Sex efficiency through exercises : special physical culture for women / by Th. H. van de Velde ; [photos, by E. Steinemann].

tion of the efficacy both of suspension and flexion. There is a certain primitive suspension in a : the weight of the pendent legs increases the pelvic angle and thus enlarges the pelvic circumference. And this is carried to its maximum degree in a manner much more awkward and painful than Watcher's in d* In b we have the opposite extreme, corresponding to flexion. This peculiar crouching or squat- ting has certain disadvantages, but also the great merit of expanding the lower pelvic outlet. But flexion, as we have described it, answers this purpose just as well, and the leverage of the outstretched lower legs, as shown in Film 12, is even more efficacious. And if the woman is in the attitude of flexion instead of squatting, the flexion may be adjusted and altered without difficulty to the horizontal-recumbent or " normal " attitude. " Normal " for parturition at least in Germany and in many other countries; whereas, in England and in Holland, we generally prefer to let delivery take place in the lateral position. It is even possible to change over from flexion to the opposite pole of a more or less pronounced suspension, if the woman lies across the edge of the bed with her feet sup- ported on chairs or hassocks. The anatomical conditions are not entirely simple, and the power of changing posture (and hence exact degree and point of strain on the pelvis) may be of crucial value, especially during the expulsion of the child's head through the bony girdle of the lower pelvic outlet and the muscular fibres and tissues of the vulva. For in the flexed posture the distance between the tuber a ischii (i.e., the diameter of the lower pelvic outlet from side to side) is at its maximum possible ; in the suspensory attitude, at its minimum. And the increased distance between the tuber a ischii automatically draws the muscles and tissues of the pelvic * One of the oldest illustrations of this attitude was given by the great Venetian obstetrician, Scipione Mercurio. It may instructively be com- pared to the so-called " bridge exercise " prescribed in certain works on gymnastics and physical culture.'29' *30). I cannot recommend these bridge exercises for our present purposes : they are far inferior in all ways to No. 19. And it is not necessary to have much visual imagination in order to understand that it would not be possible to remain in Scipione's attitude for long without great previous practice. There are, however, other similar but not identical illustrations of obstetric attitudes which approach Walcher's <31',