When the pains become regular and severe, there is a discharge of slimy matter, tinged with blood, known by the name of _shows_. At this period of labor it will be proper for the person who attends the labor to examine, in order to ascertain what part of the child presents, which may be done by requesting the female to sit in the chair or on the side of the bed, and to extend the legs, when the longest finger, dipped in sweet oil, may be passed up the vagina to the part which presents, and the sense communicated will determine the nature of the presentation. In nineteen cases out of twenty, or in almost every case, the head will be felt. Frequent examinations should be avoided. Dr. Bard, speaking of examinations, remarks: “What terms shall I use to condemn, as it deserves, the abominable practice of boring, scooping, and stretching the soft parts of the mother, under the preposterous idea of making room for the child to pass. It is impossible to censure this dangerous practice too severely; it is always wrong; nor can there be any one period in labor, the most easy and natural, the most tedious and difficult, the most regular or preternatural in which it can be of the least use; in which it will not unavoidably do great mischief: it will render an easy labor painful; one which would be short, tedious; and one which, if left to nature, would terminate happily, highly dangerous.” “All that is proper to be done in a case of natural labor, from its commencement to its termination,” says Dr. McNair, “will suggest itself to any person of common understanding; and I have long labored under the conviction, that the office of attending women in their confinement should be intrusted to prudent females. There is not, according to my experience, and the reports of the most eminent surgeons, more than one case in three thousand that requires the least assistance. I am aware, however, that there are crafty physicians who attempt, and often succeed, in causing the distressed and alarmed female to believe that it would be altogether impossible for her to get over her troubles without their assistance; and, for the purpose of making it appear that their services are absolutely necessary, they will be continually interfering, sometimes with their instruments, when there is not the least occasion for it. There is no doubt in my mind but that one-half of the women attended by these men are delivered before their proper period; and this is the reason why we see so many deformed children, and meet with so many females who have incurable complaints.”