The two parts of this book comprise, first, an incomplete historical sketch of version, and second, an exposition of the writer's method of practice, which he has evolved from the descriptions of many dead masters of the subject, and which he has named, "Potter's Version." The historical data are essentially—though not always—accurate, and there is an evident absence of actual reference to the authorities, who are responsible for steps included in the author's method, leading to the implication that he, de novo, had originated every detail.
Furthermore, the history of the method seems to be utilized as a defense for its promiscuous use. The stretching of the perineum is not new: Karl Braun appreciated the necessity of overcoming the resistance of the tense perineum. Clifton Edgar amplified it, and most teachers of obstetrics have, for ten or fifteen years, taught the necessity of ironing out the perineum as a preliminary