ham.

Middle- est ornaments imaginable, consisting of a number of burg, little flat sticks, about five inches long, of a yellow Middle wood like box, firmly and elegantly connected together at the bottom by a tissue of the fibres of cocoanut, some of which were of their natural colour, and others dyed black; the same fibres were likewise used in the making of baskets, the taste of which was highly elegant, and varied into different forms and patterns. Their clubs are of a great variety of shapes, and many of them so ponderous as scarcely to be managed with one hand. The most common form was quadrangular, so as to make a rhomboid at the broad end, and gradually tapering into a round handle at the other. Far the greater part were carved all over in many chequered patterns, which seemed to have required a long space of time, and incredible patience, to work up; as a sharp stone, or a piece of coral, are the only tools made use of the whole surface of the plain clubs was as highly polished as if an European workman had made them with the best instruments: Besides clubs, they have spears of the same wood, which were sometimes plain sharp-pointed sticks, and sometimes barbed with a sting-ray's tail. They have likewise bows and arrows of a peculiar construction; the bow, which is six feet long, is about the thickness of a little finger, and when slack, forms a slight curve; its convex part is channelled with a single deep groove, in which the bow-string is lodged. The arrow is made of reed, near six feet long, and pointed with hard wood: when the bow is to be bent, instead of drawing it so as to increase the natural curvature, they draw it the contrary way, make it perfectly straight, and then form the curve on the other side. Most of their canoes have outriggers, made of poles; and their workmanship is very admirable: two of these canoes are joined together with a surprising exactness, and the whole surface receives a very curious polish. Their paddles have short broad blades, something like those at Otaheite, but more neatly wrought and of better wood.

They keep their dead above ground, after the manner of the Society islands; as a corpse was seen deposited on a low hut.

her

Here were seen several men and women afflicted with leprous diseases, in some of whom the disorder had risen to a high degree of virulence: one man in particular had his back and shoulders covered with a large cancerous ulcer, which was perfectly livid within, and of a bright yellow all round the edges. A woman was likewise unfortunate enough to have her face destroyed by it in the most shocking manner; there was only a hole left in the place of her nose; cheek was swelled up, and continually oozing out a purulent matter: and her eyes seemed ready to fall out of her bead, being bloody and sore. Though these were some of the most miserable objects that could possibly be seen, yet they seemed to be quite unconcerned about their misfortunes, and traded as briskly as any of the rest. MIDDLEHAM, a town in the north riding of Yorkshire, situated on the river Ure, 255 miles from London. It had once a castle, where was born Edward prince of Wales, only son of Richard III; and is noted for a woollen manufactory and frequent horseIts market is on Monday; and fairs Nov. 6. and 7. The town stands on a rising ground; and the 3

races.

castle was formerly moated round by the help of a spring conveyed in pipes from the higher grounds. The population in 1811 was 714.

MIDDLESEX, a county of England, which derives its name from its situation amidst the three kingdoms of the East, West, and South Saxons. It is bounded on the north by Hertfordshire; on the south by the river Thames, which divides it from Surry; on the west by the river Colne, which separates it from Buckinghamshire; and on the east by the river Lea, which divides it from Essex. It extends about 23 miles in length, but hardly 14 in breadth, and is not more than 115 in circumference; but as it comprehends the two vast cities of London and Westminster, which are situated in the south-east part of the county, it is by far the wealthiest and most populous county in England. It is divided into 602 liberties, containing 200 parishes, besides a vast number of chapels of ease, and 5 market towns, exclusive of the cities of London and Westminister. The air is very pleasant and healthy. The soil, which is gravelly, produces plenty of corn, and the county abounds with fertile meadows and gardeners grounds. In a word, the greater part of the county is so prodigiously assisted by the rich compost from London, that the whole of the cultivated part may be considered as a garden. The natural productions are cattle, corn, and fruit; but its manufactures are too many to be enumerated here, there being hardly a single manufacture practised in Great Britain but what is also established in this county.-Though London is the chief city, Brentford is the county town where the members of parliament are elected. In 1811 it contained 126,269 houses, and 904,358 inhabitants in towns, and 8670 houses, and 48,918 inhabitants in the country, making altogether 953,276 inhabitants. See MIDDLESEX, SUPPLEMENT.

