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 AHA1S OF MIDWIFERY IN IRELAND. 
 
 AN ADDRESS, 
 
 DELIVERED AT A MEETING OF 
 
 THE DUBLIN OBSTETRICAL SOCIETY, 
 
 On 20th NOVEMBER, 1 8 69, 
 
 BY THE PRESIDENT, 
 
 JOHN RINGLAND, A.B.; M.B.; M.D. Univ. Bub.; 
 
 M.R.I.A ; 
 
 FELLOW AND MEMBER OF THE MIDWIFERY COURT OF EXAMINERS, 
 
 AND LATELY CENSOR, AND SOMETIME MEMBER OF THE ARTS COURT OF EXAMINERS OF 
 THE KING AND QUEEN’S COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS OF IRELAND ; 
 
 PROFESSOR OF MIDWIFERY IN THE LEDWICH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE ; 
 
 SENIOR MASTER OF THE COOMBE LYING-IN HOSPITAL ; 
 
 FORMERLY VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION OF THE MEMBERS OF THE 
 KING AND QUEEN’S COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS ; 
 
 ETC., ETC. 
 
 DUBLIN : 
 
 JOHN FALCONER, 53, UPPER SACKVILLE-STREET, 
 
 PRINTER TO HER MAJESTY’S STATIONERY OFFICE. 
 
 1870. 
 

 
 
 
 JOHN FALCONER, PRINTER, 53 , UPPER SACKVILLE-STREET, DUBLIN. 
 
I/U , . t^VU* , ( I j Z S" 
 
 ls> ( S' * ^ 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The Annals of Midwifery in Ireland is a subject so large and 
 comprehensive that volumes might be filled with the details, and 
 yet many interesting topics be left untouched. To undertake a 
 perfect and complete compilation thereof, and to dilate upon the 
 various topics included therein, would demand many qualities of 
 which I am not possessed, and more time than other avocations 
 place at my disposal. To select, however, from the mine of wealth 
 which the subject presents, and to condense the results within the 
 limited space of a public address, has been the task I have under- 
 taken ; in how far I have succeeded or failed, I must leave to the 
 judgment of others. If I have interested any, I shall not merely 
 feel gratified, but shall, moreover, be thereby amply repaid for the 
 anxiety I have felt lest I should have wearied rather than informed, 
 but more especially lest the subject — so valuable in itself — should 
 
 have been deteriorated in the hands of 
 
 THE AUTHOK. 
 
 14, Harcourt-street, Dublin. 
 20th November , 1869. 
 
m 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ADDRESS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE PRESIDENT. 
 
 Gentlemen, — This night, which is about to close my year of office as 
 your President, will terminate the first year of the fourth decade of this 
 Society’s existence. Thirty-one years have run their span since the 
 foresight, genius, and energy of its founder brought it into existence as 
 a means of filling a want previously existing and long felt, and of 
 fulfilling an object of essential moment to the scientific progress of our 
 art in this country — namely, a common arena where we could communi- 
 cate to each other our views and the result of our individual experience, 
 where our theories might be investigated, our crude notions eliminated, 
 our facts tested, our practice developed and applied ; in fine, where we 
 could take friendly counsel together, and where, with that mutual 
 forbearance and perfect unanimity which ever excludes a spirit of 
 contentious sarcasm, we could become an assistance each to the other in 
 “the applying of what is known to aid in the discovery of what is 
 unknown.” 
 
 In addressing you at the close of my year of office, I am but fulfilling 
 one of the duties of the high position which I hold through your kindness 
 and consideration ; yet it is with no small amount of diffidence I have 
 applied myself to the task, not merely feeling an apprehension that I 
 should fail in its suitable performance, but also finding extreme difficulty 
 in selecting a subject which would be appropriate to the occasion and to 
 the mixed auditory who honour us by their presence at this, the special 
 meeting of the session, to which alone the general public are admissible. 
 
 Moreover, I feel myself in a position of no small difficulty, the ability 
 of my predecessors in this chair having left me no easy task to follow — 
 cum longo intervallo — in their footsteps. If, however, I cannot in every 
 respect do all that they have done, I shall yield to none in an anxiety for 
 
6 
 
 Proceedings of the Dublin Obstetrical Society. 
 
 the future welfare of the Society, and for its continuous and persistent 
 progress in the development of its objects. 
 
 To the annals of midwifery in Ireland, and of its collateral branches 
 “ the diseases of women and children,” I purpose, in some measure, to 
 direct your attention ; to do so fully would occupy volumes and weary 
 my hearers. In compiling these data, I have largely availed myself of 
 the labours of Sir William Wilde and of Drs. Evory Kennedy, Thomas 
 E. Beatty, Aquilla Smith, Alfred M‘Clintock, and Thomas William 
 Belcher, who have published the result of their learned researches, and 
 have left but little to be gleaned by those who might follow them in 
 the same field. To these I must add another name, that of Professor 
 Travers, so well known and highly appreciated as a black-letter scholar 
 by all who are acquainted with him, and who is so conversant with ancient 
 Irish literature ; he some time since, and for another purpose, supplied 
 me with valuable notes, of which I have fully availed myself on the 
 present occasion. 
 
 No doubt, it may appear to many that the task I have undertaken is 
 altogether unnecessary — is, in fact, a work of supererogation; — that 
 each individual I have now the honour to address could easily obtain, in 
 a more agreeable form, all the information now submitted, by a reference 
 to the original papers themselves ; yet still I conceive that there are but 
 few who will take the trouble to search for themselves ; and moreover that 
 it may be useful occasionally to accumulate facts, and recall past events 
 for the information of the many who will not weary themselves by personal 
 research, in the hope that the knowledge of the many obstacles that have 
 been overcome, and of the victories gained by the industry and ability of 
 the great men who have preceded us, despite the difficulties and drawbacks 
 they encountered, may stimulate us to emulate them, and thereby preclude 
 our noble profession from deteriorating in the hands of any one of us. 
 
 That no man’s history can be written during his lifetime is an 
 aphorism so universally received that it requires from me mere assertion 
 as a truism. It is with truth said that we are charitable to the memory 
 of the dead, but the same benevolent feeling is not always extended to 
 the living. To touch, then, upon living celebrities, no matter what good 
 service they have done, or to what extent they deserve well of their 
 generation, or upon the events enacted by them, is a task so invidious 
 that it would be evaded by most. I wish it, therefore, to be understood 
 from the outset that it is my present purpose to confine my sketches 
 exclusively to the history of the past, and not to touch upon men of the 
 present day, excepting in one or two instances, wherein some coincident 
 circumstance may unwillingly lead me to a trivial deviation from this 
 determination. 
 
 It must be borne in mind that antecedent to the Christian era, if we 
 except the classic writings of Greece or Rome, there existed but little or 
 
A nnals of Midwifery in Ireland. 
 
 7 
 
 no written literature, and that consequently the history of a country was 
 preserved through the medium of the memory, facts or traditions, as the 
 case might be, having been transmitted from individual to individual, 
 and from generation to generation. 
 
 Even when literature had made some progress amongst the Greeks and 
 Romans, any allusion to Ireland is of the vaguest character. The 
 fabulous Argonauts are described as having visited the two islands of 
 Great Britain and Ireland, which are named Irenides (vrjsoistv 'lepvmev) ; 
 and Aristotle, in his treatise de mundo , refers to Albion and Ierne 
 ( KXpiov km lepve) ; and the Greek geographer, Strabo, only refers to Ireland 
 to mention the coldness of its climate and to comment on the barbarism 
 of its inhabitants. 
 
 Many other authors subsequent to these likewise make allusion to 
 Ireland ; but I merely refer to the matter in general terms to show that 
 if that island was not appreciated in the early history of the world, it 
 was at least not altogether unknown ; but under such circumstances as I 
 have already referred to, it cannot be expected that the early records of 
 Irish medicine are much to be depended on. 
 
 Physic among the ancient Irish was an hereditary possession, trans- 
 mitted from father to son, as in Egypt ; and this system continued to a 
 comparatively recent period ; thus, we find no infrequent mention of the 
 O’Reilly’s and O’Sheil’s as members of the faculty. 
 
 The ancient Irish possessed much medical knowledge, combining a 
 practical acquaintance with the native simples, and the doctrines of the 
 Greek and Roman physicians. Several operations, such as cupping, 
 venesection, and the employment of the seton, have been traditionally 
 preserved amongst the peasantry, having been handed down from the 
 earliest period, and are to this day practised throughout many country 
 districts. 
 
 It is difficult to fix a date for the first foundation of hospitals ; it is 
 believed that they were originally brought into existence by the Buddhists 
 in Hindoostan, but this fact was utterly unknown throughout Christen- 
 dom in the early centuries of the Christian era, and consequently could 
 not affeet the establishment of such therein. In their earliest career in 
 the western hemisphere they were connected with monasteries and religious 
 houses ; and the inmates of these not merely exercised the gift of hospi- 
 tality but frequently afforded medical and surgical aid to all claimants for 
 such assistance. The following extract from the interesting Life of St. 
 Columba, by the Rev. Dr. Reeves, published in the Transactions of the 
 Archaeological and Celtic Society , 1857, pages 55-56, demonstrates the 
 existence of such an arrangement in the monastery of St. Columba, and it 
 is not without interest to know that so early as the close of the sixth 
 century hospital accommodation was afforded, through the intervention 
 and foresight of an Irishman, to the sick and needy. The quotation is 
 
8 
 
 Proceedings of the Dublin Obstetrical Society. 
 
 from the chapter : — “ de aliquo miserabili viro qui ultra supradictum 
 calamitabat fretum,” or, as expressed more explicitly in the “ Capitula- 
 tiones” or Summaries, p. 11, “ de aliquo misero viro, qui ad fretum 
 calamitabat, mox morituro.” 
 
