[151] Radford, British Record of Obst. Medicine, 1848, p. 84.
[152] The rules of the Catholic Church upon this point have been already referred to. Suffice it to say, further, that while they enjoin the Cæsarean and vaginal sections, in preference to craniotomy and in cases of extra-uterine fœtation, yet turning, the use of forceps, and the induction of premature labor, where such are indicated, are distinctly allowed by them. Barry, Medico-Christian Embryology, pp. 41, 44, 45, 60.
[153] Guy’s Hosp. Reports, 1856, p. 4.
[154] For a full discussion of the respective merits of the several methods instanced above, see Simpson, loc. cit., i. p. 738.
I have lately contrived an instrument very similar to one not long since proposed by Spencer Wells for dilatation of the female urethra, which by a simple combination of the three principles involved, will probably prove of material service in the induction of premature labor. It may be called the uterine dilator, as it possesses many advantages over expansible tents for all cases of uterine disease where dilatation is necessary, either for diagnosis or treatment. A description of the instrument, and of its first application to obstetric practice, is published in the current number of the American Journal of the Medical Sciences.
[155] Bulletin de l’Académie, xvii. p. 364.
[156] British Record, etc., p. 82.
[157] I have elsewhere discussed this subject; American Journal of the Medical Sciences, January, 1859.
[158] Enchiridion Medicum, p. 510.
[159] Question d’Embryologie Médicale, etc.; Revue de l’Amérique et de l’Ouest, 1846.