William Potts DeWees
William Potts DeWees (1768-1841) was a professor of obstetrics and the diseases of women and children at the University of Pennsylvania in the 1820s. At the beginning of the 19th century, childbirth in America was almost entirely done by midwives. Medical students were neither taught nor examined on the subject. DeWees was the first American doctor to attempt a full course of lectures on the subject. Dewees, the most ardent proponent of the principles of Baudelocque, was the most influential figure in American obstetrics of his day. His Compendious System of Midwifery, published in Philadelphia in 1824 and in London in 1825, ran to 12 editions. His philosophy on childbirth is relevant today, as are his thoughts on the management of the baby at birth and the delivery of the placenta. In 1825 he also published the first American textbook on pediatrics.
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