neglect committed towards her in her tending For this Reason one must not be of the opinion of many Nurse-keepers who will have a new-laid Woman to be well fed as well to restore her lost strength by the tediousness of the Labour and by the quantity of Blood then evacuating for which cause they believe the Woman must be well nourished to make more Blood as also to fill up her Belly which is very much emptied by the Birth of the Child but it is much better to follow in this the counsel which Hippocrates gives us in his Tenth Aphorism of the Second Book where he saies Impura corpora quo plus nutriveris eo magis laeseris The more you nourish impure Bodies the more you hurt them Now it is certain that a Woman newly delivered is of this sort as you may know by the quantity of Cleansings and Superfluities which flow from her Womb at this time when for this reason they must be very regular in their Diet especially the three or four first daies in which time she must be nourished only with good Broaths new laid Eggs and Jellies without using at the beginning more solid Meats but when the great abundance of her Milk is a little past she may with more safety eat a little Broath at her Dinner or a small piece of boil'd Chicken or Mutton as she likes best afterwards if no accident happens they may by degrees nourish her more plentifully provided in the mean time that it be a third part less than she was accustomed to take in her perfect Health and that her Food be of good and easie digestion not suffering her to eat any of those Cakes Tarts or other Pastries which are usually provided at the Childs Baptism As for her Drink let it be Ptysan which is Liquorish Figs and Aniseeds boiled in Water or at least boil'd Water being careful not to give it her too cold she may also provided she be not Feaverish drink a little white Wine well mixed with Water but not till after the first Five or Six days Although I prescribe this Rule in general for all those who are newly brought to Bed yet there are some who must not observe it so exactly as laborious Women who being of a very strong and rebust constitution require a more plentiful feeding to whom notwithstanding if they do not change the quality they must at least retrench the quantity of their ordinary food having alwaies respect to what every person accustom themselves to which the same Hippocrates doth likewise teach us in the 17th Aphorism of the first Book where he saith Animadvertendi sunt quibus semel aut bis quibus copiosior aut parcior aut per partes Cibus est offerendus dandum verò aliquid tempori regioni aerati consuetudini Great care and notice must be taken to whom to give meat once only or twice as also to whom to give more or to whom less or by little and little but some allowance must be made in respect of Time Countrey Age and Custome What we have already said shall suffice for direction in their Meat and Drink The Child-bed Woman must likewise keep her self very quiet in her Bed lying on her Back with her Head a little raised and not turning often from side to side that so the Matrix may be the better setled in its first Scituation she must free her self at that time from all care of business leaving it to the management of some of her Kindred or Friends let her talk as little as may be and that with a low voice and let no ill news be brought to her which may affect her because all these things do cause so great a commotion or perturbation of her Humours that Nature not being able to overcome them cannot make the necessary evacuation of them which hath been the death of many The Citizens Wives have a very ill Custom which they would do very well to refrain that is they cause their Children to be baptized the second or third day after their Labour at which time all their Relations and Friends have a Collation in the Child-bed Room with whom she is obliged to discourse and make answers to the Gossips and all Comers a whole After-noon together with the usual Complements of those Ceremonies enough to distract her and though there is scarce any of the Company which do not drink her Health yet by the noise they make in her Ears she loses it besides all this she is often constrained out of respect to forbear the use of her Bed-pan and other necessaries which are very prejudicial to her and this happens just at the time when she ought to have most rest because about the third day the Milk flowes in greatest quantity to the Breasts this is the reason why ordinarily the next day they have a very great Feaver She ought alwaies to keep her Body open with Clysters taking one once in two daies which not only evacuate the gross Excrements but also by drawing downwards cause her to cleanse the better When she hath observed this Rule a fortnight or three weeks which is very near the time of having cleansed sufficiently that those parts may be throughly cleansed before she goes abroad and begins upon a New score let her take a gentle Purge made of Senna Cassia Syrup of Succory with Rhubarb which is good to purge the Stomach and Bowels of those ill Humours Nature could not evacuate by the Womb as it did the other Superfluities this Purge may be repeated if necessary all which being done and that no indisposition remain she may bath once or twice or to wash and cleanse her Body and afterwards she may govern her self according to her former Custome CHAP. IV. How to drive back the Milk in those Women who are not willing to give suck THere are many Remedies used to this purpose some of which hinder the afflux of humours to the Breast and others dissipate and in part dissolve the Milk therein contained Those which hinder the Humours from plentifully flowing thither are Oile of Roses well mixt with Vinegar with which the Breasts are to be anointed all over or Unguentum Populeum with Ceratum refrigerans Galeni equally mixt and extended upon a piece of Linnen or gray Paper and so applyed to the Breasts Others use Linnen dipt in luke-warm Verjuce in which a little Allom is dissolved that so it may be more Astringent and others lay to them the Lees of Red Wine alone or mixt with Oyl of Roses Those Remedies which dissolve and dissipate the Milk from the Breast is a Cataplasme of the four * Of Linseed Fenugreek Beans and Fitches Branns Honey and Saffron boiled with the Decoction of Chervil or Sage Others apply Honey only and some others rub the Breast alone with Honey and put upon it the Leaves of Red-Cabbadg the great Stalks first being taken away and they a little deadned before the fire this remedy doth very
