FOURTHLY, It is likewise well known by the _TOUCH_, whether the BIRTH will be _Easy_ and _Speedy_, or _Difficult_ and _Lingring_, on several Occasions: 1. When the _MIDWIFE_ finds the _Head_ of the INFANT and the lower Part of the WOMB fallen into the _Cavity_ of the PELVIS, so that _She_ can touch it in the Confines of the VAGINA: 2. When the _Orifice_ of the WOMB is very soft, thin, and wide-open, so that (through it) she finds the _Head_ of the INFANT foremost, without any Obstruction by the _Arms_ or _Umbilical Vessels_ in the way, between the _Head_ of the INFANT, and _Orifice_ of the WOMB; as often happens: And, 3. When the _Humours_, by the _right Situation_ of the WOMB and the INFANT, are found compressed into a _Flat Form_. I say, when Matters are found so (by the _TOUCH_) in this _Natural Posture_, there is no great doubt (under GOD) of a _Speedy_ and _Easy_ DELIVERY.
WHEREAS, on the contrary, when the _Orifice_ is found by Experience _higher_, _little_ or not at all _open_; _sharp_, _hard_, and _thick_, with the _Humours_ pressed up length-ways: _Then_ the _Case_ is quite revers’d, and the _MIDWIFE_, if she _understands_ her Business, must resolve to _sweat at her Work_.
NOW the Reason of such _Difficult_ BIRTHS commonly proceeds, either from the _wrong Situation_ of the INFANT, or _That_ of the WOMB; the _latter_ of which always occasions the greater _Difficulty_, especially when it is accidentally join’d with the _First_, to a vast Degree of _Aggravation_: Of which, as follows of course.
FIFTHLY, Another _Advantage_ of the _TOUCH_, is the truly Knowing whether the INFANT be in a _Natural_, or _Preternatural Posture_. For the _MIDWIFE_ finding the _Orifice_ of the WOMB so _open_, that it admits one or two _Fingers_, she may distinctly feel the _Chin_ of the INFANT in a _Natural Position_, lying forwards on its _Breast_, and the _Neck_ in the _Middle_ of the _Orifice_, or streight _Before_ it; so that the _Head_ being foremost and lowest within the Borders of the _Orifice_, the _Fingers_ cannot pass any _Farther_.
HOWEVER, supposing the _Clunes_, _Knee_, or _Elbow_, to present themselves _First_ in the _ORIFICE_; It is true, they have their _Roundness_, but then they are easily distinguished from the _Head_: For the _Globular Part_ of it is much _broader_ and _smoother_, than either _Knee_ or _Elbow_, and _harder_ than the _Buttocks_; which _Fleshy Part_ is soon distinguished from the _Bones_, or the _soft Membrane_ betwixt the _Bones_ of the HEAD.