speedy_ and _Easy_ DELIVERY.