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295:, who killed 16 people in collusion with William Hare, selling the bodies to anatomist Dr. Robert Knox. He indicated that grave robbing was not a sufficient method by which obstetricians could access the specific type of tissue required for testing and dissection. In 1755, there was questioning of Smellie's access to corpses. Many of the accusations came from competitors, and fearing trial and even execution, Smellie stopped his work for several years in an effort to quash the suspicion that had been raised.
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seeking to enhance their knowledge. As a teacher, Smellie tried to provide his students with live demonstrations to go along with course lectures. Consequently, he offered free midwifing services to patients if they allowed his students to observe the birthing process. This led to a more general practice of medical students attending births as a part of their medical training.
160:. In 1739, after studying midwifery in Paris for a brief period, he established a practice and a pharmacy in London. In 1741 he began presenting obstetrics lectures and demonstrations to medical students and midwives. This practice proved far more successful than his first one, and Smellie made a name for himself in London. He then enrolled at the
259:
In 1948 the
Lockhart Hospital in Lanark opened a maternity department; by 1955 the entire hospital was given over to maternity services and the hospital was renamed the William Smellie Memorial Hospital. In 1992 the hospital closed and the maternity department, still called after William Smellie, was
180:
Smellie's work helped make obstetrics more scientifically based. He invented a "machine" – an obstetrical manikin – for instructing his students. It essentially functioned as a model of the birthing process, and would nowadays be referred to as a "phantom". While not an original idea, the phantom was
155:
in 1720 in Lanark. It was not a particularly lucrative venture, as he also sold cloth as a side business to supplement his income, but he began reading medical books and teaching himself obstetrics at this time. By 1728, he was married to Eupham
Borland, who was seven years his senior. In 1733 he was
248:
Smellie taught and midwifed until 1759, in which year he retired and returned to his hometown of Lanark. He passed his practice on to Dr. John Harvie, who had married
Smellie's niece. In retirement, Smellie had a residence built which he called Smellom Hall, and focused on compiling and refining his
236:. Unlike Hunter, Smellie was able to gain prestige and success without connections to highly reputable individuals in society. Through his humble background, Smellie was able to gain great acclaim through his interest in obstetrics and as an innovator of medical instruments and reference literature.
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and how to handle the normal birthing process along with various complications that might arise. The book was the first to set up procedures for ensuring the safe use of obstetrical forceps, as
Smellie recognized that the forceps were a life-saving tool but best used sparingly. By the time Smellie
239:
Smellie's work was not without opposition. At the time, midwifery was a female-dominated profession. Most female midwives argued that it was inappropriate for men to assist women with childbirth, and many patients agreed. However, Smellie's work helped begin the shift of obstetrics from the work of
216:
Smellie challenged the commonly accepted concept of saving the mother over the child in times of complication. Through the introduction of forceps in the field of obstetrics, more delicate maneuvers could be performed and therefore obstetricians were able to equally weigh the life of the mother and
200:
had kept it secret for generations. He publicized the use of these instruments although he promoted natural birth as the best method of delivery due to its less invasive nature. In his new version of the forceps, Smellie shortened and curved the blades and included a locking mechanism. In addition,
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were responsible for multiple murders of pregnant women in order to gain access to corpses for anatomical dissection and physiological experimentation. Due to the inadequate match between supply and demand of corpses, scientists had to find other means, often requiring illegal methods, to obtain
228:
Smellie was highly respected as a teacher as well as a midwife. Ten years after establishing his London practice, Smellie had 900 pupils and had delivered 280 lecture courses. His students did not gain any certification or fulfill medical training requirements by attending his courses, but came
347:(1754) was also an important contribution to the field of obstetrics. This was a compilation of Smellie's anatomical drawings depicting childbirth and pregnancy. Though only one hundred copies were printed, it was groundbreaking in its detail and anatomical accuracy.
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published the first volume, he had been practicing for over 30 years and had been involved in around 1,150 deliveries. The information presented in his book was illuminating, as few people at the time had so much experience in midwifing.
253:. He died at the age of 66 on 5 March 1763, in time to finish his book but not to see it published. The tomb in which Smellie (and later his wife) was buried still stands in the St Kentigern's section of the state-run Lanark graveyard.
312:
indicated that the response of the media and the internet to
Shelton's publication "raised fresh questions about how medical history is generated, presented and evaluated in the media and, in particular, on the internet".
136:, established safer delivery practices, and through his teaching and writing helped make obstetrics more scientifically based. He is often called the "father of British midwifery".
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child when complications did arise and were more often able to resolve the problem and save both. He was the first recorded figure to be able to resuscitate an infant after
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In 1828, Harvie donated a portrait of
Smellie to the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. Smellie most likely painted this portrait himself in 1719.