will alwaies be separated in the very same place just close to the Belly because it is a part which remains wholly * Without life inanimate after the Child is come into the World wherefore whether Boies or Girles let the Knot be made at least an inch from the Belly as we have already directed and not nearer lest it pain or inflame the Childs Navel It will not be from the purpose to mention here a business of great consequence which is sometimes capable to kill the new-born Babe without almost knowing the cause of it 't is a very bad custome some Midwives have before they make the Knot they drive all the blood out of the String into the Infants Belly believing that by this means they fetch it to it self and strengthen it when it is weak but 't is no such matter for assoon as these Vessels are never so little cooled the blood it contains quickly loses its spirits and is half coagulated in an instant which is the reason that being driven back into the Infants Liver it is enough to cause very great Accidents not because of its abundance but because having quite lost its natural heat it is afterwards soon corrupted and changeth and spoileth the Childs Blood with which it comes to mix They commonly put this ill custome in practice when the Child is weak but this doth sooner suffocate them for if they need Blood to give them vigour it must be good and laudable and not that which is half clodded and destitute of its natural heat Wherefore whether the Child be strong or weak if you will not put it in danger of its life or at least cause to him great oppressions pains and gripes forbear driving his blood thus out of the String into the Infants body Now having thus tyed and cut the String wash the Child presently all over for to swaddle it afterwards as we shall direct CHAP. XVII Hôw a new-born Babe must be washed and cleansed from the Excrements as also how it ought to be wrapped up in swadling Cloaths WHen the Midwife hath ordered the Childs Navel-string just as we have directed in the foregoing Chapter let her presently cleanse it from the Excrements it brings with it into the world of which some are within the body as the Urine in the Bladder and the Moeconion found in the Guts and others without which are thick whitish and viscous proceeding from the slimyness of the Waters there are Children sometimes so covered all over with this that one would say they were rubbed over with soft Cheese and certain Women of easie belief do really imagine it was because they had often eaten some while they were with Child that their Infants are thus full of this thick white Excrement which in colour and consistence is not unlike white Cheese Let the Child then be cleansed from all these Excrements with Wine and Water a little warmed and every part of his body where this Excrement is as principally the Head because of the Hair and the folds of the Groins and Arm-pits and the Cods which parts must be gently cleansed with a soft Rag or a soft Spung dipt in this luke-warm Wine If this viscous Excrement stick so close that it will not easily be wash'd off of these places it may be fetcht off with Oile of sweet Almonds or a little fresh Butter melted with the Wine and afterwards well dried off one must also cleanse and unstop with tents of fine Rags wet in this liquour the Ears and Nostrils for the Eyes they may be wiped with a soft dry rag not dipt in this Wine that it may not pain them and make them smart After the Child is thus washed and cleansed from these Impurities and Blood which comes away in the Labour with which sometimes its whole Body is besmeared all the parts of it must be visited to see if there be any fault or dislocation whether the Nose be straight or its Tongue tyed whether there be no bruise or tumor of the Head or whether the Mould be not overshotten or whether the Scrotum in case it be a Male be not blown up and swelled in short whether it suffered any violence in any part of its Body and whether they be well and duely shaped that so Remedies may be used according to the nature of the indisposition discovered But as it is not sufficient to cleanse the outside of the Childs body you must above all observe that it must discharge the Excrements retained within wherefore examine whether the Conduits of the Urine and Stool be opened for some have been born without having them perforated who have died for want of voiding their Excrements because timely care was not taken of it as to the Urine all Children as well Males as Females do render it assoon as they are born especially when they feel the heat of the fire and sometimes also the Maeconion of the Guts but nevertheless usually a little after If the Infant doth not render it the first day that it may not remain too long in his Belly and cause very painful Gripes put up into his fundament a small Suppository to stir it up to be discharged to this purpose a sugar'd Almond