P Dotrophia; Or, the Art of Nursing and Rearing Children. a Poem, in Three Books. Translated from the Latin of Scevole de St. Marthe. with Medical and

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1797 Excerpt: ... PAEDOTROPHI A; OR, THE ART OF NURSING AND REARING CHILDREN. BOOK II. But now the helpless infant leaves the womb, That, nine long moons, had been his living tomb; And, as the sign of our first mother's sins, With cries, and soft complaints, his life begins. Then j . ' i. ' -Ver. 4. With cries and fist complaints, Us life begins. Pliny, who probably was unacquainted with the Christian Religion, or E 3 the Then you, to whom the tender cares belong, c Or maids, or nurses, round the child-bed throng, Ms&e haste; and since both wife and infant claim An equal succour, let them find the same. While, for the wearied mother, some prepare The bed, let others make the child their care, 10 In cloths well-warm'd involve his tender limbs, And, for the bath, infuse the tepid streams.In proper vessels; some the cradle make, And all the house the joyful toil partake. You the History of the Old Testament, gives the following reason for the first cries of an infant: Being happily come into the world, he lies with.his hands and feet bound, a weeping creature, though born to command others; and begins his life by suf' fering, for one fault only, namely, because he is born. Hist. Natur. lib. vii. in Proem. Ver. 13.--- same the cradle make, It is now cus tomary, in many families to use beds instead of cradles. Whether this be preferable to the old method, experience alone can determine. But I apprehend a custom that has been in use, among all nations, for the last three thoufand years at least, sliould not be hastily given up. And, for using a cradle, I shall give the following reasons from the learned Van Swieten: As the foetus, hanging in the uterus of the mother from the urn bilical cord, is easily shaken this way and that, whilst the mo ther moves her bod..