The science and art of midwifery

Front matter

THE

OF

MIDWIFEEY.

Preface

In the preparation of this work, my purpose has been to present to the reader a fair statement of the changes which have been made by modern investigation in the views entertained respecting the physiology and pathology of pregnancy, labor, and childbed ; and I have endeavored to show that with advancing knowledge the art of midwifery has ceased to rest upon empirical rules, and is already, w'ith rare exceptions, the natural outcome of scientitic principles. To insure accuracy, I have spared no pains to subject the doctrines taught to rigorous clinical tests ; and I have everywhere sought to supplement and correct my own personal experiences by the recorded observations of others.

Because of the strangeness of much of the new obstetrical literature, I have considered it desirable to make copious references to recent authorities. At the same time, I hope that these references may prove of service to such as desire to examine for themselves original sources of information. If I have given sj^ecial prominence to the labors of German investigators, it has not been due to a lack of appreciation of valuable contributions from other foreign and home sources, but because, with large hospitals and with state encouragement, the obstetrical writers of Germany have of late years occupied a vantage-ground of which, to their credit, they have been prompt to avail themselves.

To make room for the results of recent scientific investigation, much of purely historical and controversial matter usually found in obstetrical treatises has been omitted.

vi

PREFACE.

Special stress has been laid upon the operations of midwifery and the influence exerted bj the more common varieties of contracted pelvis in the production of anomalies pertaining to pregnancy and labor.

In reviewing the field of practicCj I have not found it possible to discover any natural line of division between obstetrics and gynaecology. 'No man merits the reputation of a good accoucheur unless he possess a thorough appreciation not only of the immediate dangers but of the far-reaching consequences of the faulty j)ractice of his art ; nor can his equipment be looked upon as otherwise than defective unless it include an ability to repair surgical injuries at the time of their occurrence.

In submitting this work to the critical judgment of the medical profession, it is my earnest hope that the principles which have governed my own practice may prove a safe guide to others.

47 East Thirty-fourth Street, September, 1881.