 “ Quadem quoque die, quemdam ultra fretum audiens calamitantem, 
 sanctus, hoc profatur modo : valde miserandus est ille clamitans homo, qui, 
 aliqua ad carnalia medicamenta petiturus pertinentia, ad nos venit : 
 cui opportunius erat veram de peccatis hodie poenitudinem gerere ; nam 
 in hujus fine hebdomadis morietur.” There is the following foot note, by 
 the Editor, attached: “It would seem from this that St. Columba’s 
 Monastery was resorted to for the relief of bodily infirmities.” 
 
 We do not find it recorded that any medical faculty existed in the 
 Mur-Ollam-ham, the University or College of the learned, founded at 
 Tarah, about 760 years before the birth of our Saviour, by Eochair, the 
 then King of Ireland ; yet it is not unreasonable to suppose that such 
 may have been established by that learned monarch, who from his great 
 abilities had been designated Ollamh-Fodlah, or Doctor of Ireland; this 
 great legislator undoubtedly established the usage which made employ- 
 ments and offices hereditary in families, to each of which he assigned 
 lands for the maintenance of the holders ; and there exists little doubt 
 but that amongst the most important offices thus transmitted were those 
 of physicians ; of this, however, it is certain that about 600 years after 
 the foundation of the Tara University, of such high repute were the 
 physicians and surgeons of Ireland, that Iosina, afterwards King of 
 Scotland, was, with his parents’ permission and approbation, entrusted to 
 them to be educated. 
 
 We know nothing of the state of medicine among the native Irish 
 for several centuries subsequent to the English invasion, except what can 
 be gleaned from the very few manuscripts which still exist ; and we 
 cannot too strongly deprecate the oversight of our colleges and scientific 
 bodies, in neglecting an opportunity which some years since presented 
 itself, of procuring possession of a considerable collection of unpublished 
 Irish writings, which might have thrown light on this interesting 
 subject, or afforded some clue to its elucidation. There are some most 
 valuable Irish medical manuscripts to be found in the libraries of Trinity 
 College, the Royal Irish Academy, and the British Museum ; also in the 
 private collection of the Earl of Ashburnham. These last were carried 
 out of Ireland by the Rev. Charles O’Connor, D.D., librarian to the 
 Duke of Buckingham, in whose library he placed them, and from which 
 they, some time since, passed into the possession of their present owner. 
 The removal of these Irish manuscripts from this country drew from the 
 pen of the celebrated Dr. John Brennan one of his most able but caustic 
 letters, which was addressed to Dr. M‘Dermott, the Prince of Coolavin. 
 Dr. O’Connor compiled and edited several books on Ireland ; among others, 
 
Annals of Midwifery in Ireland. 
 
 9 
 
 Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores , 4 vols., 4to, 1814-26 ; and a catalogue 
 of the manuscripts in the Stowe library, 2 vols., 4to, 1818-19. 
 
 Most of the Irish manuscripts were written in the Irish language, but 
 many of them in Latin, in the Irish character. From a study of these, 
 and of these alone, many practitioners acquired the only knowledge of 
 medicine they possessed, and upon which they subsequently practised. 
 Whitelaw and Walsh, in their History of Dublin, state that comparatively 
 recently, one O’Casey, residing in Mitre-alley, practised medicine with 
 no other professional knowledge than that obtained from this source. 
 
 It is much to be regretted that but few of these manuscripts have been 
 given to the world in an available form ; but it is to be hoped that the 
 efforts now being made by some of the friends of the late Rev. Dr. 
 Todd, who devoted so much of his life to the study of Celtic literature 
 and antiquities, may be crowned with success, and that the professorship 
 they contemplate in connexion with the Royal Irish Academy may be 
 speedily founded. We then shall hope that the rich treasures which 
 undoubtedly exist in these manuscripts may be brought forth from their 
 respective receptacles, and submitted, in an intelligible form, to the 
 investigation of every student who desires a knowledge of their arcana. 
 
 On the revival of literature in Europe, Irishmen, both at home and 
 abroad, added their quota to the publications of the day. In 1538 Dr. 
 Thadeus Dun issued from the press a volume, De Morbis Mulieribus , in 
 which he mentions a case attesting the efficacy of the medicated warm 
 bath in tedious labour. It is interesting and instructive to look back 
 these more than three centuries, and observe that what in modern days is 
 looked upon as one of the best and most approved plans of treatment, 
 should have been so long anticipated by one of our countrymen. Well 
 may we say — “ Verily, there is nothing new under the sun.” 
 
 The celebrated Robert Boyle, facetiously styled by a lecturer at the 
 Royal Dublin Society, “ the father of chemistry and the son of the Earl 
 of Cork,” was born at Lismore in 1626, and from a very early period of his 
 life employed his gifted and philosophic mind in innumerable scientific 
 researches ; amongst these, transfusion engaged his attention ; and to his 
 other manifold studies he added that of anatomy ; and his observations 
 as to the formation of the chick and fetus are by no means unworthy of 
 attention. This knowledge of the structures and physiology of the 
 human frame did not mislead him from the appreciation of the divine 
 powers of its Maker, but led him ever from the study of nature to the 
 adoration of the God of nature. “ I satisfied myself,” he writes, u of 
 the circulation of the blood, and have seen more of the variety and 
 contrivances of nature, and the majesty and wisdom of her Author, 
 than all the books I ever read in my life could give me a notion of.” 
 
 On the 8th of August, 1667, was incorporated the Irish College 
 of Physicians. The celebrated John Sterne, or Stearne, Doctor of Laws 
 
10 Proceedings of the Dublin Obstetrical Society. 
 
 and Medicine, was its founder and first President, and his name 
 “ Johannes Stearne,” stands first on the roll of its Fellows. He died on 
 the 6th November, 1669, and his remains were interred in Trinity 
 College, outside the chapel of which, on the north-west side, stands his 
 monument. He made no contribution to obstetric literature, and is 
 referred to here as the founder of an institution, which, however great 
 has been the impetus it has given to general medical science since 
 its foundation, has certainly, during the early years of its existence, and 
 even up to a comparatively recent date, given no encouragement to the 
 advance of the science of midwifery or to its professors. 
 
 This charter of Charles II. contained no provision whatever on the 
 subject of midwifery. It was surrendered, at the request of the College, 
 on the 14th of December, 1692, and on the following day a new charter 
 was granted by King William III. and Mary his queen ; and hence the 
 name, <l the King and Queen’s College of Physicians in Ireland,” by 
 which the College has been since and is still known. By this charter the 
 College was entrusted with the entire and absolute supervision of mid- 
 wives, and with authority to examine and licence in midwifery. In the 
 exercise of this power the first licence in midwifery was granted on the 
 3rd February, 1 69^ — four years after its amended incorporation — to 
 Mistress Cormack, who seems to be the only woman licensed by the 
 College, which reserved its favours to the other sex for eighteen years 
 more, having granted its second licence in midwifery on the 21st of 
 October, 1715, to Dr. James Hamilton, surgeon. 
 
 It is not, to my mind, by any means improbable that the power 
 already stated as vested in the College by the charter of William and 
 Mary, to supervise midwives and to examine and licence in midwifery, 
 combined with the low estimate in which obstetric practitioners were 
 held by the physicians and surgeons of the day, may have originated the 
 phrase “ midwives,” as applied to those medical men who practised the 
 obstetric art. Of late, however, except as an occasional jest, this 
 offensive appellation has been abandoned, and good taste has excluded its 
 use among professional gentlemen. 
 
 Despite, however, the assertion by the College, as already stated, of 
 its right to licence and control practitioners in midwifery, a narrow- 
 minded policy appeared to pervade all the acts of the College about this 
 period. On the 19th of February, 1753, it passed a bye-law to the 
 effect that no practitioner in midwifery should be examined for a medical 
 degree or for the licence in medicine of the College ; and acting on this 
 bye-law, the College, in 1760, refused to comply with the request made 
 by the University of Dublin — to examine Mr. (afterwards Sir) Fielding 
 Ould for the degree of Bachelor of Physic of that University — on the 
 ground that the candidate was by his calling disqualified for obtaining a 
 medical degree, although he was one of their own licentiates in mid- 
 
11 
 
 Annals of Midwifery in Ireland. 
 
 wifery since the 16tli of August, 1738, and despite the fact that his 
 admirable treatise had merited and received a testimonial of approval 
 from the College under the signature of its President and Censors. 
 The University, however, actuated by that liberal spirit which has 
 usually influenced its actions, had the candidate examined by its own 
 professors of physic and medical lecturers, and gave him the degree of 
 Bachelor of Medicine on the 27th of January, 1761. 
 
 It might be imagined that this liberal course on the part of the 
 University would have produced a corresponding beneficial effect on the 
 College of Physicians. On the contrary, however, illiberality continued 
 to prevail for many years ; and it was with no little difficulty that 
 practitioners in midwifery could procure a recognition of any kind from 
 the College, a licence in midwifery being all that they would grant, 
 and that only to a chosen few ; and it was not until many years after the 
 period I have already referred to that the licence of the College was accorded 
 to them, Dr. Francis Hopkins, author of The Midwifery Vade Mecum , and 
 at the time Master of the Dublin Lying-in Hospital, being the first upon 
 whom that honour was conferred. His admission bears date the 1st 
 November, 1779. 
 
 If the College was tardy in granting their merited position to obstetric 
 practitioners, it thenceforward endeavoured to remove the unjust 
 stigma it had previously cast upon them ; for we find from this time 
 forth they were admitted not merely to its licence but also to its 
 Fellowship. Dr. Hopkins, on the 17th of April, 1780 — less than six 
 months after he was admitted a licentiate — having been elected to the 
 higher honour ; and on casting our eyes down the list of its members 
 we find many honoured names, including that of Sir Fielding Ould, 
 who, despite the previous opposition offered to him by the College on 
 account of his calling, was enrolled one of its licentiates on the 3rd of 
 October, 1785. 
 
