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217 HUNTER (WILLIAM).

The general employment of male practitioners in the treatment of pregnancy appears to have been accompanied, in our own comitry at least, by a diminution in the mortality of women at that most important crisis, and is hence a subject of congratulation. It is not that females are unfit for the task, but that they are not in the habit, with us, of receiving a professional education suitable to overcome the difficulties which occa- sionally present themselves ; and that ignorance and prejudice are far more dangerous than a total abandonment to Nature. In some countries, on the other hand, the midwife is excellently trained in her art ; at Vienna, at Florence, at Paris, and in some other cities, the most ample opportunities are afforded for her instruction ; and few accoucheurs will probably be more successful than midwives so well initiated as Madame Boivin, and others of her description.

Astruc could find no earlier instance of the use of men-midwives than at the confinement of Ma- dame de la Valiere in 1663. She was anxious for concealment, and called in Julian Clement, an eminent surgeon of the time. He was secretly conducted into the house, where she lay covering her face with a hood, and where the king is said to have been hidden ])ehind the curtains. He