MAN 
fbme days after being brought into the world. 
Infants open their eyes the moment they come 
into the world j but they are fixed and dull; they 
poffefs none 'of that luftre and brilliancy they af- 
terwards acquire; neither have they thofe motions 
which accompany diftinft vifion. The light 
alone fecms to make the greateft impreflion on 
them; for the pupil contrafts or dilates in pro- 
portion to the quantity of that effence. But ftill 
the infant is incapable of diftinguifhing objefls; 
the organs of vifion are ftill imperfedt; the cornea 
is wrinkled; and perhaps the retina is too foft and 
lax for receiving the impreffions of external bo- 
dies, and for producing the fenfations peculiar to 
diftinft vifion. 
The fame remark may be applied to the other 
fenfes. They have not yet acquired that force 
and confiftency which is requifite; and, even 
when they arrive at this ftate, it is long before the 
fenfations of the infant can be juft and compleat. 
The fenfes, indeed, are inftruments of which we 
muft gradually learn the ufe; that of reafon is the 
moft noble and the moft furprifing, but at the fame 
time it is the moft vague and illufory. The fen- 
fations produced by it, if not conftantly rectified 
by the fenfe of touching, would uniformly lead 
us to falfe conclufions. The fenfe of touching is 
the criterion of all the other fenfes ; it alone is 
eflential to animal exiftence, and is univerfally 
diffufed through every part of the body. But 
even this fenfe is very imperfect on our firft enter- 
ing into the world: a new-born infant indeed dif- 
covers fymptoms of pain by it's lamentations; but 
it has no expreffion that indicates an idea of plea- 
fure. It is not till after forty days that it begins 
to fmile; and about the fame period it begins to 
weep alfo, for it's former cries were not produc- 
tive of any tears. In the countenance of a new- 
born child no veftiges of paffions are to be traced; 
the features of the face have not acquired that 
confiftence and elafticity which are necefiary for 
exprefling the fentiments of the mind. All the 
other parts of the infant's body are extremely 
feeble; and their motions are aukward and ill- 
direfted. It is unable to ftand ere6l; it's thighs 
and legs are ftill bended, from the habit con- 
tracted while in the womb of the mother ; it can 
neither ftretch out it's arms, nor grafp any thing 
with it's hands; and, if abandoned in this condi- 
tion, it would remain on it's back, without being 
able to turn either to one fide or another. 
Hence it may reafonably be concluded, that 
the pain felt by infants recently born, and which 
they exprefs by crying, is merely a corporeal fen- 
fation, ftmilar to that of other animals, which 
iikewife cry the moment they are brought forth ; 
■and that the mental fenfation commences not till 
about fix weeks after birth ; for fmiles and tears 
are the efFedls of two internal fenfations, which 
both depend on the aftion of the mind. The 
former is an agreeable fenfation, originating from 
the fight or remembrance of a known and defir- 
able objeft; the latter is a difagreeable agitation, 
.compounded of fympathy and anxiety concerning 
our own welfare. Both thefe paffions prefuppofe 
a certain degree of knowledge, a power of refledl- 
ing and comparing ideas. Smiles and tears are 
indications of pleafure and pain peculiar to the 
human race ; but the cries, the motions, and other 
marks of bodily pains and pleafures, are common 
to Man, and moft other animated beings. 
• ^ The fize of an infant at full time is generally 
M A N 
about twenty-one Inches; though fome exceed^ 
and others fall much ftiort of this ftandard. The 
head is large in proportion to the body; but this 
difproportion gradually dilappears as the infant 
increafes in magnitude. The Ikin of a new-born 
child is very fine, and of a reddifh colour, it's 
tranfparency rendering the blood beneath confpi- 
cuous. Some fay that this rednefs is greateft in 
thofe children that afterwards difplay the fineft 
complexions ; and it feems reafonable that it fhould 
be lb, fince the thinneft flcins are always the faireft. 
The formation of the bodies and members of 
infants, immediately after their birth, is by no 
means perfeft : the parts are too much rounded ; 
and, even when the child is in full health, they 
have a tumid appearance. A kind of jaundice 
generally comes on at the expiration of three 
days ; and, at the fame time, milk may be fqueez- 
cd out by the fingers from the breafts of infants. 
As the growth of the child increafes, the flefli 
hardens; the bones lengthen by degrees; and the 
human figure more and more acquires it's due di- 
menfions. In fuch children, however, as are bur. 
feeble or fickly, the head always continues two 
big for the body, and the belly generally appears 
fwollen. 
In the mild climates of Europe, infants are 
always wafhed in warm liquors; but there are 
whole nations, inhabiting regions colder than 
ours, where the infants are plunged into cold wa- 
ter as foon as they are born, v.'ithout receiving the 
flighteft injury. The Laplanders are even faid to 
leave their new-born children in the fnow till their 
refpiration is almoft ftopped with cold, and then 
to plunge them into a tepid bath : this fevere treat- 
ment is repeated three times a day for the firft 
year; and, after that period, the children are 
bathed thrice a week in cold water. The inha- 
bitants of the hyperborean regions are firmly per- 
fuadedjthat cold bathing renders Men more healthy 
and robuft; and therefore they inure their children 
to this habit from their very birth. We are in- 
deed wholly ignorant how far our bodies may be 
rendered capable of fuffering, of acquiring, or 
lofing, by the power of habit. The American 
favages, when covered with fweat, plunge them- 
felves into cold water with impunity; and the 
women throw their drunk huft)ands into the ri- 
vers, in order to remove with more expedition the 
efFefts of intoxication. The mothers bathe in 
cold water, together with their infants, the mo- 
ment after they are delivered ; and yet fewer by 
far die of child-bearing than in other countries, 
where a pradlice of this kind would be regarded 
as inevitable death. 
In the civilized parts of Europe, the infant has 
hardly efcaped from the womb of it's mother, and 
enjoyed the liberty of ftretching it's limbs, before 
it is again condemned to a more cruel and unna- 
tural bondage. The head of the little innocent 
is fixed ; it's legs are fettered ; it's arms are tied 
down to it's fides ; and it is rendered incapable of 
moving a fingle joint, by the horrid pradlice of 
ufing fwaddling-bands. How much more wifely 
do the Siamefe, the Indians, the Japanefe, the 
negroes, and the favages of America, aft, who 
lay their infants naked into hanging beds of cot- 
ton, or put them into cradles lined with fur? 
Thefe cuftoms are both fenfible and humane: 
the reftraint of fwaddling-bands muft be painful 
and ungrateful ; and the efforts made by infants 
to difentangle themfelves have a more direft ten- 
dency 
