A CHAPTER FOR WIVES AND MOTHERS 487 



by massage, and particularly by careful kneading of 

 the abdominal muscles, very great advantage may be 

 gained. 



3. Tight-lacing, the suspending of heavy skirts from 

 the waist, and other errors in dress, are so manifestly 

 evil that we scarcely need take space to condemn them. 

 Yet some women will even insist on wearing corsets 

 during pregnancy, for the purpose of preserving their 

 form. This is a practice so wicked and pernicious that 

 in our opinion it ought to be prohibited by law. 



4. Baths of various sorts are of immense advantage 

 in securing easy childbirth. A general bath should be 

 taken at least twice a week. A warm vaginal injection 

 should be taken daily. The temperature of the water 

 should be 95° to 100°. A little fine castile soap should 

 be used to secure perfect cleanliness of the parts. By 

 this means the troublesome leucorrheal discharge, and 

 the annoying itching which frequently attends it, may 

 usually be wholly controlled, if not entirely prevented. 

 A sitz bath taken during the early months once or 

 twice a week, and during the last two or three months 

 daily, or every other day, is very beneficial. The tem- 

 perature of the bath should be from 90° to 94°, and 

 should be continued twenty or thirty minutes. In tak- 

 ing the bath, great care should be exercised not to 

 produce any shock to the patient by the sudden appli- 

 cation of either very hot or very cold water. 



A Hayti Mother.— The freedom from pain in 

 childbirth enjoyed by barbarous nations is to the civi- 

 lized woman a matter of wonder and amazement. The 

 same immunity from suffering is enjoyed by negro 

 women, and by those of various other nations. A friend 

 of the writer, an old sea captain, recently related in 

 substance the following incident: 



