The Sun.
London, England, 1828-10-04 00:00:00

LONDON UNIVERSITY.

Yesterday Dr. Davis delivered his iiiirroductory
Lecture on the subject of Midwifery; and th'e Thea-
tre was again most numerously and respectably
attended.

The Learned Professor, in the course of his Lec-
ture, took occasion to enter upon the history of the
science en width he Was abaut td treat; and trated
the gradual increase of its importance from the
middle ages down to the present titne. In his Opi-
nion, midwifery had been nothing but the pretension
of a sciences till the time of Ambrose Parry, *hti;
by his attention to, and skill in it, succeeded in draw-
ing the public mind towards -the importance of its
improveinent. Louis XIV. evinced the imp,di•tane'n
he attached to the .Icietiee, by appointing the emi-
nerit Jhlius Clement to be Accoucheur to the
Dauphittess, and the consequence was, that schools
were speedily established and resorted to. In 1670
a similar movement took place in Amsterdam, and at
Leyden, in 1719; in addition to which, hospitals
shortly after were established at Strasburg. It was
not till the year 1736, that similar measures were
adopted in Edinburgh, when Mr. Joseph Gibson
was first appointed professor; these various Institu-
tions attracted the attention of the King of Prussia,
and in 1751 schools were established in Berlin by
his direction. Dr. Warbery was the first who lec-
tured on the subject in London, and he was speedily
followed by Chapman, who published several works
on the subject.

Having thus entered into a hasty sketch of the
progress of the art, the Professor next called the
attention of the audience to the utility of it, the
first great feature of which was the means it afforded
of preserving human life; and the next, the power-
ful assistance it was able to afford the patient when
either a deformed pelvis or a cross-birth was inci-
dent to the ease. Added to these advantages was
the aid the.science was able to give in cases of dis-
eased action, besides the eminent benefit of pro-
curing the birth of the child at the smallest possible
expense of pain and suffering. While on this part
of his subject, Dr. Davis related a curious case, in
which an eminent practitioner was called in for the
express purpose of effecting a delivery by means of
instruments. When he was sent for, the woman,
who was 38. years of age, short in stature, and la-
bouring with her first child, had been thirty hours
in child-birth ; on his arrival he found her lying in a
bed with six coverings on the top of her,- in a small
room with a large fire, the day a hot one in August,
and half a dozen female friends present, besides his
predecessor, who was a foreigner, and an irregular
practitioner. The exhaustion of the patient was so
great, that the labour throes were altogether ineffi-
cient,
and her pulse beat 150 strokes in a minute.—
Under his directions the fire was put out, the doors
and windows opened, half the bed-clothes removed,
all the gossips turned out—and the consequence was,
that, without instruments, without even bleeding,
the woman was in less than half an hour delivered
of a living child. The Professor then went on to
complain that many, not sufficiently skilful in the art
to appreciate its merits, were fond of decrying its
utility. In answer to such assertions he would op-
pose the opinion of the late Dr. Denman--than
whom no man could be more candid, honourable, or
skilful. That practitioner had declared to him (Dr.
Davis), that the principal operations of midwifery
were so exceedingly difficult, that he had twice in
the course of his life been tempted to renounce its
practice altogether; and it should be always remem-
bered, that though it was true that the number of
preternatural births was comparatively small, yet it
was the condition of every birth that it was liable to
become dangerous.

