23322 CULPEPER’s ENGLISH PHYSICIAN, 
 foft and indolent to the touch, and abfolutely deprived of motion. If the placenta 
comes firft, and is hot, the child ig alive. Above al], if any part of the infant’s 
body appears, and is full of {mall velicles livid, foft, and brittle, it is not only dead, 
but beginning to putrify. In thefe cafes it muft be extraéted by the feet, and if it 
cannot be done otherwife, with an inftrument ; but a man-midwife’s affiftance mutt 
not be neglected. When the foetus dies before the time of birth, and the membranes. 
continue whole, it will not putrify ; therefore the work mutt be left to nature, for 
birth-pains will at length come on {pontaneoufly. If the navel-ftring appears firft, 
and is compreffed foon after by the head of the infant, its life is in danger, and the 
remedy is’ to return the infant, and reduce the cord, till the head fills the-orifice ; 
bur, if this cannot be done, the woman muft be put in a fuitable pofture, and the 
child mutt be extracted by the feet. When the placenta prefents itfelf, which is 
known by its fpungy, foft, texture, and the great quantity of blood flowing at the 
fame time, it requires {peedy affiftance, If the membranes are entire, they fhould be 
broken; the placenta and membranes fhould be reduced into the uterus, and the 
child be extracted by the feet; which js more eafily performed in the membranes 
than in the uterus, and put into a. proper fituation: but, if the placenta is difen- — 
gaged from its membranes, and thele aré broke, and the placenta, or both, appear 
_ before the infant, they may be brought away firft, and the infant immediately after- 
wards. When there is a great Aux of blood from outward accidents, the infant 
fhould be immediately delivered by art, though the mother is not in true labour. If 
| the uterus is opened, and the vagina relaxed, as in this cafe they commonly are, the 
child muft be extracted by the feet ; if not, they muft be mollified with freth oil, 
and the infant delivered as before. After all laborious births, the woman is gene- 
. fally weak, and apt to faint: therefore, her {pirits fhould be kept up by a glafs of hot 
_ wine, or analeptic water, which mutt be repeated as oft as there isoccafion. If, after 
_ the child is born, the placenta does not faon follow, and it adheres tothe womb, the | 
= _ Woman is not to change her pofture immediately, but the midwife’s hand is to be 
introduced into the womb, as far as the placenta, taking the navel-ftring for a 
ide ; and, taking hold of it, fhe is to move it gently to and fro, in order to loofen’ 
extract its If it adheres too clofely, it is not to be pulled forcibly, or broken: _ 
beft to wait half an hour, keeping the hand in the uterus, for fear of its 
it comes away of itfelf, or may be feparated without force, as in No. 
its the method of feparating and extracting the placenta from the 
does not ealily follow the infant, There the navel-ftring A A is 
nd B, while the right hand D is. thereby guided in the collapfed 
1¢ pl: c nt ak, which is hereby feparated from the uterus, If, through 
Of the midwife, the orifice of the womb clofes, before it is come — 
: et See a as 
2 
