Superstitions regarding childbirth lingered from the Middle Ages. Attempting to prevent witchcraft associated with childbirth, bishops in the Church of England required midwives to obtain an Episcopal license which prohibited them from practicing magic, coercing fees, or concealing information about a birth. Midwives were obligated to treat the poor, and were able to perform baptism in emergencies. In the early 1700s, midwives in some American colonies were required to obtain a license similar in content to the Episcopal licenses of England. These rules of licensure kept the midwife's primary function a social one, and minimized her importance medically.
The first physician to place midwifery on sound scientific ground was William Smellie (1697-1763). British-born, Smellie practiced general medicine in Scotland and studied surgery in Paris before settling in London in 1739. Smellie, interested in obstetrics, conceived the idea of teaching the subject at his apothecary shop residence. He used a leather-covered mannequin of bones, and charged three guineas for the course. Smellie offered free care to London's poor women, thus providing him with clinical teaching material. As Smellie's patients allowed students to attend their deliveries, the trend toward medically trained persons attending childbirth was established.
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