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MEDICAL TEACHING-IN ROME. I 19
Midwifery was practised by midwives : only in difficult
cases did these call in the help of doctors and surgeons*
Women desirous of being trained for midwives should, as
SORANUS says in his work on gynaecology " know how to
read, possess understanding and a good memory, be active
and respectable, quick witted, healthy and strong, and
should have long thin fingers and short nails." It was not
demanded of them, as it was in Greece, that they should
have already themselves given birth. But SORANUS considers
it right that they should not be too young. He further
recommends midwives to be habitually temperate, quiet
and trustworthy, not greedy of money, or superstitious, not
to be induced for the sake of gain to give medicines to
procure abortion or to allow themselves to be hindered in
the fulfilment of their duties by dreams, forebodings,
mysteries or religious rites. He also advises them to pay
especial attention to the care of their hands, to rub them
frequently with fine ointment, and to avoid working with
wool, which makes the skin hard and dry.f In the training
of the midwives, regard was had both to theory and
practice, but care was especially taken that they should be
instructed in dietetics, materia medica, and the necessary
surgical manipulations. Their acquaintance with the structure
of the female genital organs was very meagre:
SORANUS was of the opinion that there was no need for
them to know much about the subject. They had fairly
correct information about the. course of a normal birth, and
about the help which should be rendered at that time; they
supported the perineum of the mother with a napkin, tied
the umbilical cord after the birth, were careful as to the
delivery of the placenta, etc. They were also made
acquainted with the various presentations of the fcetus and
received fitting directions about the choice of a wet nurse,
* SORANUS EPHES.US, Ed..Dietz, p. loj.-Cf. J. PINOFF in the Janus i, S.
7°5-75 2 - »> 16-52, 217-245, 730-744.
f SORANUS p. 3-5.