She should be polite and affable in her manners, sober
and chaste, not given to passion, liberal and compassionate
towards the poor, and not greedy of gain when she
attends the rich. She should have a cheerful and
pleasant temper, so that she may be the more easily
able to comfort her patients during labour. She
must never be in a hurry, though her business may
call her to some other case, lest she should thereby
endanger the mother or the child.
She ought to be wary, prudent, and intelligent, but
above all, she ought to be possessed by the fear of
God, which will give her both “knowledge and
discretion,” as the wise man says.
* * * *
*
Further Directions
to Midwives, teaching them what they ought to
do, and what to avoid.
Since the duties of a midwife have such a great influence
on the well-doing or the contrary of both women and
children, in the first place, she must be diligent
in gaining all such knowledge as may be useful to
her in her practice, and never to think herself so
perfect, but that it may be possible for her to add
to her knowledge by study and experience. She
should, however, never try any experiments unless she
has tried them, or knows that they can do no harm;
practising them neither upon rich nor poor, but freely
saying what she knows, and never prescribing any medicines
which will procure abortion, even though requested;
for this is wicked in the highest degree, and may be
termed murder. If she be sent for to people whom
she does not know, let her be very cautious before
she goes, lest by attending an infectious woman, she
runs the danger of injuring others, as sometimes happens.
Neither must she make her dwelling a receiving-house
for big-bellied women to discharge their load, lest
it get her a bad name and she by such means loses
her practice.
In attending on women, if the birth happens to be
difficult, she must not seem to be anxious, but must
cheer the woman up and do all she can to make her
labour easy. She will find full directions for
this, in the second part of this book.
She must never think of anything but doing well, seeing
that everything that is required is in readiness,
both for the woman and for receiving the child, and
above all, let her keep the woman from becoming unruly
when her pains come on, lest she endanger her own life,
and the child’s as well.
She must also take care not to be hurried over her
business but wait God’s time for the birth,
and she must by no means allow herself to be upset
by fear, even if things should not go well, lest that
should make her incapable of rendering that assistance
which the woman in labour stands in need of, for where
there is the most apparent danger, there the most
care and prudence are required to set things right.
And now, because she can never be a skilful midwife
who knows nothing but what is to be seen outwardly,
I do not think it will be amiss but rather very necessary,
modestly to describe the generative parts of women
as they have been anatomised by learned men, and to
show the use of such vessels as contribute to generation.
