This beautiful and effective plate shows the natural position of the child at the time of birth.  It is technically called the presentment of the fœtus for birth.  Of the presentment's there are many varieties, whose study is most interesting to the obstetrician.  Some of them give rise to very difficult and dangerous delivery.  When the presentment is natural, as in the figure, the comfort of the mother is increased and the doctor's anxiety is modulated.

First off, the plate that this section refers to is located in our section on chart 2.  Here is the specific picture in question. 

Second,that lasthave sense that talks about the anxiety of the doctor, I think that could be misconstrued a couple different ways.  It could appear that the author is more worried about the doctor than the mother.  That was my initial interpretation.

It could also be, that the author was trying to tell the reader, that it's okay to be anxious or you should be anxious if the fetus is not in the ideal position at childbirth.This could be some sort of hidden warning.It could also be something to tell doctors to relax if things are lined up correctly.

At this time, most babies were delivered at home.If a doctor was present, that was actually something.There really wasn't a great deal that they could do though if things went seriously wrong. 

In our modern era we are so used to having medical professionals on hand to cover every little thing from corrective eye surgery to a nose job and we don't think about these things. Furthermore, medical services of the specialized nature are becoming close in common. If I need to find a charlotte cosmetic dentist to fix my smile, I can drive 20 miles down the road and find one.

Back then, you are doing good field drive a buggy 20 miles down the road to find a general practice doctor.

Additional Articles from the Book of Medicine:

• Sea-Water
  
  

  Sea-Water.-Sea-water varies considerably in composition, being, of course, more concentrated, as a rule, in the tropical regions, where evaporation is most active, such, for example, as in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean near the equator. According to analysis, the water in the English Channel contains in 1000 parts‑

  Chloride of Sodium 28.05

  Chloride of Magnesium…………………….. 3.66

  Sulphate of Magnesia 2.29

  Sulphate of Lime ……………………………. 1.40

  Other Saline Materials ……………………….. .76

  Total Solid Matter…………………….. 36. 16

  Besides these, and perhaps contributing largely to the healthful qualities of sea-water, there exist in the ocean small quantities of iodine and bromide, and extremely minute amounts of some of the common metals. It has been found that, by dissolving a little common salt and carbonate of soda, lime and magnesia in distilled sea-water, its taste is rendered much more agreeable; and this plan, it is said, is adopted in the Russian navy.

  – - –

  As in the last section where they talk about distilling sea water for drinking on ships, this talks about some of the other materials that can be extracted during the distillation process.  With the exception of salt extraction some of these other materials don’t seem terribly practical.  Times do change however, and if water is extracted every bit of material that comes with it has to go somewhere whether it can be sold in bulk for mass production of vitamins or horse supplements or what ever. 

• SECTIONAL VIEW OF THE BRAIN, FACE AND THROAT
  
  

  Today were looking at another section, this one reviewing the brain, face and throat. I warn you in advance that the review is somewhat incomplete by the authors of the book and it’s more a review of the image that of any actual body parts. Before you too far into this section I just mention that this seems to be an initial trend of using many words to describe nothing. It’s possible that this medical book was the Seinfeld of its day.

  The Brain And Its Bony Citadel.- the arches, with true anatomical instinct in a rare technical ability in regard to accuracy in minute detail, has performed as part of the work in this illustration with such faithful fidelity to nature that one cannot withhold a word of praise at the grand style and elaborate manner of its execution. This elegant and artistic anatomical plate represents the brain held firmly in position within its strong bony citadel, but collect and 20 from above downward, thus showing its internal mechanism and construction; besides which it gives the internal arrangements of the nose, tongue, throat and neck.

  This initial section, or rather the first paragraph of the of this section provides more praise to the artist and description of the actual topic, which in case you missed it is a picture showing a cross-section of the human head and neck to include the spinal column.  The image is labeled correctly and is in color.the same picture could’ve been provided in a textbook as late as 20 or 30 years ago at a grade school or high school level.  The diagram is accurate as far as labels and body parts are concerned, however they’re drawing and rendering are somewhat untrue to form and don’t exactly provide the insights into the function of the movable parts quite like we may see a representation today.

  The diagram for the tongue in particular is somewhat peculiar looking and seems to show an example of the tongue lopped off or half swallowed.  This aspect of the drying is a little odd, and I suspect the artist may have taken some liberties in their drawing to expedite the process and that all the pieces in their approximate space.

• Values of the Plates
  
  

  THE DIGESTIVE APPARATUS AND ITS WONDERS

  Values of the Plates.  — seeing is believing; nay, it is more, it is knowing and remembering.  The mere reading of his statement on any particular subject is not always advance our knowledge of the matter in question.  The observation of the facts, or its proper illustration by appropriate diagrams, such as we observed these anatomical charts to be, not only emphasizes the point considered, but aides us and remembering the principal features connected with the functions performed, does advancing our knowledge of the subject discussed, and educational progress is made.

  _________________

  In this section the author is referring to the medical charts and diagrams that come with the book.  This is actually an interesting excerpt.  I’m sure it was a bit of conventional wisdom that combining pictures with text would help people understand and learn.  Today I work in part as a MindManager trainer.  My manager is a software program that enables people to mind map on their computer.  My maps enable people to put text in words and pictures and colors together so that they can learn and digest the topic faster.  The interesting thing is in the 1960s a scientist won a Nobel peace prize for putting all that information together in proving that people do learn better when they look at pictures and colors as opposed to just flat black text.  I’m sure the monks of the dark ages could’ve probably confirm that, but it hadn’t gone to the scientific process yet.