384 ^ O F I N F A N C Y. 



caution has another advantage ; it precludes all 

 kind of care, and prevents the dreadful efFeds 

 which too commonly refult from the common 

 negligence of nurfes. Nothing inferior to mater- 

 nal affedion can fupport that perpetual vigilance"" 

 and minute attention which the infantine ftate 

 requires. With what propriety, then, can fuch 

 exertions be expeded from ignorant and rner* 

 cenary nurfes ? 



Some nurfes defert their children for feveral 

 hours without feeling the fmalleft anxiety; , O- 

 thers are fo callous as not to be afFeded with 

 their cries. In this fituation the unfortunate 

 infants feem to defpair; they exert all the force 

 of which they are capable ; and their cries only 

 ceafe when their flrength is exhaufted. This 

 exceffive crying either occafions difeafes, or at 

 leaft throws them into a ftate of laffitude, which 

 deranges their conftitutions, and may have fome 

 influence on their tempers. Indolent nurfes are 

 guilty of another abufe : Inftead of employing 

 proper means for pleafmg the child, they rock 

 it violently in the cradle. This agitation con- 

 fufes the brain, ftops the crying, and, if long 

 continued, fluns the child into fleep. But this 

 forced and unnatural fleep is only a palliative ; it 

 removes not the original caufe of complaint, 

 Long and violent rocking, on the contrary, may 

 diforder the ftomach and head, and lay the 

 foundation of future diforders. 



Before 