 That the College was not altogether unmindful of the importance of 
 midwifery as a branch of medical studies, even whilst its conduct toward 
 the practitioners thereof was so illiberal, is demonstrated by the fact that 
 in the Act of Parliament passed in 1743 (the 21st of George II.), which 
 makes provision for the expenditure of the proceeds of Sir Patrick Dun’s 
 estates, a Professorship of Midwifery in conjunction with surgery was 
 founded; and on the 20th of May, 1749, the first and only Professor of 
 Chirurgery and Midwifery under this Act was elected — namely, Dr. 
 (afterwards Sir) Nathaniel Barry. This eminent physician was admitted 
 a Fellow of the College on St. Luke’s Day, 1758, and was elected its 
 President in 1767, and again in 1775. He died in 1785. 
 
 Subsequent to the appointment of Sir Nathaniel Barry a retrograde 
 policy appears to have prevailed, for we find that the 25th George III. 
 abolished the professorship of chirurgery and midwifery, and the 
 
12 Proceedings of the Dublin Obstetrical Society. 
 
 40th George III., commonly known as the School of Physic Act, passed 
 in 1800, made only conditional provision for a professorship in mid- 
 wifery. The College, however, becoming more alive to the importance 
 of this subject, did not await the accomplishment of the specified 
 condition, but in 1827 determined to appoint a professor on the College 
 foundation, and elected as such one of the most accomplished physicians 
 that ever adorned the Dublin School — the late Dr. William Fetherston 
 Montgomery. This office he held until his resignation in 1836, when 
 he was succeeded by Dr. Fleetwood Churchill, and on his resignation 
 in 1864, Dr. Edward Burrowes Sinclair was elected thereto. By the 
 recent Act, 30 Vic., cap. 9, 1867, this professorship has been placed in 
 the position to which it was justly entitled, its holder having been 
 thenceforward created a King’s Professor. 
 
 It will be seen from the statements I have here made, that for many 
 years, not merely have all the offensive restrictions to which I have 
 already referred been removed, but that the highest rank the College 
 can offer to any of its members is gladly accorded to the midwifery 
 practitioner ; moreover, a knowledge of the science itself has been 
 deemed by it so essential to every medical man, that one of the 
 Censors of the College is appointed to examine in this specialty every 
 candidate for its “ licence whilst those who desire the recognition of 
 the College as midwifery practitioners must submit themselves for 
 examination before the Special Midwifery Court, without whose approval 
 the “midwifery licence” cannot be obtained. 
 
 But I have wandered much from a chronological arrangement of my 
 data. I must therefore call back your attention many years. 
 
 In the Transactions of the Dublin Philosophical Society, which was 
 founded in the year 1683, and was the great prototype of all our existing 
 learned bodies, but particularly of the Royal Irish Academy, the following 
 papers were published within the first four years of its existence. On 
 u Ovarian Disease,” by Dr. Allen Mullen, or Moullen, who was the first 
 medical man of eminence who published in these Transactions', on 
 “ Hermaphrodism,” by Mr. St. George Ashe ; and by the same author, 
 “ An Account of a Man in Galway who suckled his child, and had 
 Pendulous Mammae ;” a second essay on “ Hermaphrodism,” from the 
 pen of Dr. Willoughby, appeared in the same Transactions ; and one “ On 
 the Dissection of a Monstrous Child with two Heads and three Arms,” 
 by Dr. Houlaghan. 
 
 In 1698 Dr. (afterwards Sir) Thomas Molyneux proposed the 
 extraction of the stone from the female bladder without excision. 
 This learned physician was Professor of Practice of Physic in the 
 University of Dublin, and was one of the Fellows of the College of 
 Physicians named in the charter of Charles II. He was elected 
 President of this College in 1702; again in 1709 ; for a third term in 
 
A nncils of Midwifery in Ireland. 
 
 13 
 
 1713; and finally in 1720. Sir Thomas Molyneux was the first 
 medical baronet ever created in Ireland ; nor was there another for one 
 hundred and nine years afterwards, when Sir Henry Marsh — a lineal 
 descendant from the subject of this memoir — and Sir Philip Crampton 
 had each the honour conferred upon him ; and there was again an 
 interval of several years before a similar well-deserved compliment was 
 paid to Sir Dominic John Corrigan. In 1728 Sir Thomas Molyneux 
 retired from practice, with a splendid fortune, realized through his 
 talent and professional industry. Archbishop King passed on him this 
 high encomium — to which all who were brought within the sphere of 
 his acquaintance admitted that he was justly entitled — that he was ‘‘the 
 most eminent physician in this kingdom, yet not more remarkable for 
 his skill in his art than for his piety and virtue.” “ The high 
 eminence,” says Sir William Wilde, “to which he attained, and the 
 esteem which he earned for the medical profession in this city, as 
 well as the love of country which characterized all his pursuits, and 
 gave a tone of patriotic enthusiasm to all his writings, justly entitle 
 him to the appellation of “ the father of Irish medicine.” 
 
 In 1698 Dr. Bernard Connor, Physician to John Sobieski of Poland, 
 wrote a curious discursive treatise entitled Evangelium Medici , in which, 
 whilst treating of the suspensible laws of nature, he anticipated John 
 Hunter’s views as to the possibility of human generation being effected 
 sine concubitu. It may not be out of place here to mention, and it will, 
 probably, be in the recollection of some of those whom I now address, 
 that in the year 1841 Mr. Donovan submitted a most interesting 
 communication, propounding the same theory, to the King and Queen’s 
 College of Physicians, at one of its evening meetings. Dr. Connor, like 
 too many of the most promising of our Irish authors, died young, and 
 “ far away from his dear native land.” 
 
 The Philosophical Society having for some time ceased to exist, was 
 revived in 1707. In the Transactions of the re-organized Society there is 
 detailed a most interesting case, wherein Dr. Thomas Proby, the 
 principal surgeon of Dublin of that day, extracted a bodkin from the 
 female bladder. This gentleman was “ Chirurgeon-General,” and was the 
 ancestor of the Carysfort family. A case of “ spina befida ” is likewise 
 detailed in these Transactions by Dr. John Rutty, a licentiate of the 
 College of Physicians. 
 
 Up to this date, it must be borne in mind, that the practice of mid- 
 wifery was mixed up so completely with the practice of medicine and 
 surgery, that it is quite impossible at the present time to trace out any dis- 
 tinction, and that the treatises and practices I have already referred to were 
 those of practitioners of medicine who devoted themselves in some measure 
 to the collateral branch — midwifery. Public prejudice had hitherto 
 precluded its practice by male accoucheurs ; and it was only in very 
 
14 Proceedings of the Dublin Obstetrical Society. 
 
 occasional cases of extreme difficulty that their assistance was at all 
 permitted. In the early part of the eighteenth century, however, the 
 dark mist of ignorance which had for so long enveloped the human race 
 began to clear, knowledge and literature progressed, and the whole age 
 became more enlightened. As the mind of the female sex became more 
 expanded, the management of all cases in the least degree deviating 
 from what was natural, was confided to the male practitioners ; and 
 thus the facilities for acquiring practical knowledge increased, and 
 therewith, also, their skill and experience, as proved by the greatly 
 diminished mortality of both mothers and infants. From this period, 
 therefore, may be dated the practice of midwifery as a distinct branch. 
 
 In 1742 Sir Fielding Ould, to whom I have already made reference, 
 and who, many years afterwards, was Master of the Dublin Lying-in 
 Hospital — having been elected to that office in November, 1759 — 
 published his Treatise on Midwifery , which was the first work of the 
 kind ever published in Ireland, and laid the foundation of the now 
 well established literary reputation of the Dublin School of Midwifery ; 
 moreover, “ if we except,” says Dr. M‘Clintock, “the writings of Chapman 
 and Sir Richard Manningham, it was the first obstetric treatise having 
 any pretensions to merit and originality which appeared in the English 
 language.” In this work he has well described the progress of the 
 head in natural labour, and explains the development of the uterus 
 under the influence of pregnancy. He likewise advocates the operation 
 of version in cases of slight deformity of the pelvis, and on this point 
 certainly merits the credit of originality. He invented the “terebra 
 occulta,” which has, however, fallen into disuse. 
 
 Sir Fielding Ould complained, and with great justice, that although 
 there were at this time in Dublin as good physicians and surgeons as 
 were to be met with in the world, and who had been educated in 
 their own country, yet that they were compelled to seek in France a 
 true knowledge of practical midwifery, as there alone they had the 
 opportunity presented to them of witnessing the delivery of women 
 in both natural and preternatural labours. 
 
 Shortly after the last date referred to, a new era arose in midwifery 
 practice, in the foundation of the Dublin Lying-in Hospital. Dr. 
 Bartholomew Mosse, one of the most humane, energetic and enlightened 
 of men, determined to meet the evil Sir Fielding Ould had merely 
 deplored, and with that object vigorously set about the establishment 
 of an hospital which would have the two-fold advantage of giving relief 
 in nature’s most trying hour to the destitute females of this metropolis, 
 and of furnishing practitioners in midwifery with the means of instruction. 
 
 It may not be without interest here to mention that Dr. Mosse was born 
 in Wexford, in the year 1712 ; the family, however, of which he was a 
 member, resided principally in the county Carlow. He has been occa- 
 
Annals of Midwifery in Ireland. 
 
 15 
 
 sionally styled surgeon and man-midwife ; his diploma as the former was 
 granted, according to the then existing custom, by the Surgeon-General ; 
 whilst his licence in midwifery was obtained from the King and Queen’s 
 College of Physicians, on May 3rd, 1742. 
 
