286 EUTOCIA. 



from the 1st Germinal, year IX, to the 31st December 1811, com- 

 prises 15,662 cases, of which 15,380 were spontaneous, and two 

 hundred and seventy-two difficult; the second, which extends from 

 the 1st of January 1812 to the 31st December 1820, comprises 

 22,243 labors, of which 21,974 terminated without any artificial as- 

 sistance, and two hundred and sixty-nine by the assistance of art. 

 According to Boer, there were 958 cases from September 1787 to the 

 same period in 1790, in the Obstetrical School of Vienna; and of 

 this number seventeen required turning, the forceps, or the perfora- 

 tion of the head; from September 1790 to September 1791, there 

 were eighteen cases of dystocia out of 950 labors; from September 

 1791 to September 1792, out of 1015 labors, there were eight re- 

 quiring turning, and seven the forceps; from the 1st January 1801 to 

 31st December 1802, among 2234 labors, thirteen were concluded 

 by turning, eight by forceps, and two by the perforation of the head; 

 from January 1st, 1803, to December 31st, 1805, out of 2,399 la- 

 bors there were five cases of turning, eleven of application of the for- 

 ceps, and three of perforation; in 1806, out of 2030 cases, seven re- 

 quired turning, two the forceps, and one the perforation of the head. 

 At Heidelberg, out of 1296 labors mentioned by M. Nsegele, 1230 

 were natural, and sixty-four not natural; which gives the proportion 

 of one to twenty, while the view by Boer exhibits, upon a total of 

 9590 only 102 requiring turning, the employment of the forceps, or 

 the perforation of the head; which makes about one case of dystocia 

 in ninety-five. But these proportions must be understood only as 

 showing the practice of the authors who have published them, and 

 not practice out of the public establishments. The discrepancies 

 now existing in reports on this head are already sufficiently great; as 

 may be evident upon reference to the London and Paris reports, and 

 those of M. Boer, and those of the clinic at Pavia, for, according to 

 M. Lovati, out of sixty-seven labors, twenty-two required to be as- 

 sisted. However, the proportions found in private practice are still 

 more variable, for, in great cities as well as in the country, the re- 

 sources of art are called in, at least in one case in six, by some indi- 

 viduals, whilst others employ them only once in ten, twenty, or 

 thirty, or even sixty, eighty or one hundred cases. 



716. Admitting the result of the last period mentioned by the 

 Vienna professor, as the farthest possible limit, as the last term, and 

 beyond which nature cannot pass, we ask, can we rely upon enjoy- 

 ing equal advantages ? On this subject I think it important that 

 we should not confound the possible with the useful. Although 

 Boer's work proved that only one case out of one hundred and 

 Ihirty-two labors was terminated by the assistance of art, it does 