MIDDLESEX is also the name of four different counties in the United States of America; one of them is in Massachussets, another in Connecticut, a third in New Jersey, and the fourth in Virginia.

MIDDLETON, DR CONYERS, a very celebrated English divine, the son of a clergyman in Yorkshire, was born at Richmond in 1683. He distinguished himself, while fellow of Trinity college, Cambridge, by his controversy with Dr Bentley his master, relating to some mercenary conduct of the latter in that station. He afterwards had a controversy with the whole body of physicians on the dignity of the medical profession; concerning which he published De medicorum apud veteres Romanos degentium conditione dissertatio; qua, contra viros celeberrimos Jacobum Sponium et Richardum Meadium, servilem atque ignobilem eam fuisse ostenditur: and in the course of this dispute much resentment and many pamphlets appeared. Hitherto he stood well with his clerical brethren; but he drew the resentment of the church on him in 1729, by writing "A Letter from Rome, showing an exact conformity between Popery and Paganism," &c.; as this letter, though politely written, yet attacked Popish miracles with a gaiety that appeared dangerous to the cause of miracles in general. Nor were his Objections to Dr Waterland's manner of vindicating Scripture against Tindal's "Christianity as old as the Creation," looked on in a more favourable point of view. In 1741, came out his great work, "The history of the life of M. Tullius Cicero,"

had

Middleton.

frame.

In

as well as the figure and dimension of all the inferior Midshiptimbers.

In the article SHIP-Building, the reader will find a full explanation of what is meant by a frame of timbers. He will also perceive the outlines of all the principal frames, with their gradual dimensions, from the midship-frame, delineated in the plane of projection annexed to that article.

MIDSHIPMAN, a sort of naval cadet, appointed by the captain of a ship of war, to second the orders of the superior officers, and assist in the necessary business of the vessel, either aboard or ashore.

Middleton Cicero," 2 vols 4to: which is indeed a fine perform11 ance, and will probably be read as long as taste and Midship- polite literature subsist among us: the author has nevertheless fallen into the common error of biographers, who often give panegyrics instead of history. 1748, he published, "A free inquiry into the miraculous powers which are supposed to have subsisted in the Christian church from the earliest ages, through several successive centuries." He was now attacked from all quarters; but before he took any notice of his antagonists, he supplied them with another subject, in " An examination of the Lord Bishop of London's discourses concerning the use and extent of prophecy," &c. Thus Dr Middleton continued to display talents and learning, which are highly esteemed by men of a free turn of mind, but by no means in a method calculated to invite promotion in the clerical line. He was in 1723 chosen principal librarian of the public library at Cambridge; and if he rose not to dignities in the church, he was in easy circumstances, which permitted him to assert a dignity of mind often forgotten in the career of preferment. He died in 1750, at Hildersham in Cambridgeshire, an estate of his own purchasing; and in 1752, all his works, except the life of Cicero, were collected in 4 vols 4to.

MIDDLEWICH, a town of Cheshire, 167 miles from London. It stands near the conflux of the Croke and Dan, where are two salt water springs, from which are made great quantities of salt, the brine being said to be so strong as to produce a full fourth part salt. It is an ancient borough, governed by burgesses; and its parish extends into many adjacent townships. It has a spacious church. By means of inland navigation, it has communication with the rivers Mersey, Dee, Ribble, Ouse, Trent, Darwent, Severn, Humber, Thames, Avon, &c.; which navigation, including its windings, extends above 500 miles, in the counties of Lincoln, Nottingham, York, Lancaster, Westmoreland, Stafford, Warwick, Leicester, Oxford, Worcester, &c. The river Wheelock, after a course of about 12 miles from Mowcop-bill, runs into the Dan a little above this town. Its population in 1811 was 1232.

