Medical Text on the Use of Forceps in Parturition – 1900

Overview

The test‑archive directory contains a single historical medical text and a scanned image of one of its pages.

• Text: A 1900 English manuscript arguing for the superiority of forceps in childbirth and addressing common objections.
• Image: A high‑resolution JPEG of the page, accompanied by OCR‑extracted text that matches the manuscript’s content.

Contents

| File | Type | Key Details | |------|------|-------------| | File 1 | JSON metadata | `id`, `title`, `creator`, `institution`, `created`, `language`, `subjects`, `description`, `source`, `rights`, `place`, `access_url` | | File 2 | JPEG image | `filename: test.jpg`, `size: 3,966,464 bytes`, `url: https://cdn.arke.institute/asset/MHFFF1V7UNXYKH1HKOI`, OCR text of the page |

Historical Context

• Early 20th‑century obstetrics: The use of forceps was a contentious topic. This manuscript reflects the debates of the era, defending the instrument against critics who deemed it dangerous and ineffective.
• Arke Institute: The repository that preserved this manuscript, indicating a scholarly interest in medical history.

Significance

• Rhetorical insight: The text provides a window into the arguments used by obstetricians to justify forceps, revealing contemporary concerns about safety, technique, and professional reputation.
• Digital humanities: The OCR text allows computational analysis of language, sentiment, and terminology used in early obstetric literature.

Narrative

The collection offers both content (the manuscript’s arguments) and form (a visual scan of the original page). Together, they give researchers a comprehensive view of the document’s textual and physical attributes, facilitating studies in medical history, textual criticism, and digital preservation.

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```json { "id": "01K8Y693Q4Y85DR2NWBE3TRWY2", "title": "Medical Text on the Use of Forceps in Parturition", "type": "Text", "creator": "Unknown", "institution": "Arke Institute", "created": "1900", "language": "en", "subjects": [ "Medicine", "Obstetrics", "Forceps", "Parturition", "Medical Instruments" ], "description": "A historical medical text discussing the use of forceps in parturition, arguing for its superiority over other methods and addressing common objections.", "source": "PINAX", "rights": "", "place": [], "access_url": "PLACEHOLDER", "files": [ { "filename": "test.jpg", "type": "image/jpeg", "size": 3966464, "url": "https://cdn.arke.institute/asset/MHFFF1V7UNXYKH1HKOI", "ocr": "Forceps. The objections to its use are so very evident and manifold, as to require no comments.\n\nIndeed it can very rarely be applied with a reasonable hope, far less the certainty, of forwarding parturition, where the lever becomes admissible, the forceps, if employed, would in every case supersede its use, and the result would invariably be far more certain and satisfactory. Those who regard the forceps as an instrument absolutely dangerous, and entirely ineffectual, neither know the mode of acting with them, nor the difficulties of the art, and have doubtless judged them by the abuse they themselves have made of them, and have forgot that the most safe and useful instrument often becomes hazardous in the hands of ignorance