Notes of Lectures by Young & Monro

  • This material is held at
  • Reference
      GB 133 MMM/2/3/3
  • Dates of Creation
      n.d. [ca. 1800]
  • Language of Material
      English , French , Latin
  • Physical Description
      1 volume, 184 folios New binding, 1967

Scope and Content

The lectures notes are spread throughout the volume interspersed with extracts from other sources and authors and the manuscript is partially foliated.

Thomas Young's (c.1725-1783) midwifery lectures from 1771 begin on ff.1-26 and then continue on ff.37-41, ff.45-60, ff.101-106, & ff.109-115. There is no attempt made to number or date individual lectures but clear subject headings are given in all sections of the notes. The subjects addressed are as follows: progress of midwifery in different countries; authors; structure of the female pelvis; difference of the pelvis of the sexes; deformed pelvis; parts of generation in women; diseases of these parts; different systems of generation; change of the uterus during pregnancy; touch; connection of the foetus with the mother; connection of the placenta to the uterus; uses of the placenta; menstrual flux; symptoms of pregnancy; causes of abortion; imagination; remarks on the delivery of abortions in flooding cases; remarks on imagination of the mother; practical midwifery; preceding symptoms of labour; extraction of the placenta; laborious births; instruments; rules for the use of the forceps [surgical instruments]; extracting the head when the forceps fail; caesarean operation; preternatural labours [breech presentation]; method of treating lying-in women; diseases incident to women after delivery; treatment of new-born children; diseases of children.

Extracts from Thomas Denman's (1733-1815) Aphorisms on the Application and Use of the Forceps and Vectis on Preternatural Labours begin on ff.27-30 and continue on ff.61-63. They are laid out in two columns on each page and written in shorthand using the Byrom system with some words given in longhand. Some of the longhand words give some indication as to the topics that are covered in these extracts including the arrangement of labours into four different classes, the application and use of forceps, the telling of 3 separate cases from 1772, 1773, & 1774, and the treatment of labours and convulsions.

Extracts from Jean Louis Baudelocque's (1745-1810) L'Art des Accouchemens begin on ff.31-32 then continue on the verso of ff.57-30 before continuing on ff.71-75 and ff.116-149. These extracts are all in French and set out in numbered paragraphs as they were in the original publication. However, the numbering of the paragraphs in this manuscript does not appear to correspond directly with the numbering in the published text. The extracts Hull has chosen to record relate to the dimensions of the pelvis, the union of the pelvic bones, instruments, division of the foetus, the womb, dependent parts of the womb, nourishment of the foetus during pregnancy, and the caesarean operation.

Extracts from John Haighton's (1755-1823) 1797 work Experimental Inquiry Concerning Animal Impregnation begin on ff.33-36 and continue on ff.80-81. This is written in shorthand, again using the Byrom system, with some words given in longhand.

Observations on William Osborne's (1736-1808) 1783 work An Essay on Laborious Parturition can be found on ff.42-44 and continuing on ff.64-70. This again is all in shorthand using the Byrom system with occasional words in longhand.

Extracts from William Hunter's (1718-1783) 1778 work Reflections Relative to the Operation of Cutting the Symphysis of the Ossa Pubis appear on ff.76-79 written predominantly in shorthand with sections in longhand French towards the end of the notes.

Extracts of Maxwell Garthshore's (1732-1812) 1787 work On Extra Uterine Cases and on Ruptures of the Uterus can be found on ff.82-93 written predominantly in shorthand with short sections in longhand Latin.

Finally notes from lectures on comparative anatomy by Alexander Monro secundus (1733-1817) can be found on ff.152-184. The lectures are individually numbered but not dated with four in total numbered 117-120. The notes explore the operations of the human body through a comparison with those of different classes of animals.

One folio of rough notes of observations taken from Colin Mackenzie's (1697-1775) obstetrical lectures has been inserted into the binding between f.183 and f.184. It is not clear if this was part of the original binding or if it has been added in to the more recent binding.

Administrative / Biographical History

See entry MMM/1/4 for further biographical information about Thomas Young and entry MMM/1/5 for further biographical information about Alexander Monro secundus.