MIDHURST, a town of Sussex, 52 miles from London, has been represented in parliament ever since the 4th of Edward II. It is a neat small town, on a hill surrounded with others, having the river Arun at the bottom; and is a borough by prescription, governed by a bailiff, chosen annually by a jury at a courtleet of the lord of the manor.

MIDIAN, or MADIAN, in Ancient Geography, a town on the south side of Arabia Petræa, so called from one of the sons of Abraham by Keturah.-Another Midian, near the Arnon and Æoplis, in ruins in Jerome's time. With the daughters of these Midianites the Israelites committed fornication, and were guilty of idolatry. A branch of the Midianites dwelt on the Arabian gulf, and were called Kenites: some of whom turned proselytes, and dwelt with the Israelites in the

land of Canaan.

The number of midshipmen, like that of several other officers, is always in proportion to the size of the ship to which they belong. Thus a first-rate man of war has 24, and the inferior rates a suitable number in proportion. No person can be appointed lieutenant without having previously served two years in the royal navy in this capacity, or in that of mate, besides having been at least four years in actual service at sea, either in merchant ships or in the royal navy.

Midshipman is accordingly the station in which a young volunteer is trained in the several exercises necessary to attain a sufficient knowledge of the machinery, movements, and military operations of a ship, to qualify him for a sea officer.

any

On his first entrance in a ship of war, every midshipman has several disadvantageous circumstances to encounter. These are partly occasioned by the nature of the sea service; and partly by the mistaken prejudices of people in general respecting naval discipline, and the genius of sailors and their officers. No character, in their opinion, is more excellent than that of the common sailor, whom they generally suppose to be treated with great severity by his officers, drawing a comparison between them not very advantageous to the latter. The midshipman usually comes aboard tinctured with these prejudices, especially if his education has been amongst the higher rank of people; and if the officers happen to answer his opinion, he conceives an early disgust to the service, from a very partial and incompetent view of its operations. Blinded by these prepossessions, he is thrown off his guard, and very soon surprised to find, amongst those honest sailors, a crew of abandoned miscreants, ripe for mischief or villany. Perhaps, after a little observation, many of them will appear to him equally destitute of gratitude, shame, or justice, and only deterred from the commission of any crimes by the terror of severe punishment. He will discover, that the pernicious example of a few of the vilest in a ship of war is too often apt to poison the principles of the greatest number, especially if the reins of discipline are too much relaxed, so as to foster that idleness and dissipation, · which engender sloth, diseases, and an utter profligacy of manners. If the midshipman on many occasions is obliged to mix with these, particularly in the exercises of extending or reducing the sails in the tops, he ought resolutely to guard against this contagion, with which the morals of his inferiors may be infected. He should, however, avail himself of their knowledge, and acquire their expertness in managing and fixing the sails and rigging, and never suffer himself to be excelled by an inferior. He will probably find a virtue in almost every

F

frame
11

Midship

man.

man.

Midship every private sailor, which is entirely unknown to many of his officers: that virtue is emulation, which is not indeed mentioned amongst their qualities by the gentlemen of terra firma, by whom their characters are often copiously described with very little judgment. There is hardly a common tar who is not envious of superior skill in his fellows, and jealous on all occasions to be outdone in what he considers as a branch of his duty: nor is he more afraid of the dreadful consequences of whistling in a storm, than of being stigmatized with the opprobrious epithet of lubber. For tified against this scandal, by a thorough knowledge of his business, the sailor will sometimes sneer in private at the execution of orders which to him appear awkward, improper, or unlike a seaman. Nay, he will perhaps be malicious enough to suppress his own judgment, and, by a punctual obedience to command, execute whatever is to be performed in a manner which he knows to be improper, in order to expose the person commanding to disgrace and ridicule. Little skilled in the method of the schools, he considers the officer who cons his lesson by rote as very ill qualified for his station, because particular situations might render it necessary for the said officer to assist at putting his own orders in practice. An ignorance in this practical knowledge will therefore necessarily be thought an unpardonable deficiency by those who are to follow his directions. Hence the midshipman who associates with these sailors in the tops, till he has acquired a competent skill in the service of extending or reducing the sails, &c. will be often entertained with a number of scurrilous jests, at the expence of his superiors. Hence also he will learn, that a timely application to those exercises can only prevent him from appearing in the same despicable point of view, which must certainly be a cruel mortification to a man of the smallest sensibility.