may be used anointed over with a little boiled Honey or else a small piece of Castile-soap rubb'd over with fresh Butter you may also give the Child to this purpose at the Mouth a little Syrup of Roses or Violets mixt with some Oyl of Sweet Almonds drawn without fire anointing the Belly also with the same Oyl or a little fresh Butter It may be known when the Child hath voided all its Maeconion if the Stools change from black and become pale which is about the second or third day losing by degrees this tincture in proportion to the generation of new Excrements from the Milk which about this time mixes with the first As to the Maeconion which is an Excrement in colour and consistence like to the Pulp of Cassia found in the Childs Guts when it comes into the World 't will be enough to the purpose to examine what it is and from whence it proceeds wherefore without dwelling upon the different explications of Authors touching its generation I will ingeniously give my thoughts of it which is that it comes from the superfluous Blood daily discharged as it doth in all persons and of all ages by means of the Hepatick channel which coming from the hollow of the Liver goeth and emptyeth into the Intestine Duodenum out of which is formed the Moeconion which afterwards serves to keep the Intestines of the Foelus open and dilated that so they may the better perform their office after its birth and to make it appear that it is truely thus made and that the superfluous Blood is continually discharged by the Hepatick channel into the Duodenum as I do say there are some people of Fourscore years of age that were never let Blood nor never lost any outwardly who nevertheless
her mouth will draw them out and by this means unstop the root of the old Nipples or using a fit Instrument of glass such as is figured at the begining of this Chapter with which the Woman her self may also suck them five or six times a day and to shape them and so preserve them being thus drawn out from sinking into the Breasts again let her put upon them a small Cap of wood or other matter such as is abovementioned and doing so by degrees after the Nipples are quite form'd and unstop'd she may again give her Child suck What we have hitherto writ in this third Book shall suffice for directions concerning a new-laid Woman and also for the knowledg and cure of distempers which usually happen to them upon which we need not further enlarge for if any other happen than what we have mentioned and which do not properly belong to the care of a Chirurgeon a Physitian must be sent for to remedie them by his prudence and according as Art requires Let us now treat of Infants new-born and run through the Diseases they are most subject to CHAP. XVI Of tending Children new-born and first how to bind cut and swath the Navel-string IF the Infant as we have said before discoursing of Deliveries hath often need whilest he is in his Mothers belly of the good conduct and dexterity of a Chirurgeon or Midwife to deliver him and bring him happily forth out of that Dungeon wherein he hath been a long time inclosed their assistance is nothing less necessary to him assoon as he is born as well to remedy such indispositions which sometimes he brings into the world as to defend him from many infirmities to which the weakness of his Age and tenderness of his Body renders him subject We have in the whole foregoing-Book very particularly shown how to help him in his coming into the world there remaines now only directions what is to be done afterwards to this purpose we will first shew how to tye cut and bind up the Navel-string There are some persons who assoon as the Infant is come into the World do bind and cut the Navel-string before the burthen be come away but it is better if possible without too-long stay to deser it until the Secondine be likewise drawn forth for the Womb which is extreamly wide and open after the coming forth of the Child would be in danger of taking cold by the outward aire during the delay made for the Ligature of the Umbilical Vessel besides that the Orifice closeing a little it would afterwards be more difficult to bring the After-birth away To make this Ligature as it behooveth let the Midwife do as followeth assoon then as all is come away from the Woman she must immediately close up the Womb with clouts according to directions already given and then carry away the Child and Burthen to the fire having put it into a warm Bed and Blancket let her take a brown Thread four or five double of a quarter of an Ell long or thereabouts tyed with a single knot at each of the ends to prevent their entangling and with this thread so accommodated which the Midwife must have in a readiness before Labour as also a good pair of Scissers that so no time may be lost let her tye the string within an Inch of the Belly with a double knot and turning about the ends of the thread let her tye two more on the other side of the string reiterating it again if it be necessary for greater surety then let her cut off the Navel-string another Inch below the Ligature towards the After-birth so that there only remain but two inches of the string in the midst of which will be the knot we speak of which must be so strait knit as not to suffer a drop of blood to squeez out of the Vessels but not so strait as to cut it in two For which reason the Thread must be pretty thick and pretty strait knit it being better too-strait than too-loose for some Children have miserably lost their lives with all their blood before it was discovered because the Navel-string was not well tyed Now that so great a Mischief may not happen great care must be taken after it is cut that no blood squeez through for if there do new