tion to practitioners, full reliance may in all reason be placed upon the practical obstetric facts disclosed; which, being described in the following pages in the original directorial language, afford convincing exemplification as to the epicene practice.

Should any of the details be thought by some persons to be improper for a familiar exposition, it must be borne in mind that such descriptive quotations are adduced as foundation for the arguments of objection which are urged against man-midwifery, in the proceedings and liabilities attendant upon the practice; and which, as evidenced by those quotations, so demonstratively prove it to be obnoxious to animadversion: and for such reason, could not consistently be omitted.

A celebrated professional writer* has said, "No practitioner of honour

* Dr. Alexander Hamilton.

would ever presume to put any question to a patient which might convey the most distant idea of indelicacy." Which sentiment, honourable as it is to the propounder, carries with it a perfect condemnation of the practice of midwifery by men.

The avowed acts which are incidental to midwifery, being incontrovertibly of gross indelicacy when the practitioner is a man, they decidedly impinge upon the position of honour propounded as a qualification; and therefore, the adducing those quotations to descant upon, (but which indeed intuitively shew the incongruity of the practice!) comes duly within the scope of propriety in furtherance of the object of this treatise ; and in such consideration, the author rather justifies than offers needless apology for their introduction. fact from the professional passages which are quoted in the following pages, indelicacy appears to be so

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all-pervading when the practitioner is a man, that it becomes a question, upon the position stated, whether a practitioner of honour can possibly pursue his course? Numerous passages might be quoted of interrogations of indelicacy, as incidental to their practice, independent of the quotations so adduced, and of that from Dr. Hamilton above; but the following further passage from his work may be sufficient to prove that the publication of this treatise in its tone of apprehension and of caution, is fully warranted by the circumstances of liability to which, in moral consequences, women are subject by the practice of midwifery by men. After describing certain proceedings the Dr. says, "This may be commonly done without having recourse to the painful and indelicate means which are often proposed and practised; for by feeling the state of the belly alone, a judicious practitioner will be very

seldom mistaken on such occasions." Thus, inasmuch as overt acts go far beyond what any mere questions can imply, however extensive or searching may be the course of oral exami nation, it is unnecessary to quote any such passages of interrogation.

The subject, in truth, being altogether of a difficult nature to deal with in the way of exposition and discussion, the author feels himself at liberty to claim, and entitled to receive, all the indulgence which impartial and candid readers can concede. In regard to the quotations from general literature, which, possibly, are too profusely interspersed throughout the treatise, the author hopes they may serve so to enliven the topic as to render a recourse to Acopica wholly unnecessary, for which medicine the general reader too frequently finds occasion in the perusal of any work which is strictly and merely professional. This, how

ever, is not so; and it having been his object to gain the attention of readers towards an important and interesting subject, which is somewhat repulsive and overwhelming in the intensity with which, when discussed, it works upon the mind and feelings; he has, therefore, endeavoured to diversify, equally as to enliven, the pages. In consideration of such object he trusts that the quotations will be tolerated, and that any supposed superabundance of them will be excused, more especially as in general application they served to enable him to carry out his meaning in forcible effect by implication or inuendo, towards conclusions which he could not so properly, nor even so appositely express, in original writing.

Choosing to write on so peculiar a subject, the author has chosen, as a mere matter of preference, to publish anonymously. Nevertheless, in treating of the various considerations hav