282 MEDICAL SECTION 



thought the English-speaking race in the Colonies must be 

 ashamed at the way they were content here to turn out 

 women with three months' training. The trainers were 

 asked to do almost the impossible. They were asked to 

 give women the knowledge they ought to have for the care 

 of the women and babies of England, and they longed to 

 do more, and give them more knowledge, but how could 

 they ? If the country would legislate on the lines that the 

 midwife should have a longer training and should be paid 

 better, she believed there would be a better standard of 

 midwifery in England. Midwifery was a most important 

 matter, and she sincerely hoped the Conference would bring 

 forward something which would help them in England at 

 the present time. That day they had listened to a great deal 

 about artificial feeding of the child, but she had not heard 

 a word said about how to teach the mother to bring up the 

 baby. 



Dr. MARY SCHARLIEB (London) remarked that she 

 worked for a long time in Madras, where, owing to the 

 prejudice of the native women, most of the midwifery was 

 in the hands of women, and it was quite right that it should 

 be so there. The women who trained in the Government 

 lying-in hospitals had nine months' exceedingly good train- 

 ing, and even at the end of the nine months they did not 

 know too much. Therefore to say that a woman would be 

 fit in three months was not reasonable. How things were 

 to be altered was a matter for the public and perhaps the 

 Legislature. The Legislature could not legislate in advance 

 of public opinion, and they must therefore try and make 

 public opinion strong enough to force them. The doctors 

 ought to say what ought to be, and to demand that it should 

 be. 



Dr. DAVIS (Woolwich) said he would like to ask Miss 

 Gregory one question as to midwives recommending the 

 mother to put the baby to artificial feeding. It was an 

 exceedingly important point which was continually coming 

 forward. Miss Gregory seemed to suggest that the mid- 

 wife should take the responsibility of telling the mother 

 . when the time had come to give artificial feeding, but he 

 asked if the author really thought it quite wise for a midwife 

 trained for two years to give such advice, or whether she 

 did not think it a question which should be referred to a 

 medical man. He was bound to confess that there were 

 many medical men not so competent to advise on that point 

 as the midwife who had been trained for two years, but still 

 he thought they ought to impress the idea of the necessity 

 of getting a good opinion on such a point, and unless they 



