A treatise on the science and practice of midwifery . ver the occiput, itis impossible to make traction in the direc-tion of the pelvic axes, as the instrumentwill then infallibly slip. If traction bemade in any other direction, there mustbe a risk of injuring the maternal struc-tures, or of changing the position of thehead. Hence there is every reason for dis-carding the fillet as a tractor, or as a sub-stitute for the forceps, even in the simplestcases. It is quite possible that it may find auseful application in certain cases in whichthe vectis maj also be used, viz., as a rec-tifier of mal
A treatise on the science and practice of midwifery . ver the occiput, itis impossible to make traction in the direc-tion of the pelvic axes, as the instrumentwill then infallibly slip. If traction bemade in any other direction, there mustbe a risk of injuring the maternal struc-tures, or of changing the position of thehead. Hence there is every reason for dis-carding the fillet as a tractor, or as a sub-stitute for the forceps, even in the simplestcases. It is quite possible that it may find auseful application in certain cases in whichthe vectis maj also be used, viz., as a rec-tifier of malposition, and, from the com-parative facility of its introduction, itwould probably be the preferable instru-ment of the two. [The whalebone fillet was the greatweapon of delivery in old Japanese ob-stetrics, and according to their obstetricalplates must have done fearful execution,especially when placed over the body of the foetus, and operatedupon by a windlass. Fortunately for the native women, science isintroducing a more rational method.—Ed.]. Wilmots CHAPTEE V. OPERATIONS INVOLVING DESTRUCTION OF THE FCETUS. Operations involving the destruction and mutilation of the childwere among the first practised in midwifery. Craniotomy was evi-dently known in the time of Hippocrates, as he mentions a mode ofextracting the head by means of hooks. Celsus describes a similaroperation, and was acquainted with the manner of extracting thefoetus in transverse presentations by decapitation; similar procedureswere also practised and described by Aetius and others among theancient writers. The physicians of the Arabian school not onlyemployed perforators for opening the head, but were acquainted withinstruments for compressing and extracting it. Religious Objections to Craniotomy.—Until the end of the seven-teenth century this class of operation was not considered justifiable OPERATIONS INVOLVING DESTRUCTION OF F(ETUS. 485 in the case of living children; it then came to be cliscnssed wh
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookidtre, booksubjectobstetrics
