Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 825

WILLIAM SMELLIE (1697-1763) A treatise on the theory and practice of midwifery. Printed for D. Wilson 1752 [2] xiv, lxxii [73]-454 [9] pp. 19.7 cm.

The greatest figure in English obstetrics was William Smellie, who, after twenty years of village practice, came to London to devote himself to the teaching and practice of obstetrics. . . . To him are owed the first attempts to measure the fetal cranium in utero, and also important studies on the mechanism of delivery (Arturo Castiglioni, A history of medicine. New York, 1946. pp. 629-630). Smellie introduced three new types of forceps and outlined safe rules for their use. It was he who separated obstetrics from surgery, and imparted to obstetrics the stamp of science.

Cited references: Cushing S276 (5th ed., 1766); Garrison-Morton 6154; Waller 9013

Gift of John Martin, M.D.