306:"were not all from real life", and very likely other methods than murder were available to obtain bodies of recently died pregnant women at that time.
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148:, Scotland. He was the only child of Sara Kennedy (1657–1727) and Archibald Smellie (1663/4–1735), a merchant and burgess of the town.
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974:(London, 1754)]. Selected pages scanned from the original work. Historical Anatomies on the Web. US National Library of Medicine.
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In 2010, the self-described historian Don
Shelton questioned the methods by which Smellie performed his research. In the
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women with some degree of experience to a medical field practiced largely by trained male physicians and surgeons.
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Dr. William
Smellie and His Contemporaries: A Contribution to the History of Midwifery in the Eighteenth Century
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One of his students, William Hunter, went on to become a well-known obstetrician and served as the physician of
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Shelton's supposition was criticized by a number of medical historians who pointed out that already in 1761
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far more accurate than previous models and allowed him to visually demonstrate midwifing techniques.
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and medical instructor who practiced and taught primarily in London. One of the first prominent
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A sett of anatomical tables, with explanations, and an abridgment, of the practice of midwifery
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Treatise on the Theory and
Practice of Midwifery. Ed. with annotations, by Alfred H. McClintock
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access. Shelton proposed that these two physicians used what would later be named "
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and detailed the method by which the head of the child exited the female pelvis.
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Vaulted
Treasures: Historical Medical Books at the Claude Moore Health Sciences
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Mrs Stone & Dr Smellie: Eighteenth-Century Midwives and their Patients
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336:(published in three volumes from 1752 to 1764) describes the mechanism of
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he suggested that Smellie and his collaborator and later competitor
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accepted as a member of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons in
559:"Dr William Smellie (1697–1763), the master of British midwifery"
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William Smellie's surgical instruments, Hunterian Museum, Glasgow
264:. In 2001 this unit closed and maternity services were moved to
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Smellie practiced medicine before getting a license, opening an
673:"History without Historians? Medical History and the Internet"
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Archives of Disease in Childhood: Fetal and Neonatal Edition
756:"Founders of British obstetrics 'were callous murderers'"
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He also designed an improved version of the obstetrical
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Essays in Eponymy: Obstetric and Gynecologic Milestones
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144:Smellie was born on 5 February 1697 in the town of
132:in Britain, he designed an improved version of the
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334:A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Midwifery
251:A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Midwifery
249:findings into books, including the last volume of
877:Birth: The Surprising History of How We Are Born
205:, devised a maneuver to deliver the head of a
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393:(online ed.). Oxford University Press.
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384:"Smellie, William (1697-1763), man-midwife"
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121:(5 February 1697 – 5 March 1763) was a
946:. Glasgow: James Maclehose & Sons.
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998:18th-century Scottish medical doctors
914:Woods, Robert; Galley, Chris (2015).
899:. London: The New Syndenham Society.
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754:Campbell, Dennis (6 February 2010).
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164:and received his MD degree in 1745.
1003:Alumni of the University of Glasgow
649:. Historic Hospitals. 26 April 2015
260:transferred to the Law Hospital in
702:Don C. Shelton (1 February 2010).
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188:Use of forceps by William Smellie
16:Scottish obstetrician (1697–1763)
834:(5): 166–167, author reply 167.
785:(5): 166–167, author reply 167.
773:Janette C Allotey (1 May 2010).
381:Peel, John (23 September 2014).
610:"Medicine in the 18th Century"
201:he described the mechanism of
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414:UK public library membership
920:. Oxford University Press.
704:"The Emperor's new clothes"
557:Dunn, P.M. (January 1995).
345:A Sett of Anatomical Tables
326:A sett of anatomical tables
304:A Sett of Anatomical Tables
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822:Wendy Moore (1 May 2010).
677:Social History of Medicine
895:Smellie, William (1876).
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840:10.1258/jrsm.2010.10k020
791:10.1258/jrsm.2010.10k019
720:10.1258/jrsm.2009.090295
211:natural birthing process
140:Early life and education
942:Glaister, John (1894).
880:. Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
614:Encyclopædia Britannica
544:Encyclopedia Britannica
522:Woods & Galley 2015
364:Woods & Galley 2015
266:Wishaw General Hospital
221:and describe in detail
1008:Scottish obstetricians
874:Cassidy, Tina (2007).
399:10.1093/ref:odnb/25752
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162:University of Glasgow
92:University of Glasgow
671:Helen King (2011).
575:10.1136/fn.72.1.f77
439:"Famous Lanarkians"
134:obstetrical forceps
108:Obstetrics, anatomy
1013:People from Lanark
951:Speert, H (1958).
546:. 7 December 2012.
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291:", after murderer
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969:William Smellie:
824:"Case not proven"
540:"William Smellie"
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