 Dr. Mosse made his first essay in his previously well-digested plans 
 about the year 1745, by renting a house in a back lane off George’s- 
 lane — now known as South Great George’s-street — and opening it as a 
 lying-in hospital. This house still stands, although in a dilapidated 
 condition, and is pointed out to the curious stranger. The encourage- 
 ment he met with induced Dr. Mosse to proceed, and the noble 
 institution which now stands in Great Britain-street — one of our City’s 
 greatest ornaments in every sense of the word — was erected under his 
 auspices, and on December the 8th, 1757, was opened for the admission 
 of patients under the sanction of a charter which had been obtained the 
 previous year from George II. From that period down to the union of 
 this country with England, annual grants of large amount were voted by 
 the Irish House of Commons for its support. Since that time, however, 
 the parliamentary grants made by the British House of Commons dwin- 
 dled down from less to less, and it was intended that eventually all such 
 grants should have been totally withdrawn, as well from this as from each 
 of the other Dublin hospitals. On the restoration of the grants the pitiful 
 sum of £600 a-year was accorded to this noble charity. It is gratifying, 
 however, to know that its income from private sources is considerable, 
 although in some measure inadequate to fulfil all its governors would 
 desire. Dr. Mosse was not destined long to enjoy his well-earned 
 reputation, as he survived the accomplishment of his great work only 
 two years. He died at the comparatively early age of forty-seven, on 
 February the 16th, 1759, worn out by mental and bodily fatigue. Of 
 him Sir William Wilde writes : — “ Thus died this great and good man, 
 in the prime of life and usefulness, possessing great energy and high 
 benevolence of character, which he so employed as to have conferred 
 innumerable benefits upon his own and subsequent generations. His 
 eulogy is to be found in his acts. Without fortune, without influence, 
 without patronage, without precedent, he conceived the project of 
 affording relief to a certain class of the community ; and, with extraor- 
 dinary energy, prudence, and perseverance— never relaxing, never 
 despairing — he carried it into execution at an expense of character, 
 station, and pecuniary independence.” ‘‘May we not,” says Dr. M‘Clintock, 
 u truly apply to him the beautiful language of Grattan, and say, ‘ that in 
 feeding the lamp of charity, he had exhausted the lamp of life ?’ ” He 
 was the first Master of the Hospital, which at its opening contained 
 but one hundred beds ; but now, with the aid of an additional wing, 
 maintains one hundred and thirty ; and it may not be out of place 
 here to mention that several of these extra beds are appropriated 
 
16 Proceedings of the Dublin Obstetrical Society. 
 
 to the treatment of cases of “ female diseases,” a ward for that purpose 
 having been originated through the untiring energy of Dr, Evory 
 Kennedy during his mastership of the hospital ; and thus a great boon 
 was granted to the suffering female, and a teaching power, never any- 
 where before in existence, added to the student’s repertoire. The hospital 
 remains the proudest and most enduring monument to the memory of the 
 “ great and good man ” who founded it that human art could devise ; 
 and although no monumental brass points out his resting place, we have 
 but to glance at the handsome structure erected through his untiring 
 exertions, and recall the noble cause to which he devoted it, and repeat 
 within our inmost breasts, “ si queris monumentum, circumspice.” 
 
 When Mosse was about to pass away, another able obstetrician, whose 
 name well merits enrolment amongst those who have adorned the character 
 of the midwifery practitioners of our City, was but then buckling on his 
 armour for the “battle of life.” Dr. John Charles Fleury was a most 
 accomplished classical scholar ; he commenced practice in both medicine 
 and midwifery in 1760, immediately after he had obtained his medical 
 degree in Edinburgh, and being then in his twenty-seventh year. Three 
 years subsequently he was elected physician to the Meath Hospital, and 
 held that appointment up to 1786. In 1784, he was elected a licentiate 
 of the King and Queen’s College of Physicians, “ without examination or 
 expense” — a most exceptional compliment, but one well merited by its 
 recipient. Dr. Fleury submitted many valuable papers to “ The Medico- 
 Philosophical Society” of Dublin, of which he was a member. In one of 
 these, communicated on December 7th, 1775, he pointed out what we now 
 receive as the most reliable sign of ruptured uterus — and that ten years 
 antecedent to the publication of Dr. Andrew Douglas’s celebrated brochure 
 on that subject — “ complete retrocession of the head after it has been for 
 some time presenting.” In December, 1777, he read before the same 
 Society, an interesting paper, detailing a case of retroversion of the uterus 
 occurring in the third month of pregnancy. 
 
 It will be borne in mind that I have already mentioned the fact that 
 Sir Nathaniel Barry had been appointed, in 1743, by the King and Queen’s 
 College of Physicians, Professor of Surgery and Midwifery conjointly; 
 very little doubt, however, exists, but that the former subject occupied 
 the lion’s share of the attention of the Professor, and that the latter was 
 permitted to remain very much “out in the cold.” About 1761 or 1762 
 Dr. Fleury commenced systematic courses of lectures on “ Midwifery and 
 the Diseases of Women and Children,” which he continued up to 1769. 
 It is worthy of observation that these lectures were delivered in the 
 Anatomical Theatre of Trinity College ; and although the Board of the 
 University did not grant direct permission for the delivery thereof, 
 yet the indirect sanction it accorded demonstrates the liberal feel- 
 ings which influenced that distinguished body. The way this came 
 
Annals of Midwifery in Ireland. 
 
 17 
 
 about is thus described by Dr. M‘Clintock, <£ Fleury applied to the Board, 
 through Dr. Mercier, one of the Senior Fellows (and afterwards Rector 
 of Omagh), for permission to use the Anatomical Theatre as a lecture 
 room ; which request the Board refused to grant ‘ unless Dr. Fleury 
 produced a testimonium or certificate, signed by the Medical lecturers 
 upon the College foundation,’ (who were then Drs. Hutchinson, Cleghorn, 
 and Span) 1 that his proposed lectures were likely to be of use, and that 
 they thought him qualified to give them ; ’ which certificate they readily 
 furnished.” It thus appears that to Dr. Fleury belongs the merit of 
 having been the first systematic lecturer in Ireland upon “Midwifery 
 and the Diseases of Women and Children.” 
 
 Another point of no little interest in connection with Dr. Fleury’s 
 obstetric career is, that with the view to render his lectures truly practical, 
 “ he was in the habit of attending, with his class, poor women in labour 
 at their own homes,” and thus initiated the system, subsequently found to 
 be of inestimable value, of aiding the poorer classes who are unable to 
 avail themselves of intern hospital accommodation, by extern attendance. 
 
 Dr. Fleury died suddenly on September 29th, 1797, aged sixty-four, 
 universally regretted ; he had some years previously retired from practice. 
 
 On the termination of Sir Fielding Ould’s mastership of the hospital, 
 in November, 1766, one of his assistants, Mr. Henry Collum, was elected 
 to the vacant office. It was about the year 1770, while he was master, 
 that the advisability of having systematic courses of lectures on mid- 
 wifery delivered within the institution first occupied the attention of its 
 Governors. This subject was warmly discussed not merely within but 
 also without the hospital, many able writers having been arrayed on either 
 side of the question ; and it was not for some time afterwards that the 
 system was definitively adopted. 
 
 In 1770, Dr. Jebb published an interesting work entitled, A Physi- 
 ological Inquiry into the Process of Labour. This, I believe, was the 
 only emanation from the pen of this accomplished physician, which is 
 the less to be regretted as the theories he therein propounded reflected 
 but little credit on his obstetric acumen. Dr. Jebb was elected .Master 
 of the Dublin Lying-in Hospital in November, 1773, and was the first 
 who resided in the hospital. 
 
 I must not omit here to mention the name of Dr. David MacBride, 
 who practised midwifery about this period ; although, however, he is 
 the author of standard works in medicine, he has not contributed 
 anything to the literature of midwifery. This is the more to be 
 wondered at, as, on the decision of the Governors of the Lying-in Hospital 
 to establish stated courses of lectures having been arrived at, he was 
 elected the first lecturer ; he did not enter on his duties until the 
 latter end of 1774, or early in the following year, and he is supposed 
 to have continued in the persistent performance thereof until the 
 
18 Proceedings of the Dublin Obstetrical Society. 
 
 period of his last illness in 1779 ; and I refer to him here chiefly 
 because he is alleged to have assisted at the birth of “ The Hero of 
 Waterloo;” my friend, Mr. Travers, has seen a manuscript note to that 
 effect in a quarto copy of his Practice of Physic , in the hand- writing, 
 as he conjectures, of Dr. George Cleghorn. Yet, still, that distinguished 
 honour has been claimed for Sir Fielding Ould, and, I think, correctly ; 
 Dr. MacBride’s own biographer, in the Dublin Quarterly , clearly proving 
 that there exist no grounds whatever for such a supposition, whilst Dr. 
 M‘Clintock writes — “From certain facts with which I have been made 
 acquainted by some of Ould’s immediate descendants, I entertain no 
 doubt whatsoever that he it was who attended the Countess of 
 Mornington at the births of the Marquis of Wellesely, and of the still 
 more illustrious Arthur, Duke of Wellington.” Dr. MacBride died in 
 1779 or 80. 
 
 In 1781 was posthumously published a Systematic Work on Midwifery , 
 written by Dr. Foster, who had been an assistant in the Dublin Lying-in 
 Hospital. In this work — which was edited by Dr. James Sims, of 
 London — the author treats of puerperal fever, and questions the correct- 
 ness of its nosological epithet, conceiving it possible that a similar disease 
 may occur in the male, and affirms his having met with two such cases. 
 How singular, that after the lapse of considerably more than three 
 quarters of a century, our present experience enables us to confirm this, 
 then strange doctrine. 
 
 Mr. William Dease, one of the most experienced surgeons of this city 
 in his day, published, in 1783, Practical Observations on Midwifery , 
 including different methods of assisting women in tedious and difficult 
 labours. He also published an essay on The Disorders of Women and 
 Children. 
 
 The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland received its first charter 
 of incorporation in 1784. This body — taught experience, in all proba- 
 bility, by the narrow-minded policy of the College of Physicians, and 
 influenced by more liberal principles — obtained authority, by this Charter, 
 to grant licences in midwifery to its own licentiates — but to them only — 
 and from almost the very outset acted upon this authority. “ Among 
 the first professorships created in this College,” writes Dr. M‘Clintock, 
 “was one of Midwifery, according to resolutions adopted in August, 
 1785. Through want of financial means these resolutions were not 
 carried into effect till 1790, when the School of Surgery opened in good 
 earnest, and Mr. John Halahan, the Professor of Anatomy and Physio- 
 logy, and an ex-assistant of the Dublin Lying-in Hospital, began regular 
 courses of lectures upon Midwifery in the College School, and continued to 
 do so till 1793, when the College deemed it expedient to appoint a special 
 professor to the chair of Midwifery, and for this purpose they selected 
 another ex-assistant of the Lying-in Hospital, Sir Henry Jebb, who was 
 
Annals of Midwifery in Ireland. 
 
