THESE Misfortunes may proceed from _Either_ of these two different _Causes_; viz. Either from the _Grossness_ or large _Size_ of these _Parts_ of the INFANT, or from the _Narrowness_ of the _PELVIS_, occasion’d by an ill _Position_ of its _Bones_, particularly of the OS COCCYGIS; which _Bone_ when the _Head_ cannot make it yield or move, neither can it then possibly reach the _Orifice_ of the WOMB, to dilate it sufficiently: And, in short, if the _Head_ cannot effect this _essential Point_, much less can the _Buttocks_, or any other _Part_ be supposed capable of doing it. BUT in all the above-mentioned _Cases_, I am sensible, that most _MIDWIVES_ (not knowing better) ascribe the whole _Difficulty_ to the _Orifice_ of the WOMB and the VAGINA; upon which they ignorantly fall atearing and dilating both the _One_ and the _Other_, (never minding the _Point_ of the SACRUM); and finding _these Orifices_ but little _open’d_, notwithstanding the frequent _Repetition_ of very severe _PAINS_, they imagine that their substantial _Hardness_ or _Thickness_ is the only CAUSE: So that therefore (without regarding any _adjacent Part_) they go on violently dilacerating sometimes the _Mouth_ of the WOMB, and sometimes _That_ of the _PRIVITIES_, (as I have found it by Experience) quite to the RECTUM. For such is their _Stupidity_ in this Condition of LIFE (as _Daventer_ well observes) that whilst they _thus_ tear and rend the WOMAN to _Pieces_ in a manner, they allow her to sit over and above with the _Point_ of the OS SACRUM, upon her _Seat_ or _Bed_; or in some other wrong _Posture_, which so presses and confines the OS COCCYGIS at the same Time, that neither of _these_ can move: Not minding at all that the chief _Pressures_ and _Impulses_ of the HEAD, must first bear upon the OS COCCYGIS in order to remove it, before it can effect the _Dilatation_ of the _Orifice_ or _Mouth_ of the WOMB. Thus they spend the WOMAN’s _Strength_ in vain, break her _Spirits_, and ruin her _Constitution_ thro’ Ignorance; whilst a capable _Person_, administring seasonable and judicious _Help_, according to the Circumstances of the _Case_, refreshes _Nature_, renews _Strength_, gives _Courage_, and fills the (otherways languishing and despairing) _WOMAN_, with _Hopes_ and _Assurances_ of a happy _DELIVERY_.