I. T H E R E F O R E, She who would discreetly undertake MIDWIFERY, ought not to begin the Practice too YOUNG, nor continue it till grown too OLD: For the one will want, perhaps, due Experience, as well as decent Gravity and Solidity; the other will, peradventure, want requisite Strength and Vigour of Body, as well as the Free Exercise, and ready Use of her Senses.

II. SHE ought to be no weak, infirm, or diseased Person, incapable of undergoing the Fatigues which the Business too often requires: Such as watching Night and Day; turning the INFANTS, when in a wrong Posture; or extracting them at length; which Action frequently requires the full Strength of a strong MAN, instead of a weak Woman. For thus the most learned and excellent Fabricius d'Aquapendente, testifies of himself, that he has often been so weary and tired, that he has often been obliged to leave the Work for his Assistant to finish; and as Daventer also (a robust Man) relates of himself, that in the coldest Time of Winter, being but thinly cloathed, and at a Distance away from any Fire; his Hair has been wet, and all his Body in a SWEAT, and both his Loins and his Limbs have aked egregiously some Days after delivering a Woman.

III. SHE ought not to be too Fat or Gross, but especially not to have thick or fleshy Hands and Arms, or large-Bon'd Wrists; which (of Necessity) must occasion racking Pains to the tender labouring Woman.

IV. SHE ought not to be lame or maim'd, nor have stiff or crooked Fingers, Hands, or Arms; for these Parts are to be used in different Manners and Postures, even so that the Success of the LABOUR often depends upon their Readiness and Agility.

V. SHE ought not to be, negatively speaking, a conceiv'd or Child-bearing Woman; because This may be of bad Consequence, not only to the labouring Woman; (who depends on her, for more than she's able to perform, especially in a strong LABOUR) but also to the conceiv'd MIDWIFE herself, and her own INFANT.