302 HISTORY OF 



that tears begin to appear, its former expressions of uneasiness 

 being always without them. As to any other marks of the pas- 

 sions, the infant being as yet almost without them, it can ex- 

 press none of them in its visage ; which, except in the act of 

 crying and laughing, is fixed in a settled serenity. All the other 

 parts of the body seem equally relaxed and feeble : its motions 

 are uncertain and its postures without choice ; it is unable to stand 

 upright ; its hams are yet bent, from the habit which it received 

 from its position in the womb ; it has not strength enough in its 

 arms to stretch them forward, much less to grasp any thing with 

 its hands ; it rests just in the posture it is laid ; and, if aban- 

 doned, must continue in the same position. 



Nevertheless, though this be the description of infancy among 

 mankind in general, there are countries and races among whom 

 infancy does not seem marked with such utter imbecility, but 

 where the children, not long after they are born, appear posses- 

 sed of a greater share of self-support. The children of negroes 

 have a surprising degree of this premature industry j they are 

 able to walk at two months ; or, at least, to move from one 

 place to another : they also hang to the mother's back without 

 assistance, and seize the breast over her shoulder ; continuing in 

 this posture till she thinks proper to lay them down. This is 

 very different in the children of our countries, that seldom are 

 able to walk under a twelvemonth. 



The skin of children newly brought forth, is always red, pro- 

 ceeding from its transparency, by which the blood beneath ap- 

 pears more conspicuous. Some say that this redness is greatest 

 in those children that are afterwards about to have the finest 

 complexions ; and it appears reasonable that it should be so, since 

 the thinnest skins are always the fairest. The size of a new- 

 born infant is generally about twenty inches, and its weight 

 about twelve pounds. The head is large, and all the members 

 delicate, soft, and puffy. These appearances alter with its age ; 

 as it grows older, the head becomes less in proportion to the rest 

 of the body ; the flesh hardens ; the bones, that before birth 

 grew very thick in proportion, now lengthen by degrees, and the 

 human figure more and more acquires its due dimensions. In 

 such children, however, as are but feeble or sickly, the head al- 

 ways continues too big for the body ; the heads of dwarfs being 

 extremely large in proportion. 





