PRESENTATIONS OF THE FCETUS. 431 



should be likely to be ill, are also necessary previously to con- 

 mencing the operation. Moreover, the condition of the fa3tus must 

 be attended to, its position ascertained, and the hand to be introduced 

 to be decided upon. 



973. The christening or provisional baptism is only applicable to 

 a living child, and that, provided it be not a monster. Where there is 

 ground to fear that it is dead, we should say, " Child 1 baptise thee 

 &c. if thou art living;" and where there is reason to suspect it of 

 being a monster, we substitute for if thou art living, the words if 

 thou art ivorthy of being baptised. In order to baptise, some part 

 of the naked surface of the child should be touched, if not with the 

 fingers, at least with the water of christening, which it is sometimes 

 necessary to inject to a considerable distance. 



This precaution, which, as is manifest, belongs to the dogmas of 

 religion, ought never to be neglected with persons who make of it 

 an article of faith. Whatever be his personal belief, the physician 

 ought to respect the opinion of the families he attends, whether 

 they agree with his own or not; and to me nothing seems more 

 blameworthy than those pragmatical practitioners who, under pre- 

 tence of reforming consciences, openly revolt against every custom 

 that does not square with their own way of thinking. 



274. To ascertain the positson of the fcetus. The positions of 

 the head, the feet, the knees, and the breast, having been charac- 

 terised in the article on eutocia, I have now to attend only to those 

 of the trunk. 



Presentations of the shoulder, whether frank or inclined, will, if 

 the arm have not come down, be ascertained by the rounded form 

 of the tumor in the orifice, by the presence of the clavicle, the 

 ribs, the scapula, and one side of the neck. 



When the arm escapes first, it not only indicates that the shoul- 

 der is at the superior strait, but it also teaches us to which side of 

 the pelvis the vertex and also the face are turned. The thumb cor- 

 responds to the summit of the head, while the palm of the hand an- 

 swers to the abdominal surface. However, it is important to kftow, 

 that instead of being in a state of supination, or even of slight pro- 

 nation, the hand and the whole limb may be twisted in a contrary 

 direction, and especially into forced pronation; so that previously 

 to giving a definitive judgment, it is best to slip some of the fingers 

 into the vagina, along the cubital edge of the arm, as far as the arm- 

 pit so as to make sure of its relative situation. 

 . If the back should stop at the centre of the strait, the range of 

 the vertebral spines and the ribs would suffice to point it out. The 

 absence of ribs in the lumbar region, or on the one hand the hips, 



