HYGIENIC TREATMENT. 347 



ing up, the elbows resting on a mantel piece, the back of a chair, 

 a table, a bureau, or some other piece of furniture, or even leaning 

 on the shoulder of some friend. Some women place themselves on 

 their knees upon the floor; others place themselves on their hus- 

 band's knees, with their legs much bent and elevated. Tl>e ancients 

 made use of a peculiar kind of seat or elbow chair, a lying-in- chair, 

 having supports for the arms, a movable back-piece, with notches 

 in a piece to keep it at different degrees of elevation, a support for 

 the feet, and a pierced seat ; so as to be converted at will, either 

 into a real bed, or an arm chair. These chairs, still made use of in 

 Germany and Switzerland, and very good drawings of which may 

 be seen in the works of Stein and M. Hermann, are no longer em- 

 ployed in France, notwithstanding M. Rouget has lately attempted 

 to revive them by presenting to the Academy, and to the administra- 

 tion of the hospitals of Paris, a new lying-in bed of his own inven- 

 tion. They are not wholly destitute of advantages, but as they can 

 "without inconvenience be replaced any where by other means more 

 common, and always at hand, no person feels the necessity of resort- 

 ing to them; and it would be too ridiculous to see a surgeon, as in 

 former times, always followed by his lying-in bed, when proceeding 

 to visit a woman in labor. 



824. The best bed is one with a sacking-bottom, tight, of a mid- 

 dling size, and so placed that the upper end may rest against one 

 I of the walls of the chamber, and leave room to pass conveniently 

 all round the rest of the bed; one mattrass is laid on this sacking- 

 ■ bottom, and a second one, bent double in the middle, is arranged up- 

 on it in such a way that the edge of one of its extremities may sup- 

 port the buttocks, while its folded portion supports the back and head; 

 a piece of cloth, some oil cloth or some cushions, pillows and bol- 

 sters, to supply an inclined plane for the head and breast, complete 

 the preparations. 



We may also be content with a cushion, to be slid under the 

 middle of the first mattrass, so as to raise the pelvis up and leave! 

 the perineum naked; the head of the bed is then formed with one or 

 two common chairs, turned downwards, with the legs against the 

 wall, and the upper edge of their backs towards the woman's breech; 

 the rest of the arrangement is completed as before, and the second 

 mattrass is not wanted. 



A single mattrass, without any cushion, will also answer; it is to 

 be doubled; the head of it is to be raised with chairs; all that por- 

 tion of the sacking-bottom that is to be in front of the pelvis is left 

 uncovered, and by means of some cloths to receive the discharges 

 upon, we may avoid soiling any part of the bed clothes. Some per- 



