NOW what I mean is more plainly _This_, that as soon as the INFANT comes into the _Turning_ (which it must pass) it necessarily _bends_ and _crooks_ itself, as it finds its PASSAGE _bent_ or _crooked_; by which means the FACE is sometimes _turn’d down_, and sometimes _upwards_: And _This proceeds_ from THAT, in short, as soon as the HEAD begins to enter the _Orifice_, it presently fixes upon (and sticks fast to) the last VERTEBRÆ of the _Loins_ standing _forwards_, or to the OS SACRUM; so that it cannot naturally or possibly go _forwards_, except the HEAD is _bent downwards_, and the _Neck_ and whole _Body_ be accommodated to that BENDING. HENCE it is, that _THAT_ which just now was _situated prone_ upon its BELLY in the _WOMB_, now passing through the _VAGINA_, is _bent upwards supine_ upon its _BACK_; and from thence it’s evident, that _That Inversion_ is not properly in the _WOMB_, but in the _VAGINA_, or (if you please) in the _Confines_ of BOTH: And, in fine, this _forward Inversion_ (as it happens) occasions a most difficult _Preternatural BIRTH_. BUT _this_, in short, happens to the _Woman_ with _CHILD_, because her _WOMB hangs forward_, or is _resupin’d_, according to the _Depression_ made on the _WOMB_ by the _Intestines_, forcing it _this_ or _that way_; or to either _Side_, as will by and by more fully appear[173]. But—— SINCE it is most requisite to know presently in the _Beginning_ of _LABOUR_, whether the _WOMB_ be placed _forwards_, in order that the Means of Help may be taken accordingly; I shall in the _second place_ add the _SIGNS_, or _Tokens_, by which the _MIDWIFE_ may know this _Position_ of the _WOMB_, and what _she_ has best to do in such a nice ticklish _STATE_ of Affairs. FIRST then, _She_ may know it, principally, by the _Hanging forwards_ and _Thickness_ of the BELLY, or perhaps by the good _Woman’s Information_ of the PLACE, where she chiefly feels the _INFANT_ stirring; for it cannot _move_ but where ’tis _placed_. HOWEVER yet a prudent _MIDWIFE_ will have no great regard to such _Uncertainties_, but betake herself immediately to _that_ which cannot fail her, the TOUCH; which (in this _Case_) affords her the following certain _SIGNS_; viz. I. THE _Orifice_ of the WOMB is suspended _higher_ than usual; which _she_ cannot _Touch_, by reaching, without a great deal of _Difficulty_. II. SHE can only _Touch_ the lower Border of the _Orifice_, and that only as the WOMB hangs more or less _forwards_; and by no means the _upper Edge_, except the _Orifice_ has begun to _fall down_. III. SHE cannot at all, or very hardly, get her _Finger_ into the opening of the _Orifice_, and because of that Difficulty, it must then also be _crooked_ or _bent_.