De practyk der vroed'meesters en vroed'vrouwen, Of de wyse van een vrouw' te helpen in haar kindbaren. Be...

other practitioners (for lack of our means, following the common way) use the hooks, and always with much danger and bruising, and often with the taking of the life of mother and child: And through our manual operation one can hasten the delivery, as not the least difficulty adheres to it, with less labor for the woman, and shorter time, to great advantage, and without the least peril, as well for the mother as for the child; And therefore having reason to reject the use of the hooks by Doctors and Masters, (except where one is forced to use them on a monster) so may we condemn the same even more in the hands of midwives, as indeed happens here in England; over which undertaking in France a midwife could be brought to court, with the danger of being punished in the flesh for it.

This says Mr. Dr. Huyg Chamberlen, regarding their particular method, to deliver children who come straight, and remain stuck in the passage, without bruising. And although he has said in that time that this means was, for as far as he was aware, only known and in use by him and his family; it has nevertheless not failed, whether that same one, or similar, to come to the knowledge of others: in the same way as such, out of a singular favor, was communicated to us by an English Doctor and prominent man-midwife,

and we already practice it. A means, truly, that we deem that everyone with us will have to admit that it would be highly desirable that it were brought into use, and that more similar ones were invented, with which one could deliver a child, standing in a posture where it is very difficult to judge of the death or life thereof, entirely and unbruised; as also, when they present themselves in unnatural positions. This is what we strive for, and of which we have already given several proofs, both in living and in dead: Not that we say that such is always doable, not at all; for we know that the occurrences can well be such that it cannot be practiced, as Chamberlen and Portal also make known: Nevertheless, we deem that this matter is of such importance, that one ought to strive for it more and more with all one's might; as not only the life of the child depends on it, but also many times that of the mother.
Furthermore, we have faithfully shared this writer with our countrymen, binding ourselves not so much to the words as to the matters, striving to present them as clearly as was doable for us, and that even in those things where we [differ] from his [concept]