From the mother, by reason of the indisposition of the body, or from some particular part only, and chiefly the womb, as when the woman is weak, and the mother is not active to expel the burden, or from weakness or disease, or want of spirits; or it may be from some strong passion of the mind with which she was once possessed; she may be too young, and so may have the passage too strait; or too old, and then, if it be her first child, because her pains are too dry and hard, and cannot easily be dilated, as happens also to them which are too lean; likewise those who are either small, short or deformed, as crooked women, who have not breath enough to help their pains, and to bear them down, and persons that are crooked having sometimes the bones of the passage not well shaped. The cholic also hinders labour, by preventing the true pains; and all great and active pains, as when the woman is taken with a violent fever, a great flooding, frequent convulsions, bloody flux, or any other great distemper. Also, excrements retained cause much difficulty, and so does a stone in the bladder or when the bladder is full of urine, without being able to void it; or when the woman is troubled with great and painful piles. It may also be from the passages, when the membranes are thick, the orifice too strait, and the neck of the womb not sufficiently open, the passages pressed and strained by tumours in the adjacent parts, or when the bones are too firm, and will not open, which very much endangers the mother and child; or when the passages are not slippery, by reason of the waters being broke too soon, or the membranes being too thin. The womb may also be out of order with respect to its bad situation, or conformation, having its neck too strait, hard, and callous, which may easily be so naturally, or may come by accident, being many times caused by a tumor, an imposthume, ulcer, or superfluous flesh. As to hard labour occasioned by the child it is when the child happens to stick to a mole, or when it is so weak it cannot break the membranes; or if it be too big all over, or at the head only, or if the natural vessels are twisted about its neck; when the belly is hydropical; or when it is monstrous, having two heads, or joined to another child; also, when the child is dead, or so weak that it can contribute nothing to its birth; likewise when it comes wrong; or when there are two or more. And to all these various difficulties there is oftentimes one more, and that is, the ignorance of the midwife, who, for want of understanding in her business, hinders nature in her work instead of helping her.