I N F 



'••I the fc-Jp, as the fcald-head, ring-worm of the fcalp, &c. ; 

 the rickets, and fo forth. But fame of thefo are not peculiar 

 to thL' age of childhood, and others are fufficiently im- 

 portant to be difcuffed more at length. See Tabes mcfente- 

 rica, or mefenteric confumption ; Sckofvla, Pouftioo, 

 Rickets. 



The l>rcveiUion of difiafrs in children depends principally 

 »n (he regulation of tlio diet and clotl-.ing, deep, exercife in 

 the open air, and cli-anliiurfs. On the fubjeft of the two or 

 three latl points we have little to fiy, as the value of a proper 

 attention to thorn is now generally underitood. In regard to 

 diet, it may be fufficient to ftute, that, after weaning, pre- 

 parations of milk, of ejTgs, of vegetable and animal jellies, 

 /liould precede folid anini;'.! food ; that, during childhood, a 

 proper proportion of animal and vegetable matter (liould be 

 iifed ; and that all condiments, except fatt, are uiineceffary, 

 and all fpirituous fcrmen'.ed liquors pernicious. In refpeft 

 to clothing, it is important to obforve, that tlw attempts to 

 rear children in a hardy manner, by allowing their legs to be 

 bare, and other parts of the body to be much expoied (a 

 praftice fantlioned by fome great names) have proved moll 

 unfuccefsful ; for by thefe means not only has the growtli 

 been, in many inftances, ftinted and perverted, but the con- 

 ftitution has been much injured; and, in fome cafes, life ab- 

 fohitely deftroyfd, in confequencc of inflammations of the 

 lungs and bowels, or various fcrofulous aiTeclions» thus ex- 

 cited. It would appear, indeed, tliat fcrofulous and con- 

 fumptive djfeafes owe their origin principally to the cold and 

 humidity of our climate, and the deleterious inflnei^ce of 

 thefe caufes upon the conlHtution in childhood was ftrikingly 

 illullrated in the attempt lately made by the Sierra Leone 

 Company to form an eilablKliment for the education of 

 African children in this country. Mr. John Pearfon, who 

 fuperintended this inftitulion, Hates that they all died of con- 

 fumption : they almofl uniformly became fcrofulous ; they 

 bore the firll winter tolerably well, but drooped during the 

 fecond, and the third generally proved fatal to them ; info- 

 much that it became neceffary to abandon the plan. Now 

 ■we cannot but deem the fitualion of a child, who is to be 

 hardened by thin clothing, as analogous to that of thefe 

 African children, and to believe that, by fuch deluhve at- 

 tempts to give ftrength, the perfedl and healthy evolution of 

 the fyftcm is prevented, and the foundation laid for fcrofula, 

 confumption, and other chronic difcafes. 



Inj'AN-ts, RuumngEyaof. vSee Oi'HTllALMy. 



Infants at Belhlehem, Slaughler of, by Herod, a fafl men- 

 tioned in the gofpel of St. Matthew, chap. ii. 16. ; but 

 difputcd on account of the filcnce of Jofephus, who has 

 written the hillory cf tiie Jews, and particularly the reign 

 of Herod. The faft is not in itfelf improbable nor incre- 

 dible, if we confider the cruelty of Herod's difpofition and 

 other favage afts of which he was guilty (fee Heuod), ar/d' 

 more efpecially if we recollect, that the ilaughter, m.entioned 

 by St. Matthew, was perpetrated upon the occafion of 

 tidings brought to Jerufalem, of the birth of one who veas 

 •< king of the Jews.'' Jofephus, who has given an account 

 of a terrible execution made in Herod's court, and at Jeru- 

 falem, about the fame time, upon the occafion of fome 

 prediAions, that God was about to take away the kingdom 

 from Herod, might om.it the murder of the infants at Beth- 

 lehem from a fear of being charged with a defign to load 

 Herod unreafonably, or a fear of rendering his hiltory dif- 

 agreeable by too particular a detail of cruel aftions. The 

 filence of Jofephus, it is faid, is no more an objection againll 

 St. Matthew, than the fdence of other writers with regard 

 to fafts mentioned by Jofjphus is an objeAion againfl him. 

