THESE, I say, are the general Heads of the Work, which are all again sub-divided into their proper respective Particulars; and consequently every general Head or Section assign’d its own relative Chapters, for the singular Benefit and more easy Comprehension of the Reader. And these Chapters consisting of 130 in Number, I have, with respect to every singular Distemper mentioned in them, First, defin’d the Nature of the Disease; Secondly, accounted for its Causes; Thirdly, I have given the Diagnostick Signs or Symptoms; Fourthly, the Prognosticks or Degrees of Danger; to which I have Fifthly and lastly added the Method of Prevention in many Cases, and That of Cure in All: So that there is almost not one Disease which can affect the Woman from her Birth to her Death, in Child, Maiden, Wife, or Widow-hood, whose Essence, Species, Differences, Causes, Signs, and Prognosticks, we have not sufficiently clear’d up.
ALL these Things I have endeavour’d to be most particular in, to the end that any Woman, who reads, so as to be conversant with this Book, may know before She sends for her Physician, not only her Distemper, but also the Danger, with which she is threatned upon every Sickly occasion. And in these Things I flatter my self that this Work will prove Acceptable, where such a Number of Diseases and Symptoms are set forth in so clear a Light, that any Person, making use of their Eyes and Reason only, without being any ways vers’d in the Practice of Physick, or Midwifery, may evidently see, perceive, and by Experience find, every individual Case to answer these Ends, and the whole to correspond exactly with its Title and Contents.
BUT upon the whole, if here and there a brief Philosophical way of Reasoning has crept in, I would have you consider, that it could not be avoided; because the Proofs relating to Natural Things are sometimes taken from very minute Instruments; And that the Design of such an Interspersion, is only to assist your Understanding, and conduct your Thoughts through the Work. However in such Cases the Reader may go on, or pass by what does not suit with his Taste, as he pleases. Again if here and there, I have retain’d a Term of Art, which the common Reader may call a hard Word, I declare it is out of no Design to amuse any one, but out of mere Necessity, since otherways I should have been ridiculously singular, and far less understood: In the mean time I have taken what Care I could to explain the most, or at least the most requisite of These, insomuch that whatever Words or Sentences of this Kind are not fully interpreted, you may slip over, without losing any thing Material of the Purport of the Matter, such Things concerning the Practitioner more than the common Reader.
HOWEVER yet, if the Measures I have pursued in handling this uncultivated Subject, should not appear so exactly Methodical as some of you may expect, I shall only say for Excuse, that, as it belongs to hard Labour to cut out new Paths and Ways thro’ Woods and Desarts, and where Guides are wanting, to find out the shortest Cut; so it is only by frequent Travelling, that such Roads can become smooth and easy, however exactly plan’d. Again farther, I would have you also to consider the Difficulty of the Task, to contract Much in a Little; to omit Nothing which ought to be animadverted; to join Perspicuity with Brevity; and after all, finally to reduce the whole to the certain Precepts of Art.
I have incessantly perus’d the vast Volumes of others, Ancients as well as Moderns; and whatever may be found there variously dispers’d, over-strain’d, or collected profusely, without either Order, or Coherence, you’ll find here manifestly disposed, and neatly contracted in this small Work. I have sever’d the Grain from the Chaff, winnowed the Seeds from the Husks, and purged the Gold from the Ore, to the end that I might again successfully Sow what I have thus laboriously reaped; and digest all Things into such an easy and clear Method, that you’ll be at no Loss here for what you want, but may turn to it at once, whatever the Case may be; you’ll read nothing twice, nor will you fall into any Trifles, which might either confuse, or detain you.
BUT that I may not be misconstrued or misrepresented here, give me Leave to affirm that the Design of this Work, is not to reprehend or find Fault, with any former Writer’s Performance; but only to render these Things, which others have either treated negligently, or indifferently, confusedly, or obscurely, the more Clear and Evident.
THIS, candid Reader, being the Design as well as the Reason of my Undertaking, according to the Fruit you receive by it, Pray, repress the Minds of the Invidious; and according to the Judgment you make of its Worth, let it stand or fall in your Esteem. Not that I am so vain in the interim to imagine, that the Work can stand upon the Foot of its own Merit; and far less can I expect that it will escape the ordinary Fate of Censure: No, I shall take it well, considering its Imperfections, if it undergoes no worse Fate, than what is common to Books; especially considering that it is no ways set off with a great Figure, under the splendid appearance and modish Trappings of flourishing Hypotheses, so common among our Modern Writers.
THERE are many Things altogether New in our Midwifery, which I would have none rashly to stumble at, tho’ I know that New Opinions are always suspected and generally opposed, merely because they are not already Common: But as I am not in any respect to press my Notion of Things upon the Belief of others, so I desire not to establish any Maxims of mine in other Peoples Opinions, farther than they think fit. I know the Relish of the Understanding, is often as different as that of the Palate; Hence it is that some Men condemn, what others approve; and some despise what others admire: Yea such is the Uncertainty of Men’s Judgments, concerning the Excellency of Things, that no Nut of Learning was ever yet open’d, whose Contents were allowed by all to be pure Kernel: And no more has any Truth been yet discover’d, either in Physick or Midwifery, which has not been question’d, and the Detector exclaim’d against as a pedantick Innovator: But all that I shall say to these Things is, that, as Antiquity will never protect an Error in Judgment, so Novelty shall never prejudice me against Truth, whether of my own or other People’s Invention.
UPON the whole, I would in fine recommend my self to the candid Reader’s Benevolent and Charitable Opinion, and if in any particular Point or Respect (because we are but Men) I may not have had the Happiness to please, or to give Satisfaction, Pray impute it not to Sloth or Idleness, but to Peregrination and Travelling; in which it may be well suppos’d that Studies are too often interrupted. Remember also that of Pliny, “haud ullo in genere veniam Justiorem esse, si modò mirum non est, Hominem Genitum non omnia Humana novisse.” For as none of us can do all Things, nor is sufficient for All; so it is Natural for Man to fall, to err, and to be deceiv’d: And as we see some Blemishes in the most beautiful Bodies, so there is nothing altogether Perfect, among the Works of Men.
Farewell.