• In conclusion, the Professor gave to his audience
the foll Owing averages (which, he observed, had, for
.the sake of accuracy, been taken upon a very large
scale, for the purpose of shewing to what extent
difficult cases in midwifery were to be met with :
Natural Presentations, as 20 to 21i-
Face Presentations
Lover Extremity ditto_
Breech ditto lin 56
Shoulder ditt,)
Artificial Births
Labour rendering the death of the child necessary 1 in 208
Still born 1 in 284
Child so feeble as to die from exhaustion lin 39
Malformations, or as they are sometimes called,

Monstrosities .....
Abortions
Twins
Triplets

1 in 1588
1 in 188
1 in 85
1 in 9589

He likewise showed by a scale that had been
formed upon ,the bills of mortality of the Metropolis,
that the deaths of mothers had greatly diminished in
proportion as the art of midwifery had advanced.
The Learned Professor was listened to throughout
with the greatest attention, except when interrupted
by the applause of the audience, and the conclusion
of his address was greeted with continued marks of
approbation.
Previous to the separation of the Meeting the
Secretary said, that a report having gone abroad
that the University of Edinburgh would not afford
the same advantages to the Students of the London
University as to those of other schools—there was
every reason for stating that such a report was en-
tirely unfounded.

Miss PATON.—We can state, on good au-
thority, that before the Festival Committee engaged this
lady, his Grace the Archbishop was satisfied, from inquiries
made in the proper quarter, that no imputation at-
taches to the connexion between her and Lord W. LENNOX.
The delay in obtaining her assistance arose from doubts on
this subject ; but the moment they were cleared up the
negociation was closed, and his Grace, during the perform-
ances, behaved with marked kindness to one who evi-
dently suffers unmerited obloquy, in consequence of the equi-
vocal situation in which she is placed, by those who ought
to have undeceived the public long ago.—Leeds
Intel-
ligcncer.

A special commission, appointed by the Royal
Society of Medicine at Marseilles, made a report to this
society on the 22d July, upon the epidemic which has pre-.
vailed, and still does prevail, at Marseilles. The conclusion
come to is, that this epidemic was confined to a single erup-
tive disease, which was that formerly called small pox, but
which is now designated variola ; that at the first and second
periods this pest announced itself with some symptoms to
persons who never had the sMall-pox, to those who had had
it, and to those who had been vaccinated ; that at the third
and fourth periods the symptoms were by no means of the
same description, and that the chance was entirely in favour
of those who had been vaccinated ; that of 20,000 persons
who had been vaccinated 2,000 were attacked with this
eruptive disorder, of whom 20 died ; that out of 8,000 in-
dividuals who had not been vaccinated 4,000 were attacked
by it and 1,000 died ; and that of 2,000 who had had the
natural small-pox 20 were attacked, of whom four died.—
Constitutionnel.

DIOCESE OF DROMORE.-It is understood
that at a conference held by the Clergy of Dromore,on Tues-
day, -it was resolved that a communication should be ad•
dressed to the Association, calling upon that body to re •
commend to Mr. LAWLESS to forego his intention of visit-
ing their diocese at present.—Dubliti Morning Register.
SPRATS.--Heavy shoals of small garvies or
sprats continue to Lover on the shores.of the Frith, and
they are daily caught in thousands by people both for their
own use and for sale. On Sunday afternoon, a shoal,
fully forty feet across, visited the shore between Fisherrow
and Portobello. The tiny creatures sported on the surfaoe
of the water quite regardless of the myriads of sea-fowl
which screamed above them, and picked them up by scores
in the minute. When a stone was thrown,: however,
which killed same"of them, they instantly rushed into deep
water, and their mortal foes, the gulls, bore off, in a body,
for the opposite coast.—Seotsnian.
We need scarcely tell. our townsmen that during
the powerful and animated address of the Rev. Dr. Timm-
SON, on the Apocrypha Controversy, in the dispel of ease,
on Monday afternoon, he was -frequently greeted with
rounds of applause and shouts of laughter. Towards the
evening, when the audience waxed wondrous merry over
the numerous" anecdotes and illustrations of the Rev.
Doctor, two decent-looking countrywomen, who seemed
to know little about the doings in Earl-street, suddenly
stoppedl
nng fo
. opposite heCh,urch, when one of them, after
ejaculated, " 0, Sirs, it is an
awfu' Prnfanstion to let the play-actors into the gnid godly
chapel."—lnverness Courier.