462 DYSTOCIA. 



felt at the orifice at the same time with the feet, and it is at least 

 certain that they may precede the head at the inferior strait ; so 

 that, although the presence of the hand commonly indicates a posi- 

 tion of the shoulder, it may also happen that it is only a complica- 

 tion of a head or pelvis position. 



1043. Until, in the last century, nothing was deemed more dread- 

 ful than the appearance of the arm in the course of a labor; and 

 in our day, the common people still look upon such an occurrence 

 as extremely dangerous. But these fears are explained by the 

 fact, that until the time of Levret it was not thought possible to 

 penetrate into the womb without having previously returned the 

 prolapsed member into its cavity. In reflecting upon the dangers 

 occasioned by the ridiculous or barbarous measures adopted in cases 

 of this kind, could it be believed that physicians would have seriously 

 recommended that a piece of ice should be put into the child's hand, 

 that it should be pinched or fdlipped, to make it pull its arm back! 

 Others have invented a sort of forks, or crutches, &c. to push it up 

 with, by acting upon the chest; the more timid pushed it up to the 

 top of the vagina, and sometimes succeeded in returning it into the 

 cavity of the womb; but their attempts were generally in vain, and 

 the arm, if somewhat swelled seemed to them to constitute an 

 insurmountable obstacle to the introduction of the hand into the os 

 uteri. Under such circumstances, the old women, and even the 

 physician himself, could imagine no alternative save pulling at the 

 arm until the child yielded and came away doubled, or until the 

 arm was torn off. Pare advises that the soft parts below the 

 shoulder should be first cut round, and that we should then resort 

 to sharp pincers to cut the bone with; De la Motte recommends us 

 to twist the limb round like the limb of a tree that we might wish 

 to tear off from the trunk; lastly, the most timid were satisfied 

 with making deep sacrifications in the tumefied part, so as to lessen 

 its size. 



Happily, at the age in which we live, such a dreadful doctrine is 

 held by nobody. Baudelocque and his successors did it justice long 

 ago; and at present it is not without a sentiment of indignation, that 

 we still hear from time to time of practitioners who dare to conform 

 to it in practice. I should not even insist upon this point, had not 

 certain persons had the inconceivable audacity to renew this revolt- 

 ing practice of late years in Bretagne, Normandy, Champagne, 

 and even in the environs of Montpellier, almost at the same time; 

 particularly, had not these practitioners found some defenders in the 

 capital; had not certain persons had the hardihood to publish, in 

 1826, 1827 and 1828, various pamphlets to justify a conduct so far 



