'i06 TIIL PHILOSOPHY 



fo frequently as we do our linen, this defe(Sl they fupply by 

 other fubftances of no value. The favagcs of North Ameri- 

 ca put wood-duft, obtained from decayed trees, into the bot^ 

 torn of the cradle, and renew it as often as it is necelTary. 

 Upon this powder the children are laid, and covered with 

 fkins. This powder is very foft, and quickly abforbs moif- 

 ture of every kind. The children in Virginia are placed 

 naked upon a board covered with cotton, and furnilhcd with 

 a proper hole for tranfmitting the excrement. This practice 

 is likev/ife almoft general in the eaftern parts of Europe, and 

 particularly in Turkey. It has another advantage : It pre- 

 vents the difmal effe6]:s which too often proceed from the 

 negligence of nurfes. 



Many northern nations plunge their infants, immediatel}^ 

 after birth, into cold water, without receiving any injury. 

 The Laplanders expofe their new-born infants on the fno\? 

 till they are almofi: dead with cold, and then throw them into 

 a warm bath. During the firft year, this feemingly harfli 

 treatment is repeated three times every day. After that pe- 

 riod, the children are bathed in cold water thrice every week. 

 It is a general opinion in northern regions, that cold bathing 

 renders men more healthy and robuft *, and hence they inure 

 their children, from their very birth, to this habit. In the 

 ifthmus of Americaj the inhabitants, even when covered with 

 fvveat, plunge themfeives with Impunity into cold water. 

 The mothers bathe in cold water, along with their infants> 

 the moment after delivery 5 yet much fewer of them die of 

 child-bearing, than in nations where a pra^lice of this kind 

 would be confidcred as extremely hazardous. 



With regard to the food of infants, it fliould confift, for 

 the firft two months, of the mother's milk alone, A child 

 may be injured by allowing it any other nourillimcnt before 

 the end of the firft month. In Holland, in Italy, in Turn- 

 key, and over the whole Levant, children, during the firft 



