132 A HISTORY OF 



ton, fhoso only pleasure consists in its appetite ; and this, except 

 when it sleeps, it is never easy without satisfying Thus nature has 

 adapted different desires to the different periods of life ; each as it 

 seems most necessary for human support or succession. While the 

 animal is yet forming, hunger excites it to that supply which is ne- 

 cessary for its growth ; when it is completely formed, a different ap- 

 petite takes place, that incites it to communicate existence. These 

 two desires take up the whole attention at different periods, but are 

 very seldom found to prevail strongly together in the same age; one 

 pleasure ever serving to repress the other: and, if we find a person of full 

 age, placing a principal part of his happiness in the nature and quan- 

 tity of his food, we have strong reasons to suspect, that with respect 

 to his other appetites, he still retains a part of the imbecility of his 

 childhood. 



It is extraordinary, however, that infants, who are thus more vo- 

 racious than grown persons, are nevertheless more capable of sustain- 

 ing hunger. We have several instances, in accidental cases of famine, 

 in which the child has been known to survive the parent, and seen 

 clinging to the breast of its dead mother. Their little bodies also, are 

 more patient of cold ; and we have similar instances of the mother's 

 perishing in the snow, while the infant has been found alive beside 

 her. However, if we examine the internal structure of infants, we 

 shall find an obvious reason for both these advantages. Their blood- 

 vessels are known to be much larger than in adults ; and their nerves 

 much thicker and softer : thus being furnished with a more copious 

 quantity of juices, both of the nervous and sanguinary kinds, the 

 infant finds a temporary sustenance in this superfluity, and does not 

 expire till both are exhausted. The circulation also being larger and 

 quicker, supplies it with proportionable warmth, so that it is more ca- 

 pable of resisting the accidental rigours of the weather. 



The first nourishment of infants is well known to be the mother's 

 milk; and, what is remarkable, the infant has milk in its own breasts, 

 which may be squeezed out by compression : this nourishment be- 

 comes less grateful as the child gathers strength ; and perhaps, also, 

 more unwholesome. However, in cold countries, which are unfa 

 vourable to propagation, and where the female has seldom above 

 three or four children at the most, during her life, she continues to 

 suckle the child for four or five years together. In this manner the 

 mothers of Canada and Greenland are often seen suckling two or 

 three children, of different ages, at a time. 



The life of infants is very precarious, till the age of three or four, 

 from which time it becomes more secure ; and when a child arrives 

 at its seventh year, it is then considered as a more certain life, as Mr. 

 Buffon asserts, than at any other age whatever. It appears, from 

 Simpson's Tables, that of a certain number of children born at the 

 same time, a fourth part are found dead at the end of the first year ; 

 more than one-third at the end of the second ; and at least half at 

 the end of the third ; so that those who live to be above three years 

 old, are indulged a longer term than half the rest of their fellow 

 creatures. Nevertheless, life, at that period, may be considered as 

 mere animal existence ; and rather a preparation for, than an enjoy* 



