PAT 
PAR 
purfue the principle of the rule here laid down. All the 
partners are bound by what any one of them does in the 
courfe of the bufinefs; for, quoad hoc, each partner is 
confidered as an authorized agent for the reft.” Paley’s 
Moral and Political Philofophy. 
PAR'TRIDGF,, f. [perdrix, Fr. pertris, Wei. perdix, 
Lat.] A bird of game. See Tetrao. —The king is come 
out to feek a flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge in 
the mountains, i Sam. xxvi. 20. 
PAR'TRIDGE B A'Y, a bay on the fouth coaft of La¬ 
brador. Lat. 50. 16. N. Ion. 63. 20 W. 
PAR'TRIDGE FIE'LD, a town of the ftate of Maf- 
fachufetts : twenty-fix miles weft-north-weft of Nor¬ 
thampton. 
PAR'TRIDGE I'SL AND, an ifland of the South Pa¬ 
cific Ocean, in the vicinity of Van Diemen’s Land, and 
difcovered in the voyage for fearch of La Peroufe, May 
1792 ; and fo called by fome of the crew who firft ob- 
lerved it, from an apprehenfion that it abounded with 
partridges, which were probably miftaken for quails. 
This fmall ifland is only about 100 toifes in length, and 
fituated in lat. 43. 23. 30. S. On the (liore was found the 
low' fpecies of parfley, which they called Apium proftra- 
tum, in great abundance. Many fpecies of the Cafuarina 
P A R T U 
PARTURI'TION, f. [from parturio, Lat. to bring 
forth ; or from partus, child-labour, of pario.~\ The aft of 
bringing a child into the world.—Confirmation of parts 
is required, not only unto the previous conditions of 
birth, but alfo unto the parturition, or very birth. Brown's 
Vulg. Err .— Any production.— The ardency of love, 
which we have to any new parturition, is by fome fpace 
of time abated, after that we have diverted to fome other 
employment; amongft which, as amongft children, com¬ 
monly the youngeft is moft affefted. Injir. forOrat. 1682. 
INTRODUCTION. 
The art of delivering women of the mature foetus muft 
be nearly coeval, as a praftice, with the creation. At 
firft it was very Ample, and confifted folely in the know¬ 
ledge of the method of dividing the navel-ftring. Ani¬ 
mals ufuaily bite it afunder with their teeth. Women 
probably firft made ufe of the (harp edge of a ftone, or ol 
a fliell, for the purpofe ; which is the mode If ill praftifed 
in barbarous countries. As difficulties would occasionally 
occur, either in the exclufion of the foetus, or of the 
placenta, or after-birth, fome female friend or relative 
would be called upon to give affiftance. If the placenta 
happened to be detained beyond the ufual time, which is 
one of the moft ordinary accidents in labours, the affift- 
ant would naturally attempt to draw it away by the funis, 
which Ihe would find hanging from the pudenda. If a 
leg or arm of the foetus prefented, inftead of the head, 
lhe would, doubtlefs, take hold of the prefenting part, 
and endeavour by that means to draw the child from its 
confinement. In thefe attempts, if it fliould be one of 
the lower limbs that prefented, her exertions w'ould ge¬ 
nerally be crowned with fuccefs; but, as the obftacle 
making affiftance neceflary fuppofes a relative difpropor- 
tion between the birth and the paffage through which it 
is to pafs, the child would ufuaily be dead born. On the 
other hand, if an arm prefented, the fame fuccefs would 
attend the exertions of the midwife in a few cafes only; 
as in premature birth, or where the child happened to be 
remarkably fmall. It would more commonly happen, 
that all attempts to bring the child in that pofture would 
fail ; but the uterus perlifting to exert itfelf, or, in other 
words, the labour-pains continuing, they would fome- 
C63 
grow here; and, among the plants, feenfor the firft time, 
was a remarkable fpecies of the Limodorum. Numerous 
kinds of ferns were alfo collefted, and a beautiful fpecies 
of the Glycine, remarkable for its fcarlet flower". No 
frefh water was found upon this ifland ; though feveral 
forfaken huts (howed that it had been frequented by the 
favages. Peroufe, vol. i. 
PAR'TULA, or Partun'da, in heathen mythology, 
the goddefs who was fuppofed to prefuie over pregnant 
women, and to affift at the child-birth. 
PAR'TURE, f. Departure. Not in ufe. 
The tydings bad, 
Which now in faery court all men do tell, 
Which turned hath great mirth to mourning fad, 
Is the late mine of proud Marinell, 
And fudden parture of faire Florimell 
To find him forth. SpenJ'er's F. Q. 
PARTU'RIENT, adj. [parturient, Lat.] About to 
bring forth : 
In mid ftate, I call’t parturient, 
And fliould bringforth that live divinity 
Within ourfelves. More's Imm. of the Soul. 
R I T I O N. 
times thruft down the feet or the breech of the child, 
the head and fhoulders gradually receding, and riling 
upwards, and it would at length be forced into the world 
in that pofition. In thefe cafes, though the child would 
be dead, the woman would frequently recover. It would 
more often happen, that this evolution would not take 
place, and that the woman, exhaufted by long-continued 
and fruitlefs exertions, bruifed and injured by the pref- 
fure of the fcetus, and tormented by thediftenfion of her 
bladder, no egrefs being allowed to the urine, would 
fall a facrifice to the preffure of fo many accumulated evils. 
There can be hardly any doubt that, in the firft ages, 
the praftice of this art was altogether in the hands of 
women, and that men W’ere never employed but in the 
utmoft extremity. Indeed it is natural to fuppofe, that, 
while the fimplicity of the early ages remained, women 
would have recourfe to none but perfons of their own fex, 
in difeafes peculiar to it; accordingly, we find that in 
Egypt it was praftifed by women. See Gen. xxxv. 17. 
xxxviii. 28, 29. Exod. i. 15-21. 
Hyginus relates, that in Athens a law’ was made, pro¬ 
hibiting women and flaves from praftifing phylic in any 
fhape : but the modefty of the fex rendered it afterwards 
abfolutely neceflary to allow free women the privilege of 
{haring this art with the men. 
In the Harmonia Gynatciorum, there are extant feveral 
direftions and recipes on the fubjeft of midwifery, col¬ 
lefted from the writings of one Cleopatra, interfperfed 
with thofe of Mofchion and Prifcian ; and fome people 
imagine this was no other than the famous Cleopatra 
queen of Egypt, becaufe, in the preface, Arfinoe is men¬ 
tioned as the author’s filter. Galen, who lived two 
hundred years after this Egyptian queen, advifes the 
reader to confult the writings of one of that name, but 
does not inform us whether lhe was or was not that cele¬ 
brated princefs; fo that, in all probability, it was fome 
other perfon of the fame name, as the ftudy and exercife 
of fuch an art was not at all fuited to the difpofition of 
fuch a gay voluptuary as queen Cleopatra is defcribed to 
have been. 
PEtius tranfcribes fome chapters from the wrnrks of 
one Afpafia, touching the method of delivering and ma¬ 
naging women in natural labours; but gives no account 
of 
