And sometimes midwives appear in the same families as male doctors. But as they don't leave records, we don't know if they exist. We wouldn't know Martha was a midwife if she hadn't kept this diary. Well, from the vantage point of Martha's diary, the relationship between midwives and physicians is generally cordial. There's a real division of labor.
Doctors are part-time.
They have some kind of book learning. They come in in emergencies. They do things like draw blood or set bones. This changes in Martha's lifetime. In the late 18th, early 19th century, the beginnings of professionalization of medicine can be seen even in country towns.