874 The Philippine Journal of Science 1915 
it away. A hole is made for it, and care is taken to make it 
just large enough to fit the placenta, because, if the hole is too 
big, the baby will become a glutton, and if it is too small, 
the baby will have a poor appetite and small intestines. Some 
think it better to throw the placenta in the river, so that 
the baby will become healthy and strong. Others believe that 
if the placenta is buried wrapped in paper with a pen or a book 
the baby will become an active and wise man. 
The placenta is, also, used as a medicine. It is cut in pieces 
and then boiled and given to a primipara to eat, for the purpose 
of preventing many kinds of diseases during the puerperium. 
The child is separated from the placenta by cutting the cord 
with a knife made of a piece of bamboo, preferably boho, but 
sometimes with a dirty bolo or a pair of scissors. The cord is 
then coiled, dressed with ashes, and finally wrapped in a piece 
of linen or paper, which is usually dirty. 
If the cord is cut in pieces and hung on the eaves of the house, 
_it is believed to prevent the diseases of childhood. 
In some portions of Luzon, as in Nueva Ecija, for example, 
before dressing a male child a barbarous maneuver is performed, 
which consists in fracturing the penis by folding it over at its 
middle. The reason for this is to prevent the child becoming 
effeminate. There is a commoner but less dangerous practice. 
It is what is called minamainitan, which consists in heating pieces 
of flannel or other cloth and then applying them hot over the 
abdomen, umbilicus, and sexual organs of the child. If the child 
is a male, they rub the cloths upward over the sexual organs to 
prevent hernia. Leaves of romero may, also, be used for this 
purpose. 
After cleaning and dressing the baby, the midwife administers 
a purgative, or a bitter juice, as the juice from alpalea, which 
is sometimes mixed with a few drops of the mother’s milk. The 
juice is produced from the leaves, the number of which must 
always be uneven in order to be effective. 
The baby is wrapped in such a way that both hands and 
feet may not move, and it is not allowed to nurse for two days. 
After the birth of the child the mother is transferred to a 
clean mat and then the operation called pagkaban is performed 
by the midwife and her assistant, or salag. 
The operation of pagkaban is performed as follows: The mid- 
wife, squatting on one side of the parturient, holds the hands 
of her assistant (salag), who is in the same position on the 
other side. Then they compress the woman’s pelvis with their 
feet, pulling each other’s hands as they do so in order to return 
