ANTE-NATAL HYGIENE : DISCUSSION 373 



dealt with very crowded cities. In the Old World they had 

 to contend with a state of affairs in which very often there 

 was an actual shortage of food, but taking the whole 

 population of this country that would not apply any more 

 than it applied in the Colonies. The great mass of the 

 people had a sufficiency of food for themselves and their 

 progeny. Taking the world generally they had to do with 

 people who could obtain and did obtain a sufficiency of 

 food and in many cases took an excess of food. Dr. Bal- 

 lantyne remarked in his great book on " Ante-natal 

 Hygiene " that the common counsel given to mothers to 

 eat for two was one of the most insane counsels ever given, 

 because the weight of the mother with her child was prac- 

 tically not more than the weight of the mother without. 

 He meant that a variation of half a stone of weight, which 

 was the utmost, was a very small variation, and therefore 

 the extra food required was very small, and as most people 

 tended to eat too much under modern conditions, the 

 ordinary diet was quite sufficient. But what was universally 

 agreed by all who had to do practically with this subject 

 was that a more important matter for the expectant mother 

 was that she should have proper and regular feeding habits, 

 and above all things that she should take sufficient exercise, 

 keep her bowels properly regulated and see that she had 

 proper rest and proper surroundings. These were un- 

 questionably the most important factors with regard to the 

 expectant mother. He would like to point out one or two 

 things which did seem to him to throw a most important 

 sidelight, if it could be so called, upon two most important 

 subjects. With regard to the question of exercise, which 

 he thought was so relevant, he might tell them that he 

 was speaking at a meeting of the Farmers' Union in 

 Wellington and was dealing with the question of rearing 

 dogs' offspring. This was an interesting matter for those 

 engaged with the proper care of flocks and herds. An old 

 shepherd came up to him and said, " You are perfectly right 

 with regard to the importance of exercise for dogs; with 

 regard to sheep dogs it is our experience that unless you keep 

 them working with the flocks right up to the time the pups are 

 born we find that the mother does not do well and particu- 

 larly we find that the pups do not do well." He was 

 interested to know if that really was the fact and why. 

 and so he wrote to the Hon. J. G. Wilson, who was the 

 head of the Union and was himself a large holder, and 

 asked if what he was told was the fact. He replied that 

 it was absolutely the fact and all the shepherds worked 

 the mothers practically right up to the time the pups were 



