no improper and indecent handling and touching.
It is a great mistake in women, to suppose that ALL
the danger is in the delivery; on the contrary, nature will
expel the foetus ninety-nine times in a hundred, ‘if left to herself’
as Dr. Buchan observes; so that we seldom hear of a woman dying in labour,
though many die in child-bed. Nature is not left to herself by many men-midwives
(as I have already proved) for they will often use the lever, whether
an instrument be wanted or not; therefore I would much rather employ a
male nurse than a male midwife in a natural labour, unless I were permitted
to search the doctor's pockets, to satisfy myself that he had left his
lever at home for once. If he were unwilling to be searched, I
should consider it my duty to protect my wife from being injured
by his unnecessary instrumental aid.
It is true, there are some husbands of a shallow understanding,
who actually persuade their wives to employ men in preference to skilful
women; and as soon as the doctor 