 19 
 
 an active member of the College, and subsequently its president. From 
 that time to the present there has been an unbroken succession of obstetric 
 professors, and of regular courses of lectures on Midwifery in the College 
 School.” Thus an additional impetus has been given to the progress of 
 professional knowledge in the theory and practice of obstetrics ; and it 
 may be confidently asserted that the sound teaching afforded by the pro- 
 fessors of the College, has produced abundant fruit, from this body 
 having emanated some of our soundest practitioners ; and whilst, to its 
 exertions, we are indebted in a great degree for the proud position the 
 Surgical School of Dublin now holds as second to none in the world, 
 midwifery has derived many champions from its ranks, who have reflected 
 honour on the body which had eliminated their education, and on the 
 country of their birth. 
 
 I have now brought you to the close of the eighteenth century, during 
 the last sixty or seventy years of which, midwifery, distinct from either 
 medicine or surgery, was practised by but a few, scattered over a pro- 
 longed period, and appearing almost, as it were, in succession, but fre- 
 quently, cum longo intervallo . Within the last sixty or seventy years, 
 however, it has made great strides as a science ; many of our most 
 discerning, soundest and ablest medical men have devoted themselves 
 exclusively to its practice, and by their ability and research, coupled 
 with zeal and honourable conduct, have rendered the Irish midwifery 
 practitioner universally popular, and have raised that branch of the 
 profession to the high status it now so deservedly holds. 
 
 Foremost amongst this celebrated band stands Dr. Joseph Clarke, who 
 first applied the science of statistics to midwifery practice. In the 
 report of his seven years’ Mastership of the Dublin Lying-in Hospital — to 
 which he was elected in the year 1786, on the death of Dr. Rock, who 
 died in office — he gave to the world a brief but succinct statistical state- 
 ment, which has formed a copy, frequently followed since. His able 
 researches and successful treatment of trismus nascentium have stamped 
 him as an able author and a sound practitioner. 
 
 At the time to which I now refer, this disease — the inmate of badly 
 ventilated institutions wherein infants are crowded together, and but 
 rarely met with elsewhere — was the opprobrium of the Dublin Lying-in 
 Hospital, sweeping away annually an incredible number of victims. The 
 nurses of that institution would not carry out any system of venti- 
 lation ; carefully closing all windows and doors the instant the medical 
 officers left the wards, with the view, as they stated, to obviate draughts, 
 thus practically converting the institution into a pest house. At a 
 subsequent period, all other means having failed to do more than mitigate 
 the evil, on the suggestion of the master, Dr. Clarke, a considerable 
 number of holes were cut in all the doors and window frames, and thus 
 the admission or exclusion of fresh air was placed beyond the control of 
 
20 
 
 Proceedings of the Dublin Obstetrical Society. 
 
 any ; the results were, that the malady ceased its ravages, that infantile 
 mortality was greatly diminished, and that a case of trismus nascentium is 
 now hut seldom met with. Dr. Clarke was the first master who 
 delivered courses of lectures to the pupils of the hospital, although, as 
 already stated, a lectureship existed since 1774. 
 
 Dr. John Breen, following in the footsteps of Dr. Clarke, compiled the 
 statistics of the same institution during his three years’ Assistantship. He 
 also published a short treatise on Trismus Nascentium , recommending for its 
 treatment minute doses of opium. Throughout a long life he maintained 
 an honourable name in his profession, which he pursued to almost the 
 latest period of his life, and ’tis but a few years since, at the age of more 
 than eighty, he sank into his honoured rest, full of years and good repute. 
 
 Dr. Samuel Bell Labatt — sometime Master of the Dublin Lying-in 
 Hospital — was another of those who reflected no little credit on Irish 
 midwifery practitioners. His treatises on “Ruptured Vagina,” “ Prolapse 
 of the Uterus,” and on “Vaccination,” have added considerable value to our 
 literature ; and it was only two or three years before his death, when far 
 advanced in years, that he feared not to stand forth, the champion of his own 
 views on the subjeet of re-vaccination, although his opponent was younger, 
 more vigorous, and truly formidable — the late Professor Montgomery. 
 Dr. Labatt has left behind him a monument which redounds infinitely to 
 his credit as a philanthropist, and to his reputation as a physician, namely, 
 the “ Cow Pock Institution.” His attention having been directed to 
 J enner’s views, Dr. Labatt saw at a glance the importance of establishing 
 vaccination as a system in Ireland ; he had, however, much difficulty to 
 contend with, especially among the lower classes, whose prejudices 
 against it were of the strongest character ; but convinced of the soundness 
 of Jenner’s reasoning, and determined to break down all opposition, he 
 enlisted the sympathies of the higher ranks of society, he procured and 
 brought to bear the aid and influence of the clergy of all denominations, 
 and, in fine, left no means untried to accomplish his favourite object, 
 until eventually prejudice yielded to reason, and he lived long to witness 
 the successful issue of his exertions. He was appointed Secretary to 
 the Cow Pock Institution immediately on its foundation, and retained 
 that office up to the period of his death ; and it was in a great degree 
 owing to his exertions that an annual Government grant was accorded 
 to its support. I may here add, parenthetically, that the service rendered 
 by this institution in the cause of humanity is beyond calculation, the 
 more especially since the application of the Compulsory Vaccination Act 
 to Ireland, as it is the head quarters and source of supply of healthy 
 lymph to all districts of the country. 
 
 It is but a few brief years since there passed from amongst us one 
 whose simple-minded, yet high-toned character redounded no little 
 credit on his profession. After a long life of active practice. Dr. John 
 
Annals of Midwifery in Ireland. 
 
 21 
 
 Douglass died as he had lived respected and esteemed. During his 
 three years Assistantship in the Dublin Lying-in Hospital, he eliminated 
 his theory regarding “The Spontaneous Evolution of the Fetus,” in 
 presentation of the upper extremity. The brochure, wherein he gave 
 his views to the profession, proved indisputably the correctness of his 
 observation, and the soundness of his reasoning, whilst it, at the same 
 time, overturned the opinions of all preceding authors on this interesting 
 subject. A second edition of this valuable treatise was published shortly 
 before his death, a copy of which he presented me with on the occasion 
 of my last interview with him only a few days before his demise. Dr. 
 Douglass enjoyed the questionable notoriety of having been the only 
 metropolitan practitioner of that period who escaped the withering venom 
 of Dr. Brennan’s gall-tipped pen. 
 
 We would scarcely expect to find the name of Dr. John Kirby — whose 
 position at the front of the Irish surgeons of his day is too well known 
 to require comment from me — commingled with obstetric practice. 
 Although, like Mr. Dease, he turned his exclusive attention to surgery 
 during the latter years of his life, yet like him, he, for many of the earlier 
 years of his professional career, practised midwifery, and although he 
 never wrote on any topic connected with that branch of his profession, 
 yet he attained such eminence therein, that he was looked up to as one 
 of its consultants, whose advice was sought for by his junior and less 
 experienced practitioners, in cases of extremity. He had for some time 
 contemplated giving up that branch of his profession, when he was con- 
 firmed in his determination by the following circumstance, the particulars 
 of which I learned from himself : — A case of extreme difficulty having 
 arisen in the practice of one of his brethren, Dr. Kirby’s advice as a 
 consultant was obtained. From great deformity of the bony structures, 
 they both agreed that the patient could not deliver herself — that even 
 with the most judicious assistance she could never give birth to a living 
 child — that lessening the head of the child was the only means of safety 
 to the mother — that if this was not done both mother and child must 
 inevitably be lost, and that they could lose no time in carrying out their 
 decision, as the patient had already begun to sink. The operation was 
 rapidly performed by the first attendant, and they were both still engaged 
 with their patient, when the wretched infant — who had not been altogether 
 deprived of life by the operation, although the greater portion of the 
 brain had been of necessity broken up — horrified all who were assembled 
 in the room, by suddenly and loudly crying out. Immediately the original 
 attendant adopted the more than questionable course of placing the heel 
 of his boot on the head of the child, and crushing it down. A horrid 
 whisper at once passed round amongst the lookers on ; and whilst a coroner’s 
 jury exonerated the immediate actor from all responsibility, yet still 
 public opinion ran counter to him, and from that time he completely lost 
 
22 Proceedings of the Dublin Obstetrical Society . 
 
 his midwifery practice. So horrified was Dr. Kirby at the occurrence, 
 that he determined at once to carry out the intention he had already 
 formed, and he never again attended a case of midwifery. 
 
