Midwifery, a profession in the branch of obstetrics, has been around for centuries. While the techniques used in midwifery has changed, the core of the profession has not. Midwives are there to help with pregnancy, childbirth, and the post-partum period. The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes the contributions midwives have had to health, and, along with nurses, WHO has since declared 2020 “The Year of the Nurse and midwife” in honor of Florence Nightingale’s 200th birthday (“Executive Board designates 2020”, 2019).
Every book you will read about in this blog post can be found within the Health Science Rare Book section of the Archives and Special Collections department, located in the ID Weeks library.
Originally published in 1772, this edition was published in 1791. Charles White pays close attention to the cleanliness and the ventilation of the birth chambers and recommends placing women in an upright position after giving birth. He also recommends isolating infected patients, that may have fever or other illness. These ideas were progressive and lead to the book lending to the reform of obstetrics. White’s A Treatise on the Management of Pregnant & Lying in Women was his greatest work.
Charles White (1728-1813) was known an innovative surgeon and well known in the field of obstetrics. Charles Cullingworth, MD, called him “a great provincial surgeon and obstetrician of the eighteenth century.” White co-founded the Manchester Royal Infirmary, along with Joseph Bancroft, an industrialist. He also had a hand in the foundation of Saint Mary’s Hospital, also located in Manchester. Charles White was a fellow in the Royal Society. For 55 years, Charles White kept the mummified remains of Hannah White, who was afraid of being buried alive, on display in a clock. Upon his death, her body was then put on display at the Museum of the Manchester Natural History Society for another 50 years until she was buried in an unmarked grave. To read more about the Manchester Mummy, go to this BBC News article and to read about premature burial, follow this link.
Baudelocque’s Midwifery was translated into English, not by Dewees but John Heath. Instead, Dewees wrote an abridged edition to prune and update the content, along with keeping it relevant to students, sometimes removing entire chapters. This also lightened the heavy, dense book, making it easier to produce and cheaper for students to purchase. He would also add his own notes or change the wording of some segments. Some changes that were made by him included encouraging midwives to utilize bloodletting and suggesting a simpler diet than what Baudelocque recommends.
During the 18th and 19th century, Jean Louis Baudelocque (1745-1810) was the leading obstetrician in France, le grand Baudelocque, a master accoucheur (a male midwife). He was a professor of obstetrics of École de Sauté, which was established after the French Revolution. Baudelocque is known for inventing a technique to measure the pelvis before delivery, resulting in the pelvimeter. He was appointed to attend to Empress Marie-Louise of France during her first pregnancy, but died before he could do so, and also to the Queen of Holland and the Grand Duchess of Berg.
William Dewees (1768-1841) “was so famous that no parturient woman of the time considered herself safe in other hands (Hodge, 1842).” Dewees was against the use of forceps during delivery. He introduced Baudelocque’s A system of Midwifery to the United States where it became a manual for midwives. He held a position as Professor of Midwifery and the chair of the Diseases of Women and Children at the University of Pennsylvania. After contracting an illness, Dewees had to pause practicing for a number of years before returning to practice. Dewees is remembered for both his theoretical and practical contributions to midwifery.
Unlike Baudelocque’s Midwifery, An Elementary Treatise on Midwifery is a direct translation, which was used to justify printing it in the United States alongside the former. Velpeau strived to include the works of both those in his native France and in foreign countries in his research. In his title, instead of using the term “obstetrics,” derived from the Latin word for midwives, he instead uses “tokology”, which is derived from the Greek word for childbirth.
Alfred-Armond-Louis-Marie Velpeau (1795-1867) is a French surgeon and anatomist known for the first to provide an accurate description of leukemia. He started on the path of medicine by first accidentally poisoning a depressed girl with hellebore in an attempt to cure her sadness. Velpeau trained under Piérre-Fidele Bretonneau, a prominent doctor. Like Baudelocque, he held a position at École de Santé, but as the chair of clinical surgery. In total, Velpeau published about 340 titles and some 10,000 pages. He was a member of the Academy of Medicine and the Academy of Science. Velpeau is thought to have said on his deathbed “Il ne faut pas être paresseux; travaillons toujours” (English translation: One must not be idle; we should always work) (Dunn 2005).
You’d be surprised how much medical knowledge has changed over the years! Visit the Archives and Special Collections department, located in the ID Weeks Library, 3rd floor, to explore our health sciences rare books. The ones included in this post are just a few of the cool, old books in the collection.
Reference Information
Drife, J. (2002). “The start of life: a history of obstetrics.” Postgraduate Medical Journal 78(919): 311-315.
Executive Board designates 2020 as the “Year of the Nurse and Midwife”. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.who.int/hrh/news/2019/2020year-of-nurses/en/.
Cullingworth, C. J. (1904). Charles White … a great provincial surgeon and obstetrician of the eighteenth century. London, Glaisher.
Hodge, H. L. (1842). An eulogium on William P. Dewees, M.D. : delivered before the medical students of the University of Pennsylvania, November 5, 1842. Philadelphia, Merrihew & Thompson, printers.
Mitchill, S. L., – and E. Miller, – (1801). The Medical repository, and review of American publications on medicine, surgery, and the auxiliary branches of philosophy. Vol. 4, New York: Printed by T. & J. Swords.
Dunn, P. M. (2005). “Dr Alfred Velpeau (1795–1867) of Tours: the umbilical cord and birth asphyxia.” Archives of Disease in Childhood – Fetal and Neonatal Edition 90(2): F184-F186.
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