_THUS_, in fine, We have discreetly deliver’d our good _WOMAN_, in _Case_ of a _Natural Easy Birth_; but on the other Side, in difficult and _Preternatural Cases_, the several Conditions and Circumstances will mightily differ from the Beginning; because in _these_ the _PAINS_ are not always sufficient to produce the _BIRTH_. Hence it is sometimes more convenient for the _WOMAN_ to be _Passive_, rather than _Active_; especially when the POSITION of either the _Womb_, or the _Infant_ is _Preternatural_: For then it is the _MIDWIFE’s_ whole Business to _labour_ more than the _WOMAN_; then her ingenious TOUCH is of infinite Service to the _PARTURIENT_, since by that only she can distinguish the Degree of the _Ill Situation_ whether of the _CHILD_ or the _WOMB_. Which being dextrously done, _She_ is in the next Place, prudently to consider what kind of _POSTURE_, _Sitting_ or _Lying_, is most convenient, that she may the _better_ discharge her own good _Office_ and _Duty_: Of which I shall treat more particularly in the following respective _Chapters_; since it still remains here, by the way, that we also deliver our above-mentioned _Woman_ of her AFTER-BIRTH, _&c._ [Illustration] CHAP. XVIII. _Of the Method of Extracting the SECUNDINE_, &c. AFTER all, to perfect or finish the _Woman’s DELIVERY_, it still remains that _She_ be freed of her AFTER-BIRTH, or SECUNDINE. Now this I advise to be done with all imaginable Speed, after the CHILD _is born_, even before the _NAVEL-STRING_ is cut: Because the WOMB immediately _contracts_ itself, so that _This_ cannot be accomplish’d afterwards without great _Difficulty_. HOWEVER, I know beforehand, that my Method of performing this Work, which I am about to lay down, will be thought a strange _Innovation_ in _Midwifery_; but without any regard to that, in speaking to this _Point_, I shall _First_ suppose this _Body_ to be already loosen’d from the WOMB; in which _Case_ the MIDWIFE has nothing to do, but to draw the _STRING_ gently, which she holds in _One Hand_, twisted twice or thrice around one or more of her _Fingers_, while she passes the _Other Hand_ into the WOMB, following always the _STRING_ (as her _Guide_) to the Place where the BURTHEN lies: And where, as in this _Case_, it naturally presents itself to the ORIFICE, _She_ stretches her _Hand_ up length-ways, taking hold of it betwixt her _Fingers_; and thus, by the Assistance of the _other Hand_ always attracting softly the _STRING_, she brings it at last most commodiously away.