THESE Things being all duly and artfully perform’d, the PATIENT (under God) will soon _recover_ and be _in Statu quo_. Now _These_, in short, are all the _principal_ and most common _Causes_ of _difficult_ BIRTHS proceeding from the part of the MOTHER; which being thus discussed with all Brevity, I go on to—— [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAP. VI. _Of Difficult BIRTHS proceeding from Causes of the INFANT._ IT sometimes also happens, that the _Difficulty_ in LABOUR arises from the INFANT: And _that FIRST_ when _Two_ or _More_ strive for _Priority_ in _BIRTH_. NOW this _Condition_ the MIDWIFE can no otherways distinguish or discover, but by the TOUCH; and when the _one_ is more _forward_ than the _other_, ’tis not to be done or known, until she has even _touch’d_ the very _Fund_ of the WOMB: Because sometimes it so happens, that _One_ CHILD has its _Hands_ and _Feet_ so intermix’d, that whatever way _She_ turns her _Hand_, she finds _Legs_ or _Arms_, _Hands_ or _Feet_, which often deceives MIDWIVES, believing there are _TWINS_. But in this perplex’d _Case_ the most sure and only certain _Sign_, is, when she feels _two Heads_ or _two Backs_; for then she cannot be Mistaken, since _one Body_ cannot have _two Heads_, unless it be a MONSTER, which may be soon discover’d by feeling if the _double Head_ be fix’d to _one_ and the _same Body_. BUT in the _Case_ of _TWINS_ or _more Children_ (as long as they come right) the DELIVERY is perform’d, as if the _Woman_ had but ONE, in the _Natural Case_ already Stated; so that I shall repeat or recapitulate Nothing of what I have said, only that the AFTER-BIRTH, or BIRTHS are not to be _touch’d_, until all the _CHILDREN_ are Born: Upon which drawing gently the _Navel Strings_ (in their Turns) with the _One Hand_, the _Other_ brings them forth easily and orderly; as is set forth more fully in SECT. IV. _Chap._ 18. A SECOND _difficult LABOUR_ may proceed from the _Weakness_ and _Debility_ of the INFANT, or from its being too _Small-grown_; in which _Case_, both the WOMAN and the MIDWIFE are to use their best mutual _Endeavours_ to promote the _BIRTH_, since the _CHILD_ can do little or nothing for itself, and the _Less_ it is, the less it is affected with the _THROWS_ of the _Mother_, and the less _Impression_ her Impulses make upon it: Whereupon _Nature_ is to be assisted in this weak _Condition_ by all convenient _Means_, whereof _THAT_ of the _Agile_ or _Nimble Hand_ is the most effectual. A THIRD _difficult BIRTH_ may proceed from the INFANT’s being too _Big_; In which Place I must previously apprize the _READER_, that I no ways mean a _MONSTER_ or _Hydropical CHILD_, but only _One full_, _well_, or _Big-grown_, which is only reckoned too _Big_ in regard of the _Maternal Passages_, which may be too _Small_ in Proportion.