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THE ART OF MIDWIFERY THE technique or practice of helping to deliver babies and offering advice and support to pregnant women is one of the oldest of acquired skills. Childbirth was a hazardous event in the days before modern drugs and surgery, and difficult deliveries could mean death for both mother and child. The lower life expectancy of women in the ancient world in part reflects the high female mortality rate due to the risks of childbearing. A skilled midwife was indeed an important asset to a community.
Most midwives guarded the secrets of their profession, and many were illiterate, so little of practical value was handed down in writing. Theirs was a largely oral tradition. By the mid- 17th century, however, some physicians were writing books of instructions for midwives.1 This image is from a book, Court Midwife by Justina Siegemund (also known as Siegemundin; 1636-1705), a renowned German midwife.2 Her book, published in 1690, was the first German medical text written by a woman.
As a young woman, Siegemund had suffered at the hands of midwives who wrongly assumed she was pregnant when, in fact, she suffered from a...