rials which form the skilful pilot and the superior ma- Midship riner. The theory of navigation is entirely derived man, from the two former, and all the machinery and move- Midwife. ments of a ship are founded upon the latter. The action of the wind upon the sails, and the resistance of the water at the stem, naturally dictate an inquiry into the property of solids and fluids; and the state of the ship, floating on the water, seems to direct his application to the study of hydrostatics, and the effects of gravity. A proficiency in these branches of science will equally enlarge his views, with regard to the ope rations of naval war, as directed by the efforts of powder and the knowledge of projectiles. The most effectual method to excite his application to those studies, is, perhaps, by looking round the navy, to observe the characters of individuals. By this inquiry he will probably discover, that the officer who is eminently skilled in the sciences, will command universal respect and approbation; and that whoever is satisfied with the despicable ambition of shining the hero of an assembly, will be the object of universal contempt. The attention of the former will be engaged in those studies which are highly useful to himself in particular, and to the service in general. The employment of the latter is to acquire those superficial accomplishments that unbend the mind from every useful science, emasculate the judgment, and render the hero infinitely more dexterous at failing into his station in the dance than in the line of battle.

Unless the midshipman has an unconquerable aversion to the acquisition of those qualifications which are so essential to his improvement, he will very rarely want opportunities of making a progress therein. Every step he advances in those meritorious employments will facilitate his accession to the next in order. If the dunces, who are his officers or messmates, are rattling the dice, roaring bad verses, hissing on the flute, or scraping discord from the fiddle, his attention to more noble studies will sweeten the hours of relaxation. He should recollect, that no example from fools ought to influence bis conduct, or seduce him from that laudable ambition which his honour and advantage are equally concerned to pursue.

MIDWIFE, one whose profession is to deliver women in labour. See MIDWIFERY.

HE art of assisting women in labour. In a more extended sense, it is understood to comprehend also the treatment of the diseases of women and children. In this work we shall consider it in the former limited sense, viz. as relating to the birth of the offspring of

man.

History of Midwifery.-It must be very obvious that this art must have been almost coeval with mankind: but in Europe it continued in a very rude state till the 17th century; and even after physic and surgery had become distinct professions, it remained almost totally uncultivated.

It is a curious fact, that in the empire of China the very reverse of this has taken place. In that empire, according to the latest accounts, both physic and surgery are still in a state of the utmost degradation, even more so than among the savages of America; but for some hundred years, the art of midwifery has been practised by a set of men destined to the purpose by order of government. These men, who hold in society the same rank which lithotomists did in this country about the beginning of last century, are called in whenever a woman has been above a certain number of hours in labour, and employ a mechanical contrivance

for

History. for completing the delivery without injury to the infant. A certain number of such individuals is allotted to each district of a certain population.

5

Of

to the sneer. His son, the present professor, has inproved upon the idea. He seems to suppose that women Conception. without any instruction, and of course without any knowledge of the subject, are capable of assisting one another while in labour; and in the sportiveness of his lively imagination, he compares men-midwives to that species of frog, in which, according to the allegation of Reaumur, the male draws out the ova from the female, or, to use the naturalist's words, "accouche la femelle."

