•dency to diftort their members, than any pofitions 
they could aflume, if left in the full poffeffion of 
liberty. 
But if the efforts for liberty made by infints 
thus fettered be hurtful, the inaftivity to which 
they are condemned is perhaps ftill more fatal. 
The want of exercife retards their growth, and 
diminifhes their ftrength; and of courfe, thofe 
children who are allov/ed full freedom of motion 
will ever be the moft healthy and vigorous. It was 
this motive which induced the Peruvians to leave 
the arms of their infants perfcftly loofe, in a wide 
bag : afterwards, v/hen they grew older, they put 
them up to the middle in a hole dug in the earth, 
and lined with linen; their arms, by this contriv- 
ance, were at full liberty j and they poiTeffed the 
power of moving their heads, and bending their 
bodies, without a pofllbility of falling and hurting 
themfelves; and, as foon as they were able to flep, 
the breafh was prefented to them at a fmall dif- 
tance, to entice them to walk. The children of 
negroes are ftill expofed to greater difficulties be- 
fore they can approach the nipple: they cling 
round one of their mother's haunches with their 
knees and legs; and adhere fo faft, that they fup- 
port themfelves v.'ithout the affiftance of the mo- 
ther. They lay hold of the breaft with their 
hands; and they continue to fuck, without incon- 
venience or danger of falling, while the mother is 
employed about her ufual avocations. Thefe 
children begin to walk, or rather to creep, at the 
end of the fecond month; and by exercife they ac- 
quire the faculty of running, in this pofture, nearly 
with equal velocity as they do on their feet. 
Infants, when newly born, pafs moft of their 
time in fieeping; but their fleep is often inter- 
rupted. As they likewife require frequent nou- 
rilhment, they ought to have the breaft frequently. 
At firft they fleep almoft continually ; and they 
feem never to wake, except when ftimulated by 
hunger or pain: their fleep therefore is generally 
terminated by a fit of crying. As, in cradles, 
they are obliged to lie in the fame pofition, and 
are chained down by bandages, this fituation foon 
becomes painful ; and cries and groans announce 
their fenfations, though the reafons of them are 
frequently mifinterpreted. 
For the two firft months, the infant fliould re- 
ceive no other food than the milk of the mother 
or nurfe ; and, if it's conftitution be delicate, this 
nourifhment alone fhould be continued during the 
third and fourth months. In FTolland, Italy, 
Turkey, and through die whole Levant, children 
are allowed no other food during the firft vear. 
The favages of Canada nurfe their children four 
or five, and fometimes fix or feven years. In this 
country, as few nurfes have a fufficient quantity 
of milk to fatisfy the defires of their children, in 
order to fpare it, they give them, even from the 
beginning, a compofidon of boiled bread, milk, 
water, and fugar. This nourifliment appeafes 
hunger; but as the ftomach and inteftines are yet 
too weak to digeft fuch a grofs vifcid fubftance, 
the children are greatly injured by it, and often 
die of indigcftion. 
In cafes of neceffity, the milk of quadrupeds 
may fupply that of the mother: but then the milk 
fnouid feldcm be given in the grofs ; and it feems 
by far the beft method to oblige the child to fuck 
the animal's teat. During the firft year, infants 
are incapable of maftication; their food fhould 
therefore be fuch as is at once nutritive, and yet 
Vol. II. 
MAN 
eafy of digeftion. The rudiments of the teeth, 
for fome months, are covered with the gums, 
which are fo foft, that they can have little efi^edl on 
hard fubftances. The incifores, or cutting-teethj 
are eight in number, four in each jaw; thefe ge- 
nerally appear about the feventh month, though in 
fome cafes not till the expiration of the firft year. 
Thefe teeth are often premature; for fome child- 
ren have them at their birth ; and foetufes have 
been found with teeth compleatly formed long 
before the ordinary time of geftation is accom- 
pliflied. 
The rudiments of the teeth are lodged in 
fockets, covered with the gums. In the procefs 
of their growth, they extend their roots to the 
bottoms of the fockets, and break through the 
gums: this procefs obferves not the ordinary laws 
of nature, which a6ls occafionally on the human 
body, without exciting any painful fenfation. 
Here nature makes a violent and painful effortj 
which is often attended with fatal confequences. 
Children, during the feafon of dentition, lofe their 
ufual fprightlinefs, and become peevifli and fret- 
ful. The gum.s are at firft" red and fwelled; and 
when the circulation of the blood is nearly ftopped 
by the preflTure of the teeth, they turn whitifii. 
Children perpetually apply their fingers to the af- 
fedted part, in order to remove the irritation; but, 
to procure ftill farther relief, the]?- are frequently 
furniflied v/ith a piece of ivory, coral, or fome 
other hard fmooth fubftance, v/hich they rub 
againft the gums: this operation relaxes the parts, 
affords a miomentary ceffation of pain, renders the 
gums thinner, and facilitates their feparation; but 
notwithftanding every precaution, the rupture of 
the gums is always accompanied with pain and 
danger. When the gums are uncommonly ftrong 
and rigid, they refift the preffure of the teeth for 
a confiderable time, and occafion a violent inflam- 
mation, which often proves fatal; to avoid which, 
the fimple operation of cutting the gums is often 
beneficial. 
The clentes canini, canine or dog-teeth, which 
are four in number, and fituated next to the inci- 
fores, generally appear in the ninth or tenth 
month. About the end of the firft, or during the 
courfe of the fecond year, the fixteen molares, or 
grinders, four on each fide of the canine teeth, 
perforate the gums; but thefe periods of dentition 
vary greatly in different children. The cutting- 
teeth, the dog-teeth, and the firft four grinders, 
are generally fhed during the fifth, fixth, or fe- 
venth year; and are commonly replaced in the fe- 
venth, though fometimes not before the age of 
puberty. The fliedding of thefe fixteen teeth is 
occafioned by the expanfion of the rudiments of a 
fecond fet, fituated at the bottom of the fockets, 
and by their growth protrude the firft fet: but 
there is no fecond fet below the other grinders j 
and therefore they are never fned but by accident, 
and their lofs is feldom repaired. There are ftill 
four other teeth fituated at the extremity of each 
jaw. In fome perfons, thefe teeth are entirely 
wanting; they feldom appear before the age of 
puberty, and fometimiCS not till a more advanced 
period: they are therefore diftinguifhed by the 
name of wifdom-teeth, and either appear fuccef- 
fively, or two at a time. It is owing to this ir- 
regularity in the wifdom-teeth that the whole 
number of teeth is not uniformly the fame, which 
varies from twenty-eight to thirty-two. 
Though the bodies of infants be extremely de- 
N iicate,-, 
