At first, dear reader, I had intended to write only a simple case history, and relate some of the good–natured debates that Monsieur Paré and I have engaged in concerning the method of childbirth that I have dubbed ‘Caesarean’ and this in the French language that he has of late used more often during his conferences and in his writings. Believing that I had convinced him, by logic and the veracity of my case reports, that the Caesarean is indeed possible, I then resolved to write nothing at all.

The fact that other learned and distinguished persons have since replaced Paré as even more vociferous critics of the Caesarean section, has again compelled me—so that such a useful technique not perish, either from fear or neglect—to take up a defence of this subject, and delve even more deeply into related topics. To this end, I have written a more detailed treatise than I had earlier intended, and this in Latin: partly in deference to the status of my critics, but also to obey the wishes of the late Madame Renée de France, Duchess of Ferrara, who, shortly before her death, had asked me to do this, so that this technique should become known in foreign countries, and particularly to the Italian women of Ferrara. I believe that the private reading of this manuscript has already convinced most of my detractors, and I am considering publishing a summary for the public, this subject being essential, not only to surgery and medicine, but to all of mankind.