(1) Scrupulous Asepsis, if intelligently taught, can be learned in six months' training, though one feels bound to add it requires moral "grit" in the character to make one unswervingly faithful in observing it. The midwife, too, should run no risk of carrying infection from others, as a doctor might do.
(2) "Meddlesome Midwifery" is not so much a temptation for the midwife as the doctor, though she also may want to do too much. Patience combined with accurate knowledge when interference is urgently needed, is part of her training.
(3) The midwife who becomes a wise friend to her patients will be just the one to whom the mother will gladly apply early, and who will know if it is advisable to send for skilled medical advice. Contracted pelvis, threatened eclampsia, and antepartum haemorrhage are typical cases, which lose half their terror if diagnosed and treated early.
If ever it is recognised that good midwifery is at the root of the health of the nation and the new maternity benefit is made to help in obtaining it, it will at once become worth while for educated and intelligent women to take to the profession seriously. A practice could then be worked by sets of two or three midwives in co-operation, and with proper organisation as regards an insurance fund for securing operative midwifery from medical practitioners when necessary.
There is ample room for a much larger body of trained midwives than exists at present, if the health and welfare of the nation are to be secured, while the women themselves could, under these conditions, earn a sufficient livelihood.
Trained nurses also specialise in midwifery. They take the full course of training described above, completing this by passing the Central Midwives' Board Examination. They do not practise for themselves, but work only under doctors, thus replacing the monthly nurse. The improvement in health and comfort of both mother and child, when nursed by some one thoroughly competent, is very marked.
The fees which they receive for this work are usually 12 to 14 guineas for the month, and in some cases may rise to 18 guineas.
XIII
MASSAGE
This work demands a healthy body and cheerful mind, a love of the work, endurance, and much tact in dealing with the nervous cases for which this form of treatment is found to be beneficial.