CHAP. XXVI. _Of Preternatural BIRTHS, proceeding from the Death of the INFANT._ AMONG the many _Preternatural BIRTHS_ mentioned, I think _that_ of a _Dead CHILD_, may now at last justly take place. BUT because this _Case_ is too commonly mistaken, and that the _Live INFANT_ is too often taken for _Dead_, and consequently the wretched innocent _Creature_ treated accordingly; I think it may not be amiss, before I enter upon this DELIVERY, that I make a few previous requisite _Remarks_; by which the extraordinary _MIDWIFE_, who is commonly sent for too late, may perfectly know whether the _BIRTH_ be _dead_ or _alive_; to the End that, so also in Case of _Necessity_, it may be accordingly managed: Since in this fatal _Condition_ I have known _several Persons_ to have been grossly deceiv’d, who have depended upon the _Relation_ of the sick WOMAN, or taken it upon the _Credit_ of the ignorant attending _MIDWIFE_. FIRST then I know it to be ALIVE, if, by laying my _Hand_ on the MOTHER’s _Belly_, I find it _stir_ or _move_: Or, SECONDLY, If I have not full _Satisfaction_ this way, I would convey my _Hand_ into the WOMB, as soon as the _Waters_ break, to feel the _Pulsation_ of the NAVEL-STRING; which the nearer I feel to the _CHILD_’s _Belly_, the stronger I find it _beat_, if ALIVE: Or, THIRDLY, I would put my _Finger_ into the _INFANT_’s _Mouth_ to feel its _Tongue_, which (if ALIVE) I should perceive it to _stir_, as if it would _suck_. WHEREAS, on the contrary, we may know it to be DEAD, when a certain nauseous and cadaverous _Humour_ flows from the WOMB: Or, when the _Woman_ feels a great ponderous _Weight_ in her _BELLY_, tumbling always towards that _Side_, which she inclines to, or lies upon: As also when we find the _CHILD cold_ in the WOMB; or the _Umbilical_ Vessel without PULSE; or the TONGUE _immoveable_: Or lastly, when I perceive the _Dissolution of the Cuticle_ on the Top of the HEAD, I am then positive that the FOETUS is DEAD; because, as _this_ is not easily _dissolved_, neither does it happen immediately, but some Space of time after DEATH. IN this _Case_ then of a _dead CHILD_, the _Labour_ is commonly lingring and dangerous, because of the few, faint, and slow _PAINS_ which seize the _Woman_; so that _Nature_, being half overthrown by the _Death_ of the _INFANT_, which now can no ways help itself, absolutely requires to be assisted by the most expeditious ART: And _that_ best, in my humble Opinion, by the _Means_ and _Method_ following, _viz._——