Reproduction, process by which organisms replicate themselves, is the main biological function of the human race. This is a point on which most religions and schools of philosophy agree. Reproductive medicine is an interdisciplinary field studying the theory and practice of reproduction based on current philosophical, moral, and scientific views held by the human race. As new knowledge is accumulated, previously held ideas are viewed and understood differently, so clinical practice sees new approaches to implementing scientific findings into common practice.
Obstetrics, helping women in childbirth, is the oldest branch of medicine; even rock cravings show images of women giving birth. Nevertheless, until the sixteenth century obstetrics was not regarded as science, or as a branch of medicine!
Beginning with Hippocrates, all classical medical authors were scholastics; they offered all recommendations on managing a childbirth based on speculations that were unrelated to human anatomy. The Hippocratic statement that the fetus should necessarily be born in cephalic presentation was refuted by Cornelius Celsus as late as the first century AD; internal podalic version and delivery of the fetus in breech presentation were developed. One would think that art and science were to unite, which is nowadays the case with obstetrics... However, that was not to happen. Here is what E. Bumm, founder of modern European obstetrics, writes about it: "From this time on, considerable progress could be noted. Its turning point was Alexandria where Greek arts and sciences flourished under the aegis of the Ptolemaic dynasty; physicians from all lands started coming to Alexandria to study at renowned medical schools. It was here that a dead body was first dissected for the purpose of investigation; it was probably here that physicians were able to pull back the shroud of secrecy covering the childbirth." Quite soon, however, regression could be noted: "a hundred years later, podalic version was abandoned, and dissecting instruments were put to their previous use".