[Maternity in Geneva (1874-1907), a new entrance portal into life?]

Geneva's maternity hospital was set up in order to answer the needs of the new medical school in the 1870's. The early years of the Geneva maternity hospital illustrate the heterogeneity of the first generation of teachers as well as the difficulties of the school to gain control of appointments and autonomy in the management of clinics and courses. The sources used allow insights into two apparently separate fields: the social organisation of childbirth and the difficulties of a generation of doctors and teachers to adapt to rapidly changing medical knowledge.