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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 the proper _Function_ of the STOMACH, to eject the _noxious
Humours_ by Vomit, and deject the _Natural Excrements_ into the
_INTESTINES_; as it is also the _Office_ of the _RECTUM_ to evacuate the
_Fæces_; as likewise the _Profusion of the Urine_ is the _Action_ of the
BLADDER; as again the _Extrusion_ of all _fuliginous Matters_ is the
_Work_ of the HEART and LUNGS; and as, at last, the _Effusion_ of the
_Genital_ SEED (in _Venery_) is the _Operation_ of the _Virile_
TESTICLES: So the _Exclusion_ of the _Mature FOETUS_ is the
_Eighth_[161] and last proper _Action_ of the _WOMB_; which is justly
deem’d the only _Primary Agent_ and _Active Cause_ of _BIRTH_, as the
excluded _FOETUS_ is the _Passive_.

BUT this _BIRTH_ is not always _Uniform_; for as it differs in _Time_,
so it does also in _Manner_: From hence we have with respect to the
TIME, _Legitimate_ and _Illegitimate BIRTHS_, which being already
discuss’d[162], I shall resume nothing by way of _Repetition_ in this
Place: And with respect to the MANNER, we have also two general SORTS,
namely, _Natural_ and _Preternatural BIRTHS_; which together with their
particular _Branches_, I am now to enter upon, without any farther
Digression.

[Illustration]




[Illustration]




                               CHAP. II.
                          _Of Natural BIRTHS._


BY a _Natural BIRTH_, I mean nothing else, but that which is perform’d
without any _ART_ or _Artificial Means_; which _BIRTH_ (of itself)
strictly observes the Order and Appointment of _Nature_: That is, in the
_INFANT_’s coming _Head foremost_, _Face downwards_, _Arms following_,
extended (along the _Sides_) strait _upwards_, towards the _Thighs_.

_HIPPOCRATES_’s _Reason_[163], in short, for the _CHILD_’s thus turning
and presenting itself, is very good; _viz._ Because of all the _Parts_,
the HEAD is the Heaviest about the Time of _BIRTH_, as appears more at
large from _Sect._ I. _Chap._ 10.

BUT besides this Argument, I believe Wise _Nature_ has also order’d it
_thus_; because _This_ indubitably is the most _safe_ and _easy Manner_
of _EXITION_ both for the _Mother_ and _Infant_: Insomuch that by all
other _Methods_ of _EXTRACTION_, _One_ or the _Other_, and sometimes
_Both Lives_ are, or may be, endanger’d, if not very dextrously
perform’d, according to the best Laws of Art and Judgment, as by and by
will more manifestly appear.

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