BOIVIN, Marie Anne Victoire née Gillain, French obstetrician and midwife, 1773-1847. The inventor of a pelvimeter and a vaginal speculum. She was the first midwife on record as using a stethoscope to listen to the foetal heart. In 1814, she received the Order of Merit from the King of Prussia. Later Marie was awarded an MD degree from Marburg (Germany 1827). By the end of her career she had been the director of several hospitals. During studies of the causes of miscarriage, she identified many of the factors that increased the likelihood of complications.