knots must be made with the rest of the string which for this reason must be left a little long to close it more exactly this being done wrap up the end of the String thus cut and tyed three or four times about with a small rag drie or dipt in Oile of Roses if you please then having put another small Rag three or four double upon the Belly of the Child above the Navil lay the String so wrapp'd up upon it that it may not touch the naked Belly on the top of all put another small Boulster and then swathe it with a linnen Swath four Fingers broad to keep it steady lest by rowling too much or by being continually stirr'd from side to side by the motion of the Belly it comes to fall off before the Vessels be quite closed up and healed 'T is very convenient as we have said to lay the remaining part of the String on the upper part of the Belly that so if by chance the Vessels be not sufficiently closed the Blood may not so soon slide away as if it were turned downwards for we find sometimes this String to be so great in some Children that although it were very close tyed at first yet coming afterwards to wither and dry the Ligature is rendred looser by means of which 't will afterwards easily bleed if care be not taken This Accident hapned lately to a poor Child who died the twelfth day by such a flux of Blood although the Midwife protested to me that she had tyed the String very exactly and being astonished how that could happen she told me that it must assuredly be which indeed was the truth because the Knot was loosened in proportion to the withering of the String wherefore to avoid such a Misfortune let a new Knot be knit the first time the Child is opened The String thus tyed begins daily to dry away and is separated from the Belly at the end of the sixth or seventh day ordinarily and sometimes sooner but rarely longer than the eighth or ninth it must alwaies fall off of it self without any provocation lest that being separated too soon and before the Vessels shall be entirely closed and healed up a flux of Blood follow which is very dangerous as we have said or that it cause an Ulcer very hard to be cured There are some good Gossips who are a little superstitious in the tying of this String longer or shorter according to the difference of the Sex for some pleasant reasons they give but it is a meer abuse for at whatsoever distance they tye the Knot either nearer or further though half a foot from the Belly yet it
he sleeps however if his sleep be very immoderate it may be a little broken to which purpose let his Nurse carry him in her Arms to the light singing with a soft and sweet voice shewing him some glistering thing to please his sight and dancing him a little to awake him out of his drowsiness for by too long Sleep the natural Heat doth so retire inwards that it is as it were buried there by means of which all the Body and chiefly the Brain is so cooled that the Infants Senses are thereby quite dull and their functions languishing and stupified When he is in the Cradle let it be so turned as it may be towards the Fire the Candle or the Chamber Window that having the light directly in its Face he may not be allured to look continually on one side for doing so often his sight will be so perverted that he will grow squint-eyed Wherefore for the better security throw some Covering over the head of the Bed as we have said to hinder him from seeing the light because by this means his sight being staied from rouling from side to side will be the better fortified Let us now see how a Nurse must daily cleanse her Child from the Excrements As the young of all other Animals have their bodies free without the trouble of any coverings so they easily discharge themselves of their Excrements without being befouled and they no sooner empty their Belly but their Dam if they cannot do it themselves perceiving it casts it forth of their Nest or at lest rangeth it in some one part where it cannot hurt them but it is not the same with Infants who for being bound and swathed with Swathes and Blankets as we are forced to give them a strait Figure only suitable to mankind cannot render their Excrements but at the same time they must be befouled and in which because it cannot be perceived for their Clothes they often remain until the ill scent of it offends the Nurses nose or that she doubts it because of the Cryes and Tears of the Child which is incommoded by the Moistness and Acrimony of it to avoid which let the Child be opened and changed at least twice or thrice a day and also sometimes in the night if necessary to cleanse him from his Excrements and change the bed which ought to be well washed and not slightly as most part of hired Nurses do which causeth a great itching and galleth the Childs body because of a certain salt coming from the Excrements and not easie to be dissolved when the Blanket hath once imbued it but by putting it into a Bucking-tub The best time to shift the Child is immediatly after the Excrements are rendred without suffering him to lye longer in them than 'till he awakes if he were then asleep Now since he may render them at any hour indifferently no other time can be appointed to do it but when there is no need that is as often as it is necessary to keep him alwaies clean The Child must alwaies be opened before the fire and his Beds and Clouts well warmed and dried before he be put into them lest their coldness and moisture cause a Cholick and Gripes the Nurse likewise must be careful from time to time to put soft Rags behind the Ears and under the Arm-pits to dry up the moisture there found being very careful during the first four or five daies not to make the remaining part of the Navel-string fall off too