342 PROGNOSIS. 



he inspires, calms all her fears, and gives courage and resignation, 

 hy tranquillising her in regard to the future; but who differs more 

 and more from the mere spectator, in proportion to the extent of his 

 knowledge and skill. 



814. Hygienic treatment. The chamber and every thing con- 

 nected with it should be first attended to. In great cities a back 

 room should be preferred, or the quietest and best aired apartment 

 of the establishment. It is important that this chamber should be 

 sufficiently spacious, well lighted, and so constructed that its tem- 

 perature may be easily altered. Too great a degree of heat would 

 promote sweats, cerebral congestions, convulsions, nausea and vomit- 

 ings, to which women are already but too much predisposed during 

 the efforts of labor; cold would not be less injurious, both by the 

 disagreeable sensations it would be sure to excite, and especially by 

 hindering the expansive movements of the fluids. 



815. Odors, even the sweetest, , are also not without inconve- 

 niences. During labor the nervous irritability of the woman is 

 generally of the highest grade, and the senses become excessively 

 excitable. The most valuable perfumes are sometimes borne no 

 better than the most disagreeable odors. It would not, for example, 

 be always safe to place a woman in labor in an apartment filled with 

 the emanations of muse, amber, lilies, orange flowers, or roses. I 

 have seen a lady fall down insensible and with convulsions upon 

 entering a room containing a pot of reseda. I am acquainted with 

 another who, without being pregnant, is seized with syncope or 

 lypothynia whenever a fresh rose is brought near her. 



816. The regimen of ihe patient requires the most careful super- 

 intendence of the accoucheur; indiscretions in respect to it may give 

 rise to the worst consequences. In regard to this point, attention 

 must be paid to the probable duration of her sufferings, to her con- 

 stitution, and habits: if the delivery may be expected to take place 

 within from four to six hours at farthest, all kinds of aliment are 

 hurtful, by loading the stomach, whose digestive power is tempo- 

 rarily suspended. If, on the contrary, the labor progresses slowly, 

 she may have broths or some light kind of potage; but she ought 

 to refuse coffee and chocolate, usually preferred by women in large 

 cities, as well as bread, fruits, vegetables and meats of every de- 

 scription, which are best liked by country people; coffee has too 

 much influence upon the innervation and circulation, and chocolate, 

 bread, and meats are too difficult of digestion to be given without 

 some fear in these circumstances. All this, however, ought to be 

 understood only in a general way; a woman who is healthy, but 

 rather feeble than strong, whose, digestive organs are in good con- 