 Jofephus, however, if he was a firm Jew, as. moll writers 



I N F 



have fuppofed, had a particular reafon for pafiing over thff 

 event at Bethlehem, becaufe he could not have mentioned 

 it, without giving great advantage to the Chrillian caufe. 

 If he had written that Herod, at the latter end of hij leign, 

 had put to death all the young children at Bethlehem, on 

 occaiion of a report fpread at jerufalem, that the " king of 

 the Jews" had been newly born there, he would very much 

 have gratified the Chriilians ; fmce it was well known, when 

 he wrote, that about thirty years after the death of Herod, 

 Jefus, being then about thirty years of ag?, had been Ityltd 

 the " king of the Jevi's," and had been publicly crucified at 

 Jerufalem with that title ; ami it was nrn:U be'i;;ved by all 

 his followers, that he was the . r , ' " i^.n of under 



that charader, and was now aci . ■ 1 -uid jjower. 



If Jofephus did not wifli to 1. . is and their 



caufe, he would tJierefore be l:ii nc v.:i:i r.;;.i:a to tliis hStf 

 But it has been alleged, that the Greek and Roman iiifto- 

 rians are lllent with refoedt to this event ; but this may 

 eafily be accounted for, if we confider, that the Romau 

 empire was at this time fo extenfive, that the affairs of many 

 dependent princes have been loll in the crowd. Neverthe- 

 lefs, St. Matthew's account is confirmed by the teftimony 

 of ancient Chrillian authors. Jidlin Martyr, Iren3EUS|, 

 Origeii, and other Chrillian writers have mentioned the facl. 

 Moreover, there is alfo a noted paiTage in Mac "obius, a 

 heatlien author, who flouriflicd in the latter end of the fourth 

 century, who, among other jells of Augullus, has this,: 

 " When he (Augullus) had heard that among the children 

 within two years of age, which Herod king of the Jevvs 

 com-manded to be flain in Syria, his own fon had been killed, 

 he fsid, " it is better to be Herod's dog than his fon." 

 Macrob. Sat. 1. ii. c. 4. This paffage, if we deduce no other 

 inference from it, fliews, that Herod's (laughter of the in-- 

 fants in Judea was a thing well known in Macrohius's time, 

 and was not contelled by the heathens. See Lardner's 

 Works, vol. i. chap. 2. 



INFANTA, in Geography, a river of Africa, which runs 

 into the Indian fea, S. Int. 32 . 



INFANTE and Inkanta, are titles of honour given to 

 the children of fome princes ; particularly thofe of the houfes 

 of Spain and Portugal. 



It is ufually faid, that the appellation of infanta was iij- 

 troduced into Spain on occafion of the marriage of Eleanor 

 of England with king Ferdinand of Caftile : and that their 

 fon Sanello was the firll that bore it. But this is con- 

 tradided by Pclagius, bifhop of Oviedo, who lived in the 

 year uco, and who informs us, that the titles infante and 

 infanta were iifed in Spain ever fince the reign of king 

 Evremond II. 



INF AN riCIDA, in Mythology, the name of a deity to 

 v.diom, arcording to Lyophron, children were facrificed 

 by the Greeks. It is not hkcly that this was originally the 

 name of any feparate deity ; but from the lamentable fre- 

 quency of this almoft incredible offering, this h.orrible dif- 

 tindion was appropriately applied to, moll probably, Hecate, 

 or fome other form of the goddefs Diana, of multifarious 

 names and charaders. The fubjcd of infanticide has lately 

 undergone more than iifual difcuffion, and the prevalence of 

 the pradice, both heretofore and exilling, proved of greater 

 extent than could have been imagined. See the following 

 article. 



INFANTICIDE, or child murder, is an enormity that 

 our reafon and feelings would lead ns to reckon as a crime 

 of very rare occurrence. That it fhould exifl at all is, at 

 the firll view, furprifing, — that it fliould prevail to any extent 

 is difficult of belief,— that parents fliould be its perpetrators 

 is in a high degree painful to imagine ; but that mothers 



flwuli 



