34 Conception, Birth and Infancy in 



nursing, Latin literature offers a sufficiency of crazy remedies. 

 She might mitigate pains in her breasts by anointing them with 

 goose fat 172 or by merely drinking ass's milk. 173 The milk of that 

 animal might be dried and applied to them to increase the supply 

 of milk. 174 Eating the eggs of partridges was said to produce the 

 same result. 175 



The paraphernalia and the personnel of the Roman nursery 

 anticipated somewhat those of today, and some of the usages 

 there seem to have established precedents for the Italians to fol- 

 low ever since. Modern-looking cradles and sucking-bottles were 

 already in use. Lullabies and nursery tales soothed children to 

 sleep. In modern Italian there is a rich literature of these for use 

 by mother or nurse. 176 



Weaning brought Roman children some variety in their diet, 

 but we read of some practices in their feeding for which I have 

 noted no parallels in the Italian home of today. For instance, we 

 read of ancient nurses who gave a preliminary chewing to baby's 

 food. The morbific possibilities of that friendly service need be 

 merely suggested to the apprehensive type of mother of our times 

 to cause a shudder of horror. 177 Nurses were accused of swal- 

 lowing the food themselves, cheating their innocent charges by not 

 emitting. This was a trouble with which owners of aviaries who 

 raised thrushes for the market also had to contend when they de- 

 pended upon similar -professional chewers in the feeding of their 

 birds. 178 



However welcome the rapidly coming babies may be to pro- 

 lific families in the lower levels of Italian society, the mother (who 

 must be said to be at least somewhat responsible for the child's 

 existence) often seems to be doing her involuntary best to hurry 

 it out of life by paying such little heed to the laws of health as; 

 would hardly appear excusable even in the remote Villanovan 

 period of Italian history. So far as diet is concerned, I may say 

 that there is scarcely anything that outrages the normal practices 

 of a scientifically conducted nursery that I have not seen done. 

 Let me illustrate by a few examples from experiences of mine such 

 as "personally conducted" American tourists are not likely to 

 h 



ave 



179 



The occupants of a third-class compartment of a train should 

 not be surprised to see the least attractive of his fellow passengers 



