566 MANAGEMENT OF THE CHILD. 



§. H. Of Cleansing the Child. 



1216. Without undertaking to decide whether our first parents 

 took the trouble of removing the unctuous matter which covers and 

 soils the skin of the foetus at birth; without recurring to the question 

 whether, as is supposed by M. Richerand and most of the modern 

 physiologists, this substance is a mere result of the sebaceous secre- 

 tion, rather than a deposit of some principle contained in the liquor 

 amnii, as is supposed by the chemical physicians in accordance 

 with the sentiments of M. Vauquelin, I will say, notwithstanding 

 the ideas of Gaullier de Claubry, that none but beneficial effects 

 can follow its removal. If it were the intention of nature to retain 

 it upon the surface, why would the goat, the cow, and so many 

 other animals lick their young so carefully and sometimes so rudely 

 as soon as they are born! I know that no very serious inconve- 

 nience would follow should it be left adhering to the surface, and 

 that it would come off in a few days by sticking to the clothes, or 

 with the epidermis to which it adheres, and which always desqua- 

 mates within the first few weeks; lastly, I do not believe its presence 

 can have any great influence in producing scabs on the head, of 

 crusta lactea of the head in children at the breast, or crusts on other 

 parts of the body; nor, consequently, that it is absolutely necessary 

 to remove it with scrupulous minuteness, even to the very smallest 

 portion; but I think that none of it ought to be left except in certain 

 spots from which it cannot be readily got off. 



Where nothing is made use of but a napkin to wipe it off, some 

 portions always remain adhering to the skin, unless it is rubbed so 

 long and so violently as to be sometimes dangerous; nor can we suc- 

 ceed much better by immersing the foetus in a warm bath, unless it 

 be composed of a mucilaginous or saponaceous fluid. 



It should be first diluted and thinned with a little fresh butter or oil, 

 mucilage, or any kind of grease, or what is still better, the yolk of an 

 egg, which renders it miscible with water. A weak solution of soap 

 and water might also be made use of very properly, but the other 

 substances are preferable. This ceruminous substance is met with in 

 greatest abundance at the principal bends of the limbs, and on the 

 head and neck; when it is well detached from the body, it should 

 be gently wiped with a dry napkin; after which, in order to finish 

 the cleansing of the child we may first merely rub its skin with a soft 

 sponge dipped in warm water, or weak wine and water, and then 

 again with the sponge squeezed dry, to clean off any blood or other 

 matter adhering to it. 



Some persons think the whole child should be plunged into a bath 



