On this day in ...... 1779, the 1st midwife was appointed to the staff of a hospital, the Hôtel-Dieu, in Montmorency, France, established in 1207. Appointed was Elisabeth Bourgeois, wife of a male surgeon at the hospital. In the century to follow, however, her profession would become discredited by Western physicians, a situation that has seen change only recently. (credit for image of 1956 German stamp honoring midwives)
(Prior December 22 posts are here, here, and here.)
