The accidents which have followed from the use of the forceps are numerous and terrible, and I could give a most horrifying account of them if it were necessary. It must be recollected however, that these accidents have chiefly followed from want of skill in managing the instrument, or from its being used under improper circumstances. It is true that there is always more or less of pain and injury to be dreaded from the forceps, even in the most favorable cases, and with the most competent operators, but this is no argument against their employment altogether. In every case where they are really called for, the female would, most probably, die undelivered, or have to be cut open, so that it is simply a choice of evils, of which the forceps are the least. The cases in which the forceps are absolutely necessary however, are VERY RARE, much more so in fact than many people suppose. _Patience_, and the persevering use of ordinary assistance, would probably succeed alone in half the cases where they are now employed. In Murphy's lectures on _difficult Labors_, he gives us some valuable statistics on this subject. He tells us that in _seventy-five thousand nine hundred and eleven labors_, the forceps were used only _one hundred and thirty-eight times_, or once in every _five hundred and fifty_ labors. In these one hundred and thirty-eight cases _thirty-five_ of the children died, and _ten_ of the mothers. Dr. Murphy however, thinks that the general results, to both mother and child, would be equally favorable if the forceps were _not used at all_, and he gives the tables of Dr. Collins to support his opinions. From these tables it really appears that, when all the difficult labors were left entirely to nature, the number of deaths was _just about the same as when the forceps are used_, in fact _rather less_, while the accidents, and subsequent evils, were not nearly so great. Dr. M. therefore thinks that the forceps should _never_ be used, except in a few cases where everything is quite favorable to the passage of the fœtus; and the uterus _cannot_ be made, in a reasonable time, to contract and expel it; and also when _immediate_ delivery is needed to save the mother's life, as in flooding. In cases of mere ordinary difficulty or delay, he decries their use entirely; and he evidently thinks that when the labor is _fit_ to be terminated by the forceps, nature can and will terminate it herself if left alone. There is no doubt but that they are now used a great deal _too much_, either from a desire to _operate_, or from _want of patience_; and I have no hesitation in expressing my opinion that more have been _killed_ than _saved_ by them. OTHER INSTRUMENTS.