4 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



From this, the true cradle of mankind, let us look at that made 

 for the baby. There was no end of cradles in the pavilion de Pen/ant ; 

 and we may find more philosophy in them than the upholsterer in- 

 tended to put there. Therein the infant will at first but continue his 

 ovum-life; and for this the cradle must be fitted. Let us see. The 

 head is bent, the extremities are drawn up, and the body shaped like 

 a crescent. This attitude gives to the muscles the greatest relaxation, 

 and to the cartilages, which cap the bones, the position most favor- 

 able to nutrition and growth. Generally, the baby rests on the right 

 side, to free the heart from pressure and to facilitate its movements. 

 In this mode of reclining, the left hemi-cerebrum will contain more 

 blood than the right, which is compressed by the pillow. Attitudes 

 concordant with the sleepy habits of the first months, and the activity 

 of the mind during this long sleepiness, indicate the future prepon- 

 derance of the mental operations of the left over the right side of the 

 brain, the approaching superior nutrition and dexterity of the right 

 over the left hand, and later even the causation of paralysis on the 

 left. For the present, and for some time yet, the infant will live 

 mainly in his sleep ; during which, more than when awake, he will be 

 seen angry, smiling, or thinking, even in his well-defined dreams. 



How important it is, then, that the cradle be formed in accord- 

 ance with these natural indications ! A transitory abode between the 

 basin and the bed, it should be a warm, soft, yet supporting recipient, 

 ampler than the former, better defined in its shape than the latter, 

 with curves less short than circles, and more varied than ovals. An 

 egg, vertically split, would make two such cradles, or nests, suited 

 either for child or bird. 



But as soon as the nursling awakes to the world, and wants to be 

 introduced to everything, his couch must be enlarged and enlivened, 

 and must look more and more like a school and play-room. Other- 

 wise it becomes a prison, whence, Tantalus-like, baby looks at his 

 surroundings. Here is his first lesson of practical sociability. To 

 see, and not be able to reach, to perceive images, with no possibility 

 of seizing the objects, renders him impatient, fretful, or unconcerned, 

 and opens an era of exaction upon others, or of diffidence of himself, 

 or of indiffex-ence for any attainment, which unavoidably ends in im- 

 morality or incapacity, or in both. Viewed from this standpoint, 

 these cradles, so varied, so elegant, so easy to keep clean, and to carry 

 from the light of the window by day to the recess of the alcove at 

 night the best being of French and Austrian manufacture are yet 

 very imperfect in their bearing on education. Let us mark some of 

 their shortcomings. 



Little ones have an instinctive horror of isolation. Whoever 

 studies them knows that when they awake they look not, at first, 

 with staring eyes, but with searching hands ; they seek not for sights, 

 but for contacts. This love of contact, whence results the primary 