 Contemporaneous with all the foregoing practitioners of the early part 
 of the nineteenth century was one to whom I have already referred on 
 more than one occasion — the talented but unpopular Dr. John Brennan, 
 commonly known as the “ wrestling turpentine doctor,” but designated 
 by himself, “ Prince of Idonah, king of all the wrestlers of Ireland.” 
 This extraordinary man was possessed of an almost inordinate degree of 
 racy wit, but combined with scorching sarcasm and overwhelming 
 drollery. He spared none; and yet even those at whom he cast his 
 keenest shafts, while they writhed under the infliction, could not help 
 being amused when time had healed the envenomed wound. The 
 Milesian Magazine , of which he was the editor, and which was the 
 vehicle of his satires, ran to sixteen numbers, published at irregular 
 intervals between the years 1812 and 1825. He survived the publication 
 of the last number but five years, having died in Dublin on the 29th of 
 July, 1830. It is much to be regretted that a man of his high classical 
 attainments and great talents should have turned his rare powers to an 
 unworthy lise. But we must not suppose his life to have been utterly 
 valueless. Hitherto he has been referred to merely as a clever satirist, 
 whose hand was against every man and against whom was every man’s 
 hand. I must now change the picture, and hold him up to view as 
 one of the greatest benefactors of his race. To him are we indebted for 
 the general use, both internally and externally, of turpentine in the 
 treatment of puerperal fever ; and hence his soubriquet “ Turpentine 
 Brennan.” This was his hobby ; and, like all others who get mounted on 
 such a Pegasus, he rode it a little too hard. Whilst, then, I cannot go 
 the length of admitting that turpentine will cure, as he believed it 
 would, every case, sure am I that its early employment will, in very 
 many cases, put a stop to symptoms which, if not thus terminated, 
 would speedily run into that frightful malady ; and moreover, that it is a 
 valuable adjunct to other remedies in even its later stages. When he 
 first propounded his views in relation to this remedy he was met 
 with ridicule, and subsequently with opprobrium ; yet still he persevered, 
 merely revenging himself in his lampoons, until at length the current of 
 public opinion ran in its favour, and the value of the remedy was, to a 
 certain extent, admitted. In fine, I have no hesitation in asserting that 
 it is altogether impossible to estimate the number of lives saved 
 through its instrumentality ; and that, whatever were his failings, 
 to Dr. John Brennan is due a deep debt of gratitude for his in- 
 valuable suggestion, and that his genius deserves our admiration and 
 commendation. 
 
 Within my period of office as your President, there has passed away 
 
A finals of Midwifery in Ireland. 
 
 23 
 
 from amongst us one of the most estimable of our brethren, deservedly 
 beloved whilst he was with us, and deeply mourned, now that he has 
 been taken to his rest. Dr. Robert Collins became Master of the Dublin 
 Lying-in Hospital about the year 1825, and during his seven years’ 
 tenure of office devoted himself to the minute study of practical mid- 
 wifery ; and in 1836, shortly after the expiration of his term of office, he 
 published his experience in a work on Practical Midwifery, which gave 
 the result of 16,414 cases. Whilst the value of this publication, in a 
 statistical as well as practical point of view, can be scarcely over- 
 estimated, yet a few of his conclusions were questioned by some, and 
 among others, by Dr. (afterwards Sir) James Simpson, the distinguished 
 Professor of Midwifery at Edinburgh, who carried on a lengthened 
 correspondence with Dr. Collins on the topics in dispute. At the 
 termination of the encounter neither had made a convert of the other, 
 but they each conceived, as is usual on all like occasions, that he himself 
 had come off victorious. Dr. Collins enjoyed most extensive private 
 practice for many years. As a physician he was highly gifted ; while, 
 as a consultant, his brethren looked upon him as one of the soundest, 
 safest, most discreet, and high-minded in the profession ; and on points 
 of professional ethics or etiquette there were none whose opinion had 
 greater weight. He was for two years — 1847 and 1848 — elected 
 President of the King and Queen’s College of Physicians, being the first 
 exclusively obstetric practitioner who was appointed to that distinguished 
 office. For some years prior to his demise he had retired from practice, 
 and resided on a property at Navan, which he had purchased. He 
 frequently visited his friends in Dublin, with whom he was always a 
 welcome guest ; and I may add that, to the last moment of his life, he 
 enjoyed the good-will and kindly feeling of all with whom he was at any 
 time brought in contact. 
 
 I have already stated that Dr. William Fetherstone Montgomery was 
 elected Professor of Midwifery by the King and Queen’s College of 
 Physicians in 1827. When they awakened from the lethargy which I 
 have already depicted, and became convinced that obstetrics constituted 
 an essential element in the education of every medical man, they looked 
 about for a professor suitable for the chair, and never did their choice fall 
 on one more fitted for it. Professor Montgomery was not merely 
 thoroughly conversant with both the theory and practice of his subject, 
 but was likewise a clear, concise and pleasing lecturer, and in these 
 respects was unrivalled amongst his compeers ; while, at the same time, the 
 classic beauty of his language, combined with his elegant diction, had the 
 effect of almost fascinating his auditory. He had, moreover, the rare 
 but agreeable faculty of divesting his subject of all technicalities when 
 addressing a mixed assembly, and making himself intelligible to the 
 least informed, thereby precluding the possibility of any feeling of 
 
24 Proceedings of the Dublin Obstetrical Society. 
 
 tedium. His resignation of the professorship was deeply deplored by 
 the profession in Dublin, and was most unwillingly accepted by the 
 College, of which he had been President for two years. His “ Signs and 
 Symptoms of Pregnancy ” is a perfect medical classic, and has become a 
 library book eagerly sought after, and in the possession of every member 
 of his profession who can obtain it ; and has raised for its author a 
 deservedly high renown, which his many contributions to the Journals 
 have in nowise lessened. 
 
 The year 1829 introduced into practical midwifery a new era, and 
 that, too, through the medium of the medical school of Dublin. On the 
 5th of October in that year, Dr. John Beatty — need I add, the father of 
 the deservedly popular member and lately President of this Society — 
 submitted a paper to the Association of the College of Physicians on 
 “ The Use of Instruments in Cases of Difficult and Protracted Labour.” 
 Antecedent to this date the employment of the forceps had fallen much 
 into disuse, and the perforator and crotchet substituted, more especially 
 in first cases, wherein the former instrument was utterly discoun- 
 tenanced ; but the practical mind of Dr. John Beatty saw the absurdity — 
 nay, the cruelty and criminality — of pursuing such a course; and, 
 casting aside all his preconceived notions, he investigated the subject 
 without prejudice, and tested to the utmost his newly-formed opinions. 
 His views having been fully confirmed by his experience, he demon- 
 strated, in the paper I have named, that the forceps should be restored 
 to the position they at one time held ; that they were perfectly safe and 
 easy of application ; and that they were suitable for employment in even 
 first cases — a heresy which brought on him no small amount of obloquy 
 from those who condemn everything that is new, merely because it is 
 new. He, moreover, unhesitatingly denounced the use of the perforator 
 and crotchet, unless in exceptional cases. “ In conclusion,” he says, “ I 
 will observe that nothing short of the most imperative necessity can 
 warrant the use of the destructive instruments ; and no case can be 
 considered as demanding them until every means by which both mother 
 and child might be saved have been put into requisition and fairly 
 tried.” These noble sentiments, and this sound practice, after a time 
 swept away the opposition at first raised against them; it was not, 
 however, for some years that all prejudice was removed ; but now, 
 thanks to the talent and courage of this great reformer, common sense 
 has gained the ascendancy, and the practice of Dr. John Beatty in this 
 respect has been adopted throughout the civilized world. I need 
 scarcely remind you that very many contributions — too numerous to 
 specify — to the medical Societies and Journals of his time emanated 
 from the versatile pen of this practical physician; but his letter to 
 the Association of the College of Physicians, read at the December 
 meeting, 1821, on “A Species of Premature Labour,” deserves attention 
 
Annals of Midwifery in Ireland. 
 
 25 
 
 from the originality of thought and acute observation manifested in it. 
 In this paper he demonstrated that not merely premature labour, but 
 also the death of the fetus in utero, is the result of venereal poison in the 
 system of the parents, and that the remedy is mercury. 
 
 I cannot here omit to mention a cotemporary of many of the worthies 
 I have hitherto referred to, and who was with us up to a few years back, 
 and honoured by us to the last moment of his existence — Dr. Charles 
 Johnson. In 1815 this eminent practitioner obtained the license of the 
 Royal College of Surgeons, and in the February of 1816 became assistant 
 to Dr. Labatt, the then Master of the Lying-in Hospital. In 1818 he 
 was elected a member — analogous to the present Fellow — of the Royal 
 College of Surgeons. Having devoted himself, in consequence of a 
 defect in vision, to the practice of obstetrics and the diseases of women 
 and children, he, in the year 1822, in conjunction with Sir Henry Marsh, 
 established the “ Pitt-street Institution for the Diseases of Children,” the 
 first institution founded for treating the accidents and diseases peculiar 
 to early life. So high a reputation had Dr. Johnson acquired in the 
 respective branches of his profession which he practised, that on his 
 application for the Professorship of Midwifery in the Royal College of 
 Surgeons in 1828, he was the successful candidate. In 1829 he obtained 
 the licence of the King and Queen’s College of Physicians ; in November, 
 1840, he was elected Master of the Dublin Lying-in Hospital; and in 
 1841 obtained the high but well -merited distinction of the Honorary 
 Fellowship of the College of Physicians. The course invariably pursued 
 in his private practice by Dr. Johnson — insisting on the nomination of 
 his own nursetender in every case — so completely commends itself to 
 our notice and consideration as materially tending to the well-being 
 and complete recovery of the patient, and to the reputation of her 
 attendant, that I feel I cannot too strongly impress its adoption on all 
 obstetric practitioners. Dr. M‘Clintock, writing on this point, says : — 
 “ From his first starting in practice Johnson was most particular in the 
 selection of his nursetenders, and would not permit his patients to employ 
 any he did not himself approve of. This was then a rather novel course 
 to adopt, and was often stoutly opposed by the ladies, who considered 
 they ought to have as full liberty in the choice of their monthly nurse as 
 of any domestic servant. But Johnson steadily adhered to the rule he 
 had laid down. By so doing he was able to keep a very wholesome and 
 needful check over this class of medical subordinates ; and we, accoucheurs 
 of the present day, are much indebted to him for possessing an undis- 
 puted right of nominating the nurse, without which we should have no 
 real control or authority over her or the patient.” Irrespective of this 
 point, he, in all other respects, exercised the most arbitrary authority 
 over his patients, demanding from them the most implicit obedience to 
 his behests ; and so much was he respected, and so highly were his 
 
26 Proceedings of the Dublin Obstetrical Society. 
 
 opinions regarded, that he but rarely met with a deviation from his 
 instructions. 
 
 Dr. Johnson, although one of the School of Practical Accoucheurs, has 
 not, it is to be regretted, published the result of his experience whilst 
 Master of the Dublin Lying-in Hospital, but he has given to the world an 
 admirable treatise on “ Hooping Cough.” in the Cyclopedia of Practical 
 Medicine , and an essay on the “ Removal ot the Inverted Uterus.” It is 
 much to be regretted that one so capable should not have added more to 
 our midwifery literature. He died June 19th, 1866. 
 
