30S THE PHILOSOPHY 



experiment upon children born in London. But the mor^ 

 tality of children is not nearly To great in every place j for 

 M. Dupre de S. Maur, by a nun:iber of experiiPients made in 

 France, has fhown, that one hair of the children born at the 

 fame time are not extin£t in lefs than feven or eight years. 



To treat of the difeafes of children, or to enter minutely 

 into the caufes which contribute to the great mortality of 

 mankind in earher infancy, is no part of our plan. In gener- 

 al, thefe caufes are to be referred to unnatural pradrlces in 

 the management of children, introduced by fuperftition, by 

 ignorance, and by foolifli notions arifing from over -refine- 

 ment, from prejudice, and from hypothetical fyftems, while 

 the oeconomy and analogy of Nature, in the condu6l and 

 iituation of the inferior animals, are almofh totally negle^led. 

 Every animal, except the human fpecics, brings forth its 

 young without any foreign aid. But incredible numbers of 

 children, as well as of mothers, are daily maimed, enfeebled, 

 and deftroyed, by the ignorance and barbarity of midwives 

 and accoucheurs. An infant is no fooner brought into the 

 world than it is crammed with phyiic. Nature's medicine 

 for cleanfmg the bowels of infants is the milk of the mother. 

 But midwives abfurdly imagine that drugs will anfwer this 

 purpofe much better. All other animals that give fuck nurfe 

 their own offspring : But we too frequently delegate this 

 tender and endearing oiHce to ftrange women, whofe confti- 

 tutions, habits of life, and mental difpolitions, are often total- 

 ly different from thofe of the genuine parent. Infants, re- 

 cently after birth, frequently fuffer from giving them, inftead 

 of the mother's milk, v/ine-whey, water-gruel, and flmilar 

 unnatural kinds of nourifhment. In this period of their ex- 

 iftence, however, very little food, but a great deal of refl:, 

 is necefTary for promoting their health, and fecuring their 

 eafe and tranquility •, for infants, when not teazed by 

 officious cares, fleep almofl: continually during fcvcral v/eeks 



