It is contended by some that the delivery may be effected, under peculiarly favorable circumstances, when the passage measures only two and a half inches, and at all events the effort should be made; but for the sake of the mother such cases should not be left long, as the chance is so small, and the risk of delay so great. When the passage is _less_ than two and a half inches, spontaneous or artificial delivery is allowed to be impossible, and the only alternatives then are to dismember the child or open the mother. Which of these should be done depends on circumstances. Whenever the child _can_ be brought away by the natural passages, though it be piecemeal, it always is so brought, unless the danger to the mother be greater than by the cesarian operation, in which case that operation is resorted to. By means of an instrument called the _Cephalotribe_, which crushes the head, the child may be brought away, unless very large, when the pelvis only measures _two inches_. When the passage is _less than two inches_, the only resort is to the cesarean operation, which sometimes succeeds, and saves both mother and child, though more frequently the mother sinks. The necessity for all these frightful operations is now much less than formerly, _and may be done away_ _with altogether_. This important fact should be known universally, and also the means to be resorted to. In the first place, every young female should be examined, before marriage, by a competent person, if there be the slightest reason to suspect deformity; and in case the deformity is found to exist, the consequences if she becomes pregnant, must be laid before her. If, after being told this, she _will marry_, or has already done so, the means of _avoiding conception_ should be placed at her disposal, so that she may not be made, of necessity, a helpless victim. These means need not be described here, though I have no hesitation in referring to them. When I know that the _life_, or _life-long health_, of a female, depends on her not becoming pregnant, I consider it my duty to put such means at her disposal, if she desires it. In many instances I have known females suffer, several times, the most frightful tortures, merely to bring into the world the mangled fragments of a dismembered child, with the greatest risk to their own lives; and in others I have known them in constant dread of becoming pregnant, because they were conscious it would be their death warrant. In such cases I leave it to _humanity_, and _common sense_, as to whether such information should be withheld? _I_ could not reconcile it with my notions of _duty_ to withhold it.