soon and before the Vessels of it be perfectly closed Let her likewise see every time she opens him whether the Navel for want of being well tyed at first do not bleed or because the thread is loosened and after the end is quite fallen off let her still for some time swath the Navel ever laying a boulster on the top of it until it be well cicatriced and wholly depressed and as it were sunk inwards Besides this let her put upon the Mould of the head under the Biggen another Compress as well to keep the Brain warm as to defend it from outward Injuries which might easily hurt it because of the tenderness of that place not yet covered over with any bone let her also be very careful not to let the Child cry too-much especially at first lest the Navel be forced outwards and that there happen to him by its dilatation an Exomphale or a rupture in the Groine nor must she hearken to the sayings of some good people who affirm it necessary a Child should sometimes cry to discharge its Brain the two best waies to quiet him when he cryes is to give him suck and lay him clean and dry 't is likewise good to present to his sight things that rejoyce him and to remove what may affright or grieve him All these directions in this present Chapter concerning the Diet and Order of a new-born Babe must be understood for one in health for if he be any waies indisposed he must be treated according as the case requires This is what we intend to examine in all the remaining part of the Book CHAP. XIX Of the Indispositions of little Children and first of their weakness YOung Trees are scarce raised out of the Earth which is their Mother but often many of them soon after dye because their small bodies by reason of the tenderness of their substance easily receive alteration and cannot without great difficulty resist the smallest opposition until they become a little bigger and have taken stronger and deeper root So likewise we see daily above half of the young Children dye before they are two or three years old as well because of the tenderness of their Bodies as by reason of the feebleness of their Age they cannot otherwise express the incommodities they suffer within but by their cryes We have heretofore discovered how they ought to be governed in the beginning for the preservation of a good health we will now discourse of the indispositions to which they are subject principally from their birth 'till they are seven or eight Months old Let us first mention some they are born with and then wee 'l entertain you with those that usually happen to them afterwards The first Accident to be remedied is the weakness many Children bring into the world with them which often happens not because they are so by Nature but by the violence of a bad Labour or the length of it during which they suffer so much that sometimes after they are born they are so weak that it is hard to be discovered whether they are dead or alive not any part of their Body being perceived to stir which sometimes is so blew and livid especially the Face that one would think they were quite choaked And many times after they have been thus for whole hours they recover by little and little from their weakness as if they revived and were returned from Death to Life One may guess that the Child is not effectually dead although
at first it doth in some sort appear so to be if the Woman but a little before she was brought to Bed felt it to stir strongly if she did not flood much and if she had no very hard Labour but 't is very certain he is yet living although he do not cry nor move any part of his Body after he is born if laying the hand upon his Breast the motion of the Heart be felt or touching the Navel-string near the Belly there is yet perceived a small pulsation of the Arteries Then all sorts of means must be used to recover him out of this weakness Now the best help in this case is to lay him speedily in a warm Bed and Blanket and carry him to the fire and there let the Midwife sup some Wine and spout it into his Mouth repeating it often if there be occasion let her likewise lay Linnen dipt in warm Wine to the Breast and Belly let the Face be uncovered that he may draw breath the easier and to be yet more helpfull to him let the Midwife keep his Mouth a little open and cleanse the Nostrils with small linen tents also dipt in white Wine that so he may receive the smell of it let her chafe every part of his Body well with warm Clothes to bring back the Blood and Spirits which for being retired inwards through weakness put him in danger of being choaked in doing thus by little and little the Infant recovering his strength will insensibly come to stirr his Limbs one after another and so at first cry but weakly which afterwards as he breaths freer will augment and become stronger Besides these helps we have mentioned which certainly are the best and most certain for the weakness of a new-born Babe Midwives ordinarily make use of others which I do not approve of not only because they are useless but because some of them are very dangerous to the Child Some lay the After-burthen being very warm to the Belly and leave it there 'till it is cold I have elsewhere declared that the Burthen by reason of its heat may be something serviceable but notwithstanding because of its weight being so placed upon the Childs Belly which wanting a support is easily compressed it doth very much hinder his respiration which at that time is most necessary for him Others cast the Secondine into the Fire before it be parted and some put it in warm Wine believing that by this means the strength of the Wine conveighed through the Umbilical Vessels is able to give him new vigour But as this fleshy Mass and these Vessels are