elf with the feet
first, has its arms extended above its head; but the midwife must not
receive it so, but put it back into the womb, unless the passage be
extraordinarily wide, and then she must anoint both the child and the
womb, and it is not safe to draw it out, which must, therefore, be done
in this manner.--The woman must lie on her back with her head low and
her buttocks raised; and then the midwife must compress the stomach and
the womb with a gentle hand, and by that means put the child back,
taking care to turn the child's face towards the mother's back, raising
up its thighs and buttocks towards the navel, so that the birth may be
more natural.

If the child happens to come out with one foot, with the arm extended
along the side and the other foot turned backwards; then the woman must
be immediately put to bed and laid in the above-described position; when
the midwife must immediately put back the foot which appears so, and the
woman must rock herself from side to side, until she finds that the
child has turned, but she must not alter her position nor turn upon her
face. After this she may expect her pains and must have great assistance
and cordials so as to revive and support her spirits.

At other times it happens that the child lies across in the womb, and
falls upon its side; in this case the woman must not be urged in her
labour; therefore, the midwife when she finds it so, must use great
diligence to reduce it to its right form, or at least to such a form in
the womb as may make the delivery possible and most easy by moving the
buttocks and guiding the head to the passage; and if she be successful
in this, let the woman rock herself to and fro, and wait with patience
till it alters its way of lying.

Sometimes the child hastens simply by expanding its legs and arms; in
which, as in the former case, the woman must rock herself, but not with
violence, until she finds those parts fall to their proper station; or
it may be done by a gentle compression of the womb; but if neither of
them avail, the midwife must close the legs of the infant with her hand,
and if she can get there, do the like by the arms, and so draw it forth;
but if it can be reduced of itself to the posture of a proper birth it
is better.

If the infant comes forward, both knees forward, and the hands hanging
down upon the thighs, then the midwife must put both knees upward, till
the feet appear; taking hold of which with her left hand