It is said, that the Chinese government was led to make this provision for alleviating the sufferings of child-bearing women, in consequence of a representation, that annually many women died undelivered, and that in the majority of cases the cause of obstruction might have been removed by very simple mechanical expedients.

Both Sir George Staunton and Mr Barrow were ignorant of this fact; and the latter in particular expressly mentions, that there are no men-midwives in China. But the writer of this article had his information from a more authentic source than the works of gentlemen who were only a few months in that country, and were in a great measure treated as state prisoners. He has it, through the medium of a friend, from a gentleman who resided upwards of twenty years as surgeon to the British factory at Canton, and who had both the ability and the inclination to learn, during the course of so long a residence, all the customs and prejudices of the natives relating to the preservation of human health.

Towards the end of the 17th century, the same causes which had so long before led to the cultivation of midwifery in China produced the same effect in Europe. The dangers to which women are sometimes exposed during labour excited the compassion of the benevolent; so that a considerable part of the first hospital which was established for the reception of the indigent sick, the Hotel Dieu of Paris was appropriated to lying-in women.

The opportunities of practice which that hospital afforded, directed the attention of medical men to the numerous accidents which happen during labour, and to the various diseases which occur after delivery. Public teaching followed, and soon after the custom of employing men in the practice of midwifery began.

From this period the art became rapidly improved; and it is now in many parts of Europe, and particularly in Great Britain, in as great a state of perfection as physic or surgery.

In the year 1725, a professorship of midwifery was established in the university of Edinburgh; and the town-council at the same time ordained, that no woman should be allowed to practise midwifery within the liberties of the city, without having previously obtained a certificate from the professor of her being properly qualified. This salutary regulation has fallen into desuetude.

There can be no doubt that the improvement of the art of midwifery was chiefly in consequence of medical men directing their attention to the subject; but the propriety of men being employed in such a profession is much questioned by many individuals of considerable respectability.

It appears to us that this question, on which much declamation has been employed by the parties who have agitated it, may be brought within a very narrow compass. It may be assumed as a fact established beyond the reach of controversy, that sometimes dangers and difficulties occur during labour (from causes to be explained in a subsequent part of this essay), which can be lessened or removed by those only who have an intimate knowledge of the structure of the human body and of the practice of physic. On such occasions, it must be admitted, medical men alone cau be useful. But as such labours occur only in the proportion of two or three in the hundred, the general practice might be confided to midwives, if they could be taught to manage ordinary cases, and to foresee and distinguish difficulties or dangers, so as to procure in sufficient time additional assistance. It is on this point that the decision of the question must depend. It consists with the knowledge of the writer of this article, that women may be taught all this. But there are many who allege, that a little knowledge being a dangerous thing, midwives acquire a self-sufficiency which renders them averse from calling in superior assistance, and that, in consequence, they often occasion the most deplorable accidents both to mother and child. In England this is the popular opinion, so that there women are almost entirely excluded from the practice of midwifery. A similar prejudice against midwives has, it is believed, begun in some parts of Scotland; but it is presumed this will gradually cease, when it is considered that, in general, the Scotch midwives are regularly instructed, and are at the same time both virtuous and industrious. If they attend strictly to their duty, and invariably prefer their pa tients safety to their own feelings or supposed interest, they will deservedly retain the public confidence. But if in cases of difficulty or danger they trust to their own exertions, or from disinterested motives decline the assistance of able practitioners, and if they interfere in the treatment of the diseases of women and children, they will in a few years be excluded from practice.

Division of the subject. In order to exhibit an accurate view of what relates to the birth of man, we shall consider, in the first place, conception; secondly, the effects of impregnation; thirdly, the act of childbearing; and lastly, the deviations from the ordinary course which sometimes happen. These topics will form the subjects of the following chapters.

CHAP. I. Of Conception.

THREE circumstances are required for conception in the human race, viz. puberty; a healthy, vigorous, and natural state of the parts subservient to the operation in both sexes; and successful sexual intercourse.

1. The age of puberty in women differs considerably

7