vi DEDICATION. 



did not seem improper, therefore, to add to our stock one of 

 the most enlightened and recent of the French authorities. 



M. Velpeau will readily be admitted, by those who read 

 this volume, to be a man of talents and industry of a high 

 order; an admission, confirmed not merely by reference to his 

 writings, but also by the sentiments of public journahsts in 

 his own country, where the competition among men of letters 

 is so great and stirring, that he who attains to distinction, will 

 be, ipso facto, considered as having deserved it. In the re- 

 public of letters in France palmam qui meruit ferat may be 

 regarded as a maxim in daily use and practice. 



The admirable composition of Dr. Denman, of which Pro- 

 fessor Francis has lately furnished the pubUc with an improved 

 edition, and the systems of Burns, Ashwell, and Ryan, camiot 

 be regarded as completely filling the chasm which has opened 

 in the last half century between the old limits of the science 

 and its present advanced station. I ought not in this enumera- 

 tion to omit a reference to the work of Dr. Dewees, which, 

 rich as it is in business details, and valuable for the soundness 

 of its practical precepts, may, nevertheless, without the fear of 

 disparagement, be considered less full and complete in regard 

 to its anatomical and physiological features, and the ample 

 collation of good authorities, than the volume which I have 

 the honor to present to you. To say that Dr. Dewees's "Sys- 

 tem of Midwifery" is creditable to the science and to himself, 

 is not enough, where it is universally admitted to be honorable 

 ^ to the country. 



Denman, Burns, Dewees and Velpeau, will, I trust, be con- 

 sidered as a collection of authorities, at the least, small enough 

 for any student or any practitioner of the delicate, difficult and 

 responsible Art of Midwifery: if so, I shall be. absolved from 

 the charge of adding to the number of authors, one whose 

 works are useless or superfluous. 



In relation to the manner in which I have executed my 