 I now come to another event of no inconsiderable importance in the 
 history of midwifery progress in Ireland — namely, the founding of the 
 Coombe Lying-in Hospital. Prior to the year 1826 there did not exist 
 any institution on the south side of the metropolis for the relief of 
 indigent lying-in women. The distance of the Dublin Lying-in 
 Hospital was so great from the south-western district that hundreds 
 preferred remaining at home, to venturing, amidst the pains of labour, on 
 a considerable journey, too frequently to be performed on foot, if attempted 
 at all ; and consequently confided themselves, if to anyone at all, to some 
 one or other of the many so-called midwives, who were, however, in most 
 instances, merely “ lucky women,” as they were designated, but whose 
 ignorance was only exceeded by their audacity — a class which abounded 
 in the specified locality. The result is easily told ; many of them 
 never left their beds of suffering until they were carried forth to burial, 
 the victims of the grossest ignorance. Others, however, made the attempt 
 to reach the distant asylum at the Rotunda, but some failed to accomplish 
 their object ; and it is recorded that during the severe winter which pre- 
 ceded the opening of the Coombe Lying-in Hospital, more than one poor 
 woman, taken with the throes of labour on her way, perished with 
 her offspring in the snow. It will be recollected that in the year 1826 
 the Governors of the Meath Hospital had removed to their new and 
 spacious buildings in Long-lane. Their vacated premises on the Coombe 
 were at once purchased and maintained as a surgical hospital, with an 
 extern midwifery dispensary attached, under the care and supervision of 
 Dr. Richard Gregory. After the lapse of three years the surgical 
 department was abandoned ; but through the exertions of Dr. Gregory 
 the establishment was, in 1829, converted into a lying-in hospital, under 
 its present name. Its founder could not, like Mosse, claim any 
 originality in the idea, but he brought to bear upon the task he had 
 undertaken considerable talent, great zeal, and indomitable industry. 
 Short, however, was his brilliant career ; he survived the achievement of 
 his object only two or three years, cut off in the prime of life by a 
 malignant fever acquired in the discharge of his duty. In the arrange- 
 ment of the hospital he fitted up thirty beds, the largest number he 
 anticipated funds — which were derived exclusively from private 
 
A nnals of Midwifery in Ireland. 
 
 27 
 
 benevolence — to maintain ; but feeling that the relief thus afforded 
 would not be at all commensurate to the wants of the locality, and 
 knowing, from his three years’ previous experience, that many poor 
 women are unwilling to go into hospital, and thus leave their homes and 
 families to the precarious care of strangers, he continued the economic 
 and admirable system carried out from 1826 to 1829 — of giving attend- 
 ance from the hospital on labour cases at their own homes ; the 
 combination of intern reception with extern attendance has consequently 
 continued to be, ever since its foundation as a de facto lying-in hospital in 
 1829, a distinctive characteristic of the institution. 
 
 For ten years subsequent to its opening as an hospital all its beds were 
 devoted to the exclusive reception of labour cases. In the year 1839, 
 however, the want of a ward for the treatment of the diseases peculiar to 
 females having been previously much felt, Mr. Hugh Carmichael, the 
 then Master of the hospital, following the example set by Dr. Evory 
 Kennedy in the Dublin Lying-in Hospital, appropriated seven beds 
 exclusively for this class of cases — an arrangement which has tended 
 materially to the interests of the sick female poor of the locality in which 
 the institution is situated, and of the students attending its practice. 
 
 I have already referred to the reduction of the parliamentary grant 
 to the Dublin Lying-in Hospital, and its subsequent restoration on, 
 however, a very reduced scale. It will be in the recollection of most of 
 those whom I now address that for many years the grants to all the 
 Dublin Hospitals which had been previously in receipt of such, were being 
 gradually withdrawn, with a view to their final extinction, and that, too, 
 despite all the influence which could be brought to bear on the Govern- 
 ment of the day. An agitation on the subject was, however, got up, 
 and a Committee of the House of Commons, which had been most 
 reluctantly appointed, reported in favour of the restoration of the grants. 
 In consequence of the recommendations contained in that report, three 
 Government Commissions were appointed to investigate the whole sub- 
 ject, under whose advice the whole amount of the original grants was 
 restored, but with slight alteration in the allotment. Under the 
 arrangement thus made £200 per annum was granted to the Coombe 
 Lying-in Hospital, which had never previously enjoyed the benefit of a 
 Parliamentary grant, nor the prestige of a Government hospital. 
 
 Despite, however, the general prosperity of the institution, adequate 
 funds being at this time provided through the medium of private 
 contributions, a city presentment of liberal amount, and the annual 
 grant by Parliament already referred to, yet one thing was still wanted 
 to secure for it a suitable status, namely, a Royal Charter of Incor- 
 poration ; this was conceded on the recommendation of the Duke of 
 Abercorn, in 1867, when Her Majesty’s letters patent, under the great 
 seal, were issued to the institution. 
 
28 Proceedings of the Dublin Obstetrical Society. 
 
 That the accommodation afforded by the hospital was altogether 
 inadequate for its intended purpose was for many years manifest, and 
 its suitable enlargement contemplated ; this, at length, is being effected 
 by the erection of a large wing, wherein provision is made for a far more 
 considerable number of cases of the diseases of females, than the limited 
 capabilities of the existing building afforded ; in it, too, will be a ward 
 allocated for the treatment of the diseases of children, and a ward, 
 approached by a stair devoted altogether thereto, will be set apart for 
 the exclusive reception of such cases of infectious diseases as may arise 
 in the lying-in wards of the hospital itself. 
 
 So soon as this wing shall have attained completion, the entire of the 
 original building will be devoted exclusively to the reception of labour 
 cases ; in a few months, too, a considerable enlargement of this building 
 will be commenced, whereby the accommodation for obstetric patients 
 will be more than doubled, and thus the institution in its entirety will 
 be provided with more than eighty beds, and will have attained a size 
 approximating, but still infinitely less than the noble proportions of its 
 northern sister. I feel assured that every one who now hears me will 
 echo the aspiration I now express, that the harmony which now 
 exists, and has so long prevailed between these two kindred institutions, 
 both devoted to the same great cause, may ever continue, and that the 
 only rivalry which may be ever developed between their respective 
 medical staffs, shall be the laudible emulation of each other in the 
 cause of humanity, in the advancement of science, and in the promotion 
 of the honour of their noble profession. 
 
 In alluding to the intended establishment of a children’s ward in 
 connexion with the Coombe Lying-in Hospital, it is only right to state 
 that the idea is by no means original. Dr. Evory Kennedy, during 
 his Mastership of the Dublin Lying-in Hospital, had hoped to have 
 opened such a ward therein, but was unable to fulfil his intention ; other 
 institutions — both medical and surgical — have, since then, most laudibly 
 established wards for the treatment of the diseases of children ; but I 
 agree with Dr. Kennedy in thinking that a Lying-in Hospital is, properly 
 speaking, a suitable habitat of a children’s ward, and that no lying-in 
 hospital can he considered complete without one. 
 
 A very great stimulus was given to the scientific study of midwifery, 
 by the establishment of the u Dublin Obstetrical Society” in 1838. I need 
 not here, in presence of that Society, recapitulate the circumstances which 
 brought it into existence ; suffice it to say that Dr. Evory Kennedy, then 
 Master of the Dublin Lying-in Hospital, was its founder, and that Sir 
 William Wilde, Professor Richard Doherty, of Galway, and myself — 
 all then students attending the practice of that hospital — were its original 
 members. Perfection, if ever attained, is never acquired at once, and so 
 too has it been with this Society, wherein, certainly, many alterations 
 
Annals of Midwifery in Ireland. 
 
 29 
 
 have taken place from time to time, and whereon another generation 
 will probably pass a verdict. 
 
 At first this Society was constituted of students — chiefly those attending 
 the practice of the Dublin Lying-in Hospital — who met in an apartment 
 in the Rotunda buildings, adjoining the hospital, and were presided over 
 by some one or other of the eminent obstetricians who were then, or had 
 been, connected with that institution. In fact, the Society might have 
 been at this time styled, the Dublin Lying-in Hospital Obstetrical Society, 
 rather than the Dublin Obstetrical Society ; but it fulfilled its mission so 
 well in even that limited sphere, that others than students began to desire 
 membership, and after the lapse of years, a marvellous change has passed 
 over the constitution of the Society, which has now for a lengthened period 
 opened its arms to all eligible for admission, no matter whence they come; 
 the most eminent of the profession now aspire to its membership, and 
 take part at its meetings ; and it has become, what it ought to be, metro- 
 politan in its character ; whilst, as it were, to impress it with the stamp 
 of professional approbation, the King and Queen’s College of Physicians 
 of Ireland has afforded the Society a local habitation, by placing the 
 magnificent hall, in which we are now assembled, at its disposal for its 
 meetings. 
 
 With such a change in its constitution it might be expected that a 
 corresponding improvement would take place in its efficiency, and that 
 such has been the case is demonstrated by the very enlarged roll of its 
 members, by the considerably greater attendance at its respective meet- 
 ings, and especially by a reference to its “ Proceedings” — the value of 
 some of which can scarcely be over estimated — published from time to 
 time in the Dublin Quarterly Journal of Medical Science , the authorized 
 organ and exponent of the Society. 
 
 In accordance with usage, I now submit a list of the papers presented 
 to the consideration of the Society during my year of office, and I would 
 pray your permission to prefix to it the titles of the papers read at the re- 
 spective meetings held in the course of the preceding year, the untimely 
 death of my lamented predecessor in this chair — Dr. Hardy — near the 
 close of his term of office, having hitherto precluded any such return for 
 that period. 
 
 Dr. M‘Clintock read a paper on the Spontaneous Elimination of Uterine 
 Tumours. — December 1 4th, 1867. 
 
