As it shall be my endeavor to unravel the mysteries of the
obstetric art among primitive peoples, to describe the peculiar
features in the obstetric practice of the various savage races
during every stage of labor, I will now, in this first chapter,
for the better understanding of these details, completely describe
that most interesting period in the life of woman, so
important, socially as well as professionally—the time of
pregnancy, labor and childbed.
We will find among the natural habits of primitive people
many points of resemblance to the customs of our more advanced
civilization. In their views, in their methods of treatment of
the parturient, we see rudely depicted the lying-in chamber of
to-day; indeed, many a labor in the cellar or the attic of a
crowded city, or in the log cabin of a secluded country district,
differs but little from that which we will find in the tepee
of the Indian or the hut of the Negro; in fact, it is here that
we often see customs which are rudely indicative of some of
the very best of our modern improvements upon which obstetricians
greatly pride themselves; observation has taught these
children of nature many a lesson of which, in their natural
shrewdness, they have profited.
