136 INFANCY. 



kind of swathing-bag. When a little older, they are put; up 

 to the middle, in a hole dug out of the earth, and lined with 

 linen or cotton. By this contrivance, their arms and head are 

 perfectly free, and they can bend their bodies, and move their 

 arms and head, without the smallest danger of falling, or of 

 receiving any injury. To entice them to walk, whenever 

 they are able to step, the breast is presented to them at a lit- 

 tle distance. The children of negroes, when very young, 

 cling round, with their knees and legs, one of their mother's 

 haunches, and grasp the breast with their hands. In this posi- 

 tion they adhere so firmly, that they support themselves without 

 any assistance, and continue to suck without danger of falling, 

 though the mother moves forward, or works at her usual labor. 

 These children, at the end of the second month, begin to 

 creep on their hands and knees; and, in this situation, they 

 acquire, by habit, the faculty of moving with surprising 

 quickness. 



Many savages are remarkably attentive to the cleanliness 

 of their children. Though they cannot afford to^change their 

 furs so frequently as we do our linen, this defect they supply 

 by other substances of no value. The savages of North 

 America put wood-dust, obtained from decayed trees, into the 

 bottom of the cradle, and renew it as often as it is necessary. 

 Upon this powder the children are laid and covered with skins. 

 This powder is very soft, and quickly absorbs moisture of 

 every kind. The children in Virginia are placed naked upon 

 a board covered with cotton. This practice is, likewise, al- 

 most general in the eastern parts of Europe, and particularly 

 in Turkey. 



Many northern nations plunge their infants, immediately 

 after birth, into cold water, without their receiving any injury. 

 The Laplanders expose their new-born infants on the snow 

 till they are almost dead with cold, and then throw them into 

 a warm bath. During the first year, this seemingly harsh 

 treatment is repeated three times every day. After that pe- 

 riod, the children are bathed in cold water thrice every week. 

 ft is a general opinion in northern regions, that cold bathing 

 renders men more healthy and robust ; and hence they inure 

 their children, from their very birth, to this habit. 



With regard to the food of infants, it should consist, for the 

 first few months, of the mother's milk alone. A child may be 

 injured by allowing it, during that period, any other nourish- 

 ment. In Holland, in Italy, in Turkey, arid over the whole 

 Levant, children, during the first year, are not permitted to 



