well by the compression of it in that place, as by the midwife's fingers
in handling it, in order to place it in a better posture. But this
blackness will wear away in three or four days' time, by anointing it
often with oil of sweet almonds. To deliver the birth, the same
operation must be used as in the former, when the child comes first with
the side of the head; only let the midwife or operator work very gently
to avoid as much as possible the bruising the face.

SECT. V.--_How to Deliver a Woman when the Child presents one or both
Hands together with the Head._

Sometimes the infant will present some other part together with its
head; which if it does, it is usually with one or both of its hands; and
this hinders the birth, because the hands take up part of that passage
which is little enough for the head alone; besides that, when this
happens, they generally cause the head to lean on one side; and
therefore this position may be well styled unnatural. When the child
presents thus, the first thing to be done after it is perceived, must
be, to prevent it from coming down more, or engaging further in the
passage; and therefore, the operator having placed the woman on the bed,
with her head lower than her buttocks, must guide and put back the
infant's hand with his own as much as may be, or both of them, if they
both come down, to give way to the child's head; and this being done,
if the head be on one side, it must be brought into its natural posture
in the middle of the passage, that it may come in a straight line, and
then proceed as directed in the foregoing section.

SECT. VI.--_How a Woman ought to be delivered, when the Hands and Feet
of the Infant come together._

There are none but will readily grant, that when the hands and feet of
an infant present together, the labour must be unnatural, because it is
impossible a child should be born in that manner. In this case,
therefore, when the midwife guides her hand towards the orifice of the
womb she will perceive only many fingers close together, and if it be
not sufficiently dilated, it will be a good while before the hands and
feet will be exactly distinguished; for they are sometimes so shut and
pressed together, that they seem to be all of one and the same shape,
but where the womb is open enough to introduce the hand into it, she
will easily know which are the hands and which are the feet; and having
taken particular notice thereof, let her