y be born; especially when there happens to be a considerable
interval of time between what we may call the birth of the child's head,
and the protrusion of its body. And if this may happen where the best
assistance is at hand, it is still more likely to happen when there is
none; that is, where the woman is delivered by herself.

3. We frequently see children born, who from circumstances in their
constitution, or in the nature of the labour, are but barely alive; and
after breathing a minute or two, or an hour or two, die in spite of all
our attention. And why may not that misfortune happen to a woman who is
brought to bed by herself?

4. Sometimes a child is born so weak, that if it be left to itself,
after breathing or sobbing, it might probably die, yet may be roused to
life by blowing into its lungs applying warmth and volatiles, rubbing
it, &c. &c. But in the cases which we have been considering such means
of saving life are not to be expected.

5. When a woman is delivered by herself, a strong child may be born
perfectly alive, and die in a very few minutes for want of breath;
either by being upon its face in a pool made by the natural discharges,
or upon wet cloaths; or by the wet things over it collapsing and
excluding air, or drawn close to its mouth and nose by the suction of
breathing. An unhappy woman delivered by herself, distracted in her
mind, and exhausted in her body, will not have strength or recollection
enough to fly instantly to the relief of the child. To illustrate this
important truth, I shall give a short case.

A lady, at a pretty distant quarter of the town, was taken with labour
pains in the night-time. Her nurse, who slept in the house, and her
servants, were called up, and I was sent for. Her labour proved hasty,
and the child was born before my arrival. The child cried instantly, and
she felt it moving strongly. Expecting every moment to see me come into
her bedchamber, and being afraid that the child might be someway
injured, if an unskilful person should take upon her the office of a
midwife upon the occasion, she would not permit the nurse to touch the
child, but kept herself in a very fatiguing posture, that the child
might not be pressed upon, or smothered. I found it lying on its face,
in a pool which was made by the discharges; and so completely dead, that
all my endeavours to rouze it to life proved vain.

These facts deserve a serious consideration from the public: and as I a