to that posture; which may easily be done
if she takes a proper hold of the body when the breasts and arms are
forth, in the manner we have said, and draw it, turning it in proportion
on that side it most inclines to, till it be turned with the face
downwards, and so, having brought it to the shoulders, let her lose no
time, desiring the woman at the same time to bear down, that so drawing
the head at that instant may take its place, and not be stopped in the
passage, though the midwife takes all possible care to prevent it. And
when this happens, she must endeavour to draw forth the child by the
shoulders (taking care that she separate not the body from the head, as
I have known it done by the midwife), discharging it by little and
little from the bones in the passage with the fingers of each hand,
sliding them on each side opposite the other, sometimes above and
sometimes under, till the work be ended; endeavouring to dispatch it as
soon as possible, lest the child be suffocated, as it will unavoidably
be, if it remain long in that posture; and this being well and
carefully effected, she may soon after fetch away the after-birth, as I
have before directed.

SECT. III.--_How to bring away the Head of the Child, when separated
from the Body, and left behind in the Womb._

Though the utmost care be taken in bringing away the child by the feet,
yet if it happen to be dead, it is sometimes so putrid and corrupt, that
with the least pull the head separates from the body and remains alone
in the womb, and cannot be brought away but with a manual operation and
great difficulty, it being extremely slippery, by reason of the place
where it is, and from the roundness of its figure, on which no hold can
well be taken; and so very great is the difficulty in this case that
sometimes two or three very able practitioners in midwifery have, one
after the other, left the operation unfinished, as not able to effect
it, after the utmost industry, skill and strength; so that the woman,
not being able to be delivered, perished. To prevent which fatal
accident, let the following operation be observed.

When the infant's head separates from the body, and is left alone
behind, whether owing to putrefaction or otherwise, let the operator
immediately, without any delay, while the womb is yet open, direct up
his right hand to the mouth of the head (for no other hole can there be
had), and having found it let him put one or two of his f