 Mr Tate of Wakefield submitted a paper on Chorea. — January 25$, 
 
 1868. 
 
 Dr. Byrne reported a case of Cephalotripsy , and exhibited a cast of the 
 head taken before the Cephalotribe had been removed , and a Section of the Skull. 
 — January 2bth, 1868. 
 
 Dr. Speedy read a case of Inversion of the Uterus.— February 8$, 
 
 1868. 
 
30 
 
 Proceedings of the Dublin Obstetrical Society. 
 
 Dr. Moore read a case of Hydatidoid Ovum , and exhibited a portion of 
 the Specimen. — February 8th, 1868. 
 
 Dr. Kidd read a case of Prolapse of the Funis successfully treated by the 
 Postular Method. — February 8th , 1868. 
 
 Dr. Henry Kennedy read a paper on the Treatment of Sleeplessness in 
 the acute diseases of Childhood. — February 8th, 1868. 
 
 Dr. Charles F. Moore exhibited an Aborted Ovum of about six weeks , 
 in which a large effusion of blood had occurred between the chorion and amnion. 
 — March Ah, 1868. 
 
 Dr. Byrne read a paper on Retained Menses from imperforate hymen . — 
 March Ath , 1868. 
 
 Dr. Halahan read a paper on Anomalies in the Mechanism of Parturition. 
 — March Ath , 1868. 
 
 Dr. J. Guinness Beatty read a case of Rigid Perineum , which he had 
 divided as suggested by Dr. Thomas Beatty . — March Ath , 1868. 
 
 Dr. Thomas Beatty read a case of Fibro-cystic Tumour of the Vagina 
 removed by Ligature, and exhibited the tumour . — April 1st , 1868. 
 
 Mr. Harley read a case of Gonorrheal Rheumatism after Parturition . — 
 April ls£, 1863. 
 
 Professor Macdonald of St. Andrews read a communication on the 
 Fetal Circulation , in which he propounded certain novel views . — April let, 
 1868. 
 
 Professor Hurley forwarded a letter enclosing a photograph of a boy 
 now in his sixteenth year , whom he had removed from the womb of his mother by 
 Cesarean Section after her death from disease of the heart. — April 1st, 1868. 
 
 Dr. Woods of Roscrea made a communication in reference to two 
 children of doubtful sex, and subsequently exhibited the children . — May 
 7 th , 1868. 
 
 Dr. J. Guinness Beatty exhibited a recent Hydatidoid Ovum, and de- 
 tailed the case . — May 7th , 1868. 
 
 Dr. Kidd exhibited two uteri containing polypi and fibroid tumours , and 
 read several cases of intra-uterine polypi ; and described a modification of the 
 ordinary method of exploring the uterus „ — May 7th, 1868. 
 
 Dr. Ringland read a paper on Version in Contracted Pelvis. — June 20th, 
 1868. 
 
 Dr. Hardy — the President — read a paper on Scarlatina in Pregnancy 
 and the Puerperal State. — June 20th, 1868. 
 
 From this it will be seen that the last presidential act of Dr. Hardy 
 was to add to our repertoire a most valuable communication. On the 
 re-assembling of the Society, at the commencement of the next session 
 on November 21st, the first communication submitted was a memoir, by 
 his friend Dr. M‘Clintock, of our late highly esteemed President who 
 had meanwhile passed from amongst us. 
 
 Dr. Atthill read a paper on Retrofiection of the Uterus. — Dec. 12, 1868. 
 
 Dr. Kidd exhibited fifty-five varieties of Pessaries. — Decetriber 12th, 1868. 
 
Annals of Midwifery in Ireland. 31 
 
 Dr. Thomas Beatty exhibited a Pessary of his oum invention. — Decem- 
 ber I’Zth, 1868. 
 
 Dr. Morgan exhibited drawings and specimens showing a particular form 
 of Syphilitic Ulcer of Female Organs of Generation. — February 13 th, 1869. 
 
 Dr. MacSwiney showed two tumours removed from a placenta, which 
 proved to be encysted blood clots. — February 13 th, 1869. 
 
 Dr. M‘Clintock read a case of Labour subsequent to the cure of a large 
 Vesico- Vaginal Fistula without injury to the Cicatrix. — February 13 th, 1869. 
 
 Dr. Churchill exhibited Dr. Mathew Duncan’s Cephalotribe. — Feb- 
 ruary 13 th, 1869. 
 
 Du. Kidd exhibited his Cephalotribe with plaster casts of two heads operated 
 on with it. — February 13 th, 1869. 
 
 Dr. Evory Kennedy read the tirst part of a paper on Zymotic Disease . — 
 March 13th, 1869. 
 
 Dr. Sawyer made a comunication on Atresia of the Vagina. — March 
 loth, 1869. 
 
 Dr. Evory Kennedy read the second part of a paper on Zymotic 
 Disease. — April 9th , 1869. 
 
 The variety and versatility of the several papers detailed in the fore- 
 going lists require no comment from me, the very names of their respec- 
 tive authors being ample guarantee for the practical manner in which 
 the individual subjects were handled. I cannot, however, omit to mention 
 that of such vast importance was the subject of Dr. Evory Kennedy’s com- 
 munications on Zymotic Disease deemed to be, and of such magnitude were 
 the points at issue, that they occupied the attention of the Society for eight 
 nights — six special meetings having been devoted to their discussion, and 
 engaged the advocacy on either side of the question of most of the ablest 
 practical Obstetricians this metropolis contains — twelve of the speakers 
 being arrayed against and three in favour of the author’s views. This 
 very divided opinion to my mind clearly demonstrates the fact, that what- 
 ever the result, the subject not merely merited but demanded discussion. 
 
 I must now for a brief space recall your attention from institutions, to 
 individuals. Amidst the horrors of the Indian mutiny, General Nicholson, 
 the gallant leader of the heroic little corps that assailed the foul band of 
 murderers who held the iron bound walls of Delhi, received a mortal 
 wound, and in a few days this brilliant soldier was numbered with the 
 dead. Many an eye drooped, and many a tear was shed to the memory 
 of that brave man, but few, perhaps, knew that he was the son of a 
 Dublin obstetrician of considerable practice and high repute, who died in 
 the prime of life about five and thirty years ago, leaving behind him an 
 unsullied reputation, and a representative whose name now belongs to the 
 pages of the history of his country. 
 
 The late Dr. Robert Johns never published his experience save in the 
 form of communications to the Medical Journals. One of the most inter- 
 
32 Proceedings of the Dublin Obstetrical Society. 
 
 esting of these, on the rapid blistering of the os uteri by means of vesicating 
 collodion, attracted much attention at the time. He was removed hence 
 while still in the prime of life, and gradually acquiring public confidence. 
 
 The admirable and interesting memoir of the late Dr. Samuel Little 
 Hardy so recently submitted to the Society by Dr. M ( Clintock has left me 
 little to say regarding him ; besides the great length to which this address 
 has extended from small beginnings reminds me that I must hasten on. 
 The valuable statistical, and practical results of their three years 
 “ assistantship” in the Dublin Lying-in Hospital published by him and 
 Dr. M‘Clintock conjointly, have raised a reputation for these authors of 
 which I would speak more fully, were it not for the rule laid down by 
 me at the outset which precludes me doing more than merely referring to 
 any living celebrity ; and it would be impossible to do justice to one, 
 without, by implication at least, mixing up with it the public estimate of 
 the other. Dr. Hardy also supplied the journals with many practical 
 communications, and earned for himself a just celebrity by his invention 
 of “ The Chloroform Douche,” an apparatus for the local application of 
 chloroform, and which, although not now in use, certainly led the way for 
 the introduction of Richardson’s spray apparatus for local anesthesia. 
 
 I have now completed my annals , and have limited my statements, ac- 
 cording to my expressed intention, to the records of the dead and of times 
 gone by, and I trust that I have dealt faithfully and impartially with 
 their memories, whilst, at the same time, I have not trod too heavily on 
 their graves : — that whilst I have not grudged a “ little dust of praise,” 
 I have {c in nought detracted, nor aught set down in malice I have 
 endeavoured to shadow forth, faintly, it is true, but I hope faithfully, 
 the glorious band who pioneered the way to the proud position the 
 midwifery branch of the profession at present holds, which, I have no 
 doubt, the many able, energetic, and high-minded men who are still 
 amongst us will not merely maintain but will materially add to. 
 
 There is one point wherein I conceive the present generation can do 
 something tending somewhat to this result, and which I would venture 
 here to feebly shadow forth. Medicine held no status as a profession until 
 its professors were brought together as a college ; surgery was but a 
 trade — allied and even subordinate to one of the meanest occupations, until 
 after the incorporation of its followers into an united body. ’Tis true 
 that midwifery does not now want any extraneous aids to its position, but 
 I maintain that its status can be confirmed and placed beyond the possibility 
 of retrogression by the united action of its professors. Why, then, I 
 would ask, should not obstetricians be amalgamated together in an incor- 
 porated society for their common weal and common advancement ? Why 
 should midwifery be a mere offshoot of any other bodies — no matter how 
 high their prestige, or how distinguished their character — instead of an 
 independent corporation ? Why should there not be a Royal College of 
 
A nnals of Midivifery in Ireland. 
 
 33 
 
 Obstetricians as well as of Physicians or Surgeons ? My views on this 
 point may appear Utopian to many, but I believe the germs of such a 
 college do exist and could be found, and that if but a few of those who 
 are now assembled in this hall, would take the matter in hand, and would 
 apply to the task a small portion of the energy they possess, and which 
 they have proved in other matters, the founding of such a college would 
 speedily be un fait accompli. 
 
 And now, Gentlemen, I have done ; my task is accomplished ; how 
 imperfectly it is for you to judge. Nothing further remains for me but 
 to offer to you my sincere thanks, which I do most fervently, for the 
 great honour you have paid me in electing me your President, for the 
 forbearance you have shown to my many shortcomings and failings during 
 my year of office, and for the kindness and patience with which you have 
 listened to this somewhat lengthy and tedious address. 
 
 I