568 MANAGEMENT OF THE CHILD. 



§. HI. or Dressing the Child. 



1219. The foetus being washed, cleaned and wiped dry, still re- 

 quires some attention; the accoucheur should direct its first dress- 

 ing; he should at least superintend the application of the belly band 

 and the dressing of the cord. 



The form of this compress, in itself considered, is of little conse- 

 quence; Baudelocque directs it to be made double, and that a pretty 

 deep cut of a half moon shape should be made in the folded edge 

 with the scissors; that after splitting one of the halves from the 

 hole quite out to the end, the root of the cord should be lodged in 

 the space between; that the part not split should remain below, and 

 the two halves of the divided portion should be turned over and 

 crossed in front! There is another method. Let the compress be 

 placed at the upper and left side of the abdomen, rather than at the 

 right, on account of the presence of the liver; a second compress, 

 soft and of a square shape, covers the first; a band as wide as three 

 or four fingers, and long enough to go once and a half round the 

 belly, keeps the whole in place; this band is fastened at the side 

 rather than at the middle of the belly, with a pin which is far from 

 being so dangerous as some persons have supposed, or it may be 

 secured with a needle and thread. If drawn too tightly it would 

 do harm, if too loose, it would slip off and do no good. This 

 little apparatus, the object of which is to prevent the cord from 

 being pulled or stretched, and from sticking to the skin, ought to 

 be continued or reapplied until the cord drops off. It may even be 

 continued for some days, some weeks, or months afterwards, pro- 

 vided the navel projects too much, or there is any danger of an om- 

 phalocele taking place. The cord generally separates from the 

 navel about the fifth day; but in some children it takes place as 

 early as the second, while in others it does not happen until the 

 ninth or tenth day. It begins to dry at its loose end, as has been 

 correctly observed by M* Billard; the gelatin which it contains con- 

 tracts upon the vessels, which are soon somewhat strangulated by 

 it, as far as the umbilical ring, and not by the epidermis, as M. 

 Gardien supposed. Being reduced to a mere pedicle which grows 

 smaller and smaller, the vessels soon separate from the living parts, 

 so that the gangrene of which Haller speaks, the contraction indi- 

 cated by Gardien, the eliminative inflammation observed by Beclard, 

 Chaussier, and M. Orfila, as well as the kind of putrefaction noticed 

 by M. Denis, are merely accidental phenomena, and not the cause of 

 the fall of the cord. When a small wound is left after the separa- 

 tion of the cord, it generally heals spontaneously in from eight to 



