William Smellie (obstetrician) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
William Smellie
|
|
|---|---|
.jpg) |
|
| Born | 5 February 1697 Lesmahagow, Scotland
|
| Died | 5 March 1763 (aged 66) Lanark, Scotland
|
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Alma mater | University of Glasgow |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Obstetrics, anatomy |
William Smellie (born February 5, 1697 – died March 5, 1763) was a Scottish doctor. He taught and practiced medicine, mostly in London. He was one of the first important male midwives in Britain. He made better tools for childbirth, like improved obstetrical forceps. He also taught safer ways to deliver babies. Because of his teaching and books, he helped make childbirth a more scientific field. People often call him the "father of British midwifery."
Contents
Early Life and Learning
William Smellie was born on February 5, 1697, in Lesmahagow, Scotland. He was the only child of his parents, Sara and Archibald Smellie. His father was a merchant in the town.
Smellie started practicing medicine in 1720 in Lanark. He opened a shop that sold medicines. It was not very profitable, so he also sold cloth to earn more money. During this time, he read many medical books. He taught himself about midwifery, which is the care of women during childbirth.
In 1728, he married Eupham Borland. In 1733, he became a member of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons in Glasgow. He then studied midwifery in Paris for a short time in 1739. After that, he moved to London and started a new medical practice and pharmacy.
In 1741, Smellie began teaching medical students and midwives. He gave lectures and showed them how to help with births. This new practice was very successful. Smellie became well-known in London. He later went to the University of Glasgow and earned his medical degree in 1745.
Making Childbirth Safer
William Smellie's work helped make childbirth more scientific. He invented a special "machine" for teaching his students. This machine was a model of the birthing process. Today, we would call it a "phantom" or a medical dummy. His model was much more accurate than older ones. It helped him show students how to deliver babies safely.
He also improved the obstetrical forceps. These tools had been kept secret by another family for many years. Smellie made the forceps shorter and curved the blades. He also added a locking part. He showed how to use these tools, but he always preferred natural birth. He believed natural birth was the best way if there were no problems.
Smellie was the first to fully describe how labor works. He also created a special way to deliver a baby's head during a breech birth. This is when a baby is born feet-first instead of head-first. He wrote down all his teachings in books. He was the first person to write about the natural birthing process in detail. He explained how a baby's head moves through the mother's pelvis during birth.
Before Smellie, doctors often focused on saving the mother if there were problems. Smellie believed in trying to save both the mother and the baby. By using his improved forceps, doctors could perform more careful actions. This meant they could often save both lives when problems happened. He was also the first to successfully help a baby with a collapsed lung. He also described problems with the uterus during birth.
A Great Teacher
Smellie was a respected teacher as well as a midwife. Ten years after starting his London practice, he had 900 students. He had also given 280 lecture courses. His students did not get a formal medical degree from his courses. But they came to learn and improve their skills.
Smellie liked to give his students live demonstrations. To do this, he offered free midwifery services to patients. In return, the patients allowed his students to watch the birth. This led to medical students regularly attending births as part of their training.
One of his students, William Hunter, became a famous obstetrician. Hunter even became the doctor for Queen Charlotte. Unlike Hunter, Smellie became successful without connections to powerful people. He came from a simple background. But he gained great fame because of his interest in childbirth. He was also known for creating new medical tools and writing important books.
Not everyone liked Smellie's work. At that time, most midwives were women. Many female midwives thought it was wrong for men to help with childbirth. Many patients also agreed. However, Smellie's work helped change obstetrics. It began to shift from being a job for experienced women to a medical field for trained male doctors and surgeons.
Later Life and Legacy
Smellie taught and worked as a midwife until 1759. That year, he retired and went back to his hometown of Lanark. He passed his medical practice to Dr. John Harvie, who had married Smellie's niece.
In retirement, Smellie had a house built called Smellom Hall. He spent his time writing and improving his findings into books. This included the last part of his book, A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Midwifery. He died on March 5, 1763, at age 66. He finished his book, but he did not live to see it published. His tomb, where he and later his wife were buried, is still in the Lanark graveyard.
In 1828, Dr. Harvie gave a portrait of Smellie to the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. Smellie probably painted this portrait himself in 1719.
In 1948, the Lockhart Hospital in Lanark opened a maternity department. By 1955, the whole hospital was used for maternity services. It was renamed the William Smellie Memorial Hospital. In 1992, this hospital closed. The maternity department, still named after William Smellie, moved to the Law Hospital in Carluke. In 2001, this unit also closed. Maternity services then moved to Wishaw General Hospital.
His Important Books
- A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Midwifery (published in three parts from 1752 to 1764) describes how labor works. It also explains how to handle normal births and problems that might happen. This book was the first to set rules for using obstetrical forceps safely. Smellie knew forceps could save lives, but he believed they should be used only when truly needed. By the time he published the first part, he had worked for over 30 years. He had helped with about 1,150 births. The information in his book was very helpful because few people at that time had so much experience.
- A Sett of Anatomical Tables (1754) was another important book. It was a collection of Smellie's detailed drawings. These drawings showed childbirth and pregnancy. Only 100 copies were printed. But the book was amazing because of its detail and how accurate the drawings were.
Images for kids
-
William Smellie
-
William Smellie's surgical instruments
-
.
A Sett of Anatomical Tables (1754)
