Obstetrics : the science and the art . very much the spinal column iscurved. It is manifest that, ifpressure should be made upon thepelvic extremity of the column,in a direction from above downwards, it would be still more con-siderably bent—it would be an elastic resisting arch, and the outwardthrust of the cervical extremity of that arch would tend to (lex thehead, more and more, in proportion to the increasing violence of thethrusting effort, so that the lower the head descends, the more mustthe chin be pressed against the breast, and the more perfect the coinci-dence of the bi-parietal cir
Obstetrics : the science and the art . very much the spinal column iscurved. It is manifest that, ifpressure should be made upon thepelvic extremity of the column,in a direction from above downwards, it would be still more con-siderably bent—it would be an elastic resisting arch, and the outwardthrust of the cervical extremity of that arch would tend to (lex thehead, more and more, in proportion to the increasing violence of thethrusting effort, so that the lower the head descends, the more mustthe chin be pressed against the breast, and the more perfect the coinci-dence of the bi-parietal circumference with the planes of the excava-tion through which it happens to be passing. Unfortunately, the occipital extremity of the occipitofrontal diame-ter <\^^ not always dip, and the frontal extremity of it is sometimesfound to be the dipping pole. ]\\ such an instance, the chin is said todepart from the breast, and we discover a presentation of the crownof the head, of the forehead, or even of the face, the head in the last-. THE HEAD. 87 named case becoming completely extended, instead of descendingin flexion. But the account of these accidents must be deferreduntil we come to treat of those special presentations, which we hopeto be able fully to explain and describe. The child at full term is about nineteen inches in length. Speci-mens are occasionally met with of children twenty-one inches high;but they are rare. The average weight of a new-born child is somewhat above sevenpounds; very many of them weigh eight pounds ; and it is by no meansa rare occurrence to find a child weighing nine, ten, eleven, and twelvepounds at birth. I have never seen one yet that weighed fourteen pounds. Thelargest one I have weighed was thirteen pounds and a half avoirdu-pois. The mother soon afterwards perished with inflammation of thewomb and bowels. To witness the birth of such a monster is appal-ling. I have heard of children of seventeen, and even of eighteenpounds weight at birth
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1800, booksubjectmidwifery, booksubjectobstetrics
