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The midwiv-s of, ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome knew how to turn the child which lay transversely in its mother's pelvis so that it might be born. This knowledge was lost inthe Middle Ages, leaving but two alternatives. One was to kill the child and deliver it piecemeal. The other was to perform a Caesarian operation which in those days meant the inevitable death of the mother.: It was Ambrolse Pare, the great military surgeon who served five' French kings and Catherine Be* Medici as chief surgeon, who reintroduced podalic. version. Though inured to- the horrors of the battlefield, Pare was a man of compassionand humility. He once said of apatient, “I dressed his wounds and God healed him. It was about 1550 or 1560 that Pare taught podalic version and preacher'’ against f,'e butchery Of Caesarian section as it was then performed.Court Set Example*THE third important element was the entry of the physician into the field of obstetrics. Others *' bowed the example o£ Pare. The trend was slow; in fact opposition to the male obstetrician was to continue in some places into the 19th Century. But, nevertheless, a beginning had been. made. By the- middle of the 17th Century, the French court wassetting the example for the worldwith the employment of male obstetricians. These were known as''“accoucheurs,” a title held more dignified than that of male midwife or “midman.”The fourth great contribution to progress was an invention, the invention of the obsterical forceps. The Chamberlen brothers, Peter the older and Peter the younger, made this invention about 1588.The forceps, still one of the most important obstetrical instruments,consists of two wide flat blades, soBy DAVID DIETZScrlt|s-HowiiriI Science EditornpHE modem woman, having her baby in the maternity ward5,* of a clean and efficient hospital, attended by skilled physicians and alert nurses, may well give thanks that this is the Twentieth Century. For things were not always as they are today.There was time when hospitals were veritable Pest houses,centers of infection in which it was* --pratically impossible to escape contamination. “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here,” might well have been carved over the doors of all hospitals in those days when medical students would lay down their knives in the autopsy room and go direct to the maternity ward without stopping to wash their hands.The rise of modem obstetrics from the days of careless, stupid midwives, heartless, despicable quacks,and ignorant, brutal bartoer-surg-eons is one of the greatest pages in history of civilization. The heroes of that conquest deserve deeper homage than the kings and generals celebrated in history books for blood wars and territorial aggression.Seven elements make modern obstetrics what it is today. These seven represent the great contributions that lifted motherhood out of the dreadful conditions of the Middle Ages.The first was compassion. For nothing was possible until there was a desire to do something for the plight of mothers. The first attempt to break down the callous indifference of the Middle Ages came withthe publication in 1513 of a book by Eucharius Hoslin of Worms. It bore the quaint title of “The Garden of Roses for Pregnant Women and for Mid wives. Bosxn wrote the book at the request of a woman, Catherine,Duchess of Brunswick.It is probable that Roslin had never seen the birth of a child for at that time there was a tremendous prejudice against men attending such an event, A German doctor who in 1522 put on women's dresses in order to see a childbirth was burned at the stake, But Bosin did succeed in reviving the knowledge that had been possessed by the midwives of ancient Greece. His book was widely copied in all the countries of Europe and did much to improve the practice of midwifery.The second important element wascurved as to fit easily around the the rediscovery of podalic version, baby's head. Each blade is put into
Newspaper Details
El Paso Herald Post
El Paso, Texas, US
Tue, Sep 28, 1937
Page 12
Full Page
Clipped by
Raul M.
NA, 24 May 2022
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