An introduction to the practice of midwifery / by Thomas Denman.

  • Denman, Thomas, 1733-1815.
Date:
1821
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An introduction to the practice of midwifery / by Thomas Denman. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    the pelvis.* To this may also be referred much of the popular treatment of women in child-bed, and many popular expressions in use at the present time. But this opinion hath been controverted by many writers, who assert, that there is neither a separation nor a disposition to separate; but that when either of them does happen, they are not to be esteemed as common effects attendant on the parturient state, but as diseases of the connecting parts.f The disputants on each side have appealed to presumptive argu- ments, and to facts proved by the examination of the bodies of those who have died in childbed, in justification of their several opinions. But, notwithstanding *\\ that has been said upon the subject, I know not that we are authorized by the experience of the present time, to say, that a separation, or a disposition to separate, prevails universally at the latter part of pregnancy, or at the time of labour; yet, that these effects are often, if not ge- nerally produced, may be gathered from the pain and weakness so often mentioned and complained of, at the parts where the bones of the pelvis are joined to each other, before and after de- livery. In some cases, pregnant women are also sensible of a motion at the junction ol the bones, especially at the symphysis of the ossa pubis, and the noise which occasional! v accompanies this motion, may be frequently heard by an attentive by-stander. A strong presumptive argument in favour of the separation of the bones has been drawn from quadrupeds. In these, the liga- ments which pass from the obtuse processes of the ischia to the sacrum, on which the firmness of the junction of the bones very much depends, and which, at all other times, resist any impres- sion attempted to be made upon them, are for several days pre- vious to parturition, gradually deprived of their strength, and the animal walks in such a manner a> would incline us to be- lieve could only be produced by a separation of the bones of the pelvis. Now, it is not reasonable to conclude, that a circum- stance which generally takes place in one class of viviparous ani- * Edoctus assero, ossa pubis saepe ab invicern in partu laxari, emollito eorum cartilaginoso connexu, totamque hypogastrii regio- nem, ad miraculum usque, atnpliari ; non quidem ab aquosae sub- stantias profusione, sed sua sponte, ut fructus maturi excludendis suis seminibus solent hiscere. Harv. Exercitat. lviii. In partu difficili et laborioso ossa ischii aliquantulum a se invicen dehiscunt. Ruysch, Adv. Dec. 2. t Les uns et les autres disent, qui ces os que se separent ainsi a l'heure de l'accouchement, y ont ete disposez peu a peu auparavant, par des humiditez glaireuses qui s'ecoulent des environs de la ma- trice, lesquelles amollissent pour lors le cartilage qui les joint fer- mement, en d'autres temps. Mais ces deux opinions sont aussi eloig- ners de la verity que de la raison. Mauriceauy torn. 1. liv. 2. cap. 1.