dead parts assoon as they are out of the Womb so there remains in them no spirits which can be communicated to the Infant And if this practice be continued it must rather be to satisfie custome than for any hope of benefit to be thereby received If these things do no good yet do they no great hurt but are only useless but this which follows is capable to suffocate a Child immediately that is when some do thrust back and make the Blood which is in the Umbilical Vessels to enter into the Body believing that it fortifies and recovers the Child out of its weakness but we have elsewhere declared that the Blood contained in these Vessels lose their spirits assoon as the Secondine is separated and come forth of the Womb nay it is there immediatly after half congealed Now if it be thus thrust back into a weak Childs Liver it remains there being no longer animated with any spirits and instead of giving him new strength it overcomes that little which remains and compleats the extinction of his languishing natural heat to avoid this be careful not to force back the Blood thus into the Infants Belly for besides in these weaknesses unless it should be otherwaies by the Mothers flooding before she was brought to Bed there is alwaies too much of it in the Infants body and instead of sending more to it there must be some drawn back from it towards the extremities that so its Ventricles being a little discharged may have afterwards a more free motion to send back the spirits to all parts which are deprived of them by these faintings Wherefore since the Child must receive nothing from the Vmbilical Vessels after its Birth let them be tyed assoon as may be and then ordered according as we have directed Very often the Children which are weak at their Birth are so by nature as when they come before their time and are so much the weaker by how much they want to compleat the end of the ninth Moneth and also when they are begotten by infirm and sick parents These are hard to remedy and there is nothing more to be done but to nourish and order them well according to our former directions but it will be rare for them to be long-lived and it is much if they do not dye by the least indisposition that befalls their natural weakness CHAP. XX. Of Contusions or Bruises of the Head and other parts of the Body of a new-born Babe THe Bodies of new-born Children are as we have said so tender and delicate that they are easily bruised and hurt and sometimes in a bad Labour their Members are dislocated either because it remained long in an unnatural Posture or because they were handled too rudely in the Operation the most usual and frequent bruise is for the most part on the top of their Head where sometimes at their Birth they have a Knob as big as half an Egg if not bigger as is usually seen in first Labours and which happens the sooner according as the Woman is advanced in Age because the inward orifice of the Womb called the Garland being more callous doth not dilate without much difficulty for which reason the Childs head pressing against it and the upper part of it which naturally presents first to the Passage being begirt with it as with a Garland is puft up and swelled because of the Blood and Humours which fall down and are retained in this part by the great compression which this inward orifice makes round about especially when the Throwes begin to be strong and the Child comes but slowly forward after the Waters which did a little defend it are broke away the Midwife also may do much ill in it if she toucheth it too-often or too-roughly with her Fingers when it lyes in the Birth but many times they are in this case wrongfully accused because for the most part the single compression this orifice makes in form of a Garland about the Childs Head is the cause of this kind of bruised Tumours This part swells after the same manner as we see all others which are either too-strongly prest bound or lased for by this means the Blood which cannot circulate being stopt in great abundance in one part obligeth it to swell and be blown up and by the repletion it makes renders it livid as if it were bruised Now this
diligent care reduced to their natural state now amongst other things endeavour to prevent the Childs squinting growing awry crooked or lame and to redress any of these whatsoever as much as possible To prevent its Squinting chuse a Nurse whose sight is stable and right lest by her ill example he gets an ill habit and as we have said elsewhere let the Cradle be ever so placed that being laid in it he may alwaies see the light directly before him either of day candle or fire lest by being on one side he come to turn continually his Eyes that way whereby he will be in great danger of growing asquint Paulus Aeginetus and Pareus also would have a squint-eyed Infant 's sight redressed by putting a Mask upon his Face with only two small holes right against the Eyes to see through which will cause him perceiving no light but through those holes to hold his Eyes ever that way by means whereof they will be established in a right scituation and by degrees quit the ill habit they had gotten of looking aside This counsel seems good in appearance but I believe it will be very inconvenient for a Child to follow it besides that the least removing of the Mask on which side soever the little holes not corresponding perfectly in a direct line to the middle of the Eyes the sight will be thereby more perverted To prevent a Childs growing crooked awry or lame the Nurse must swaddle its Body in a strait scituation equally extending the Arms and Legs and swathing the Child sometimes one way sometimes another lest swadling it alwaies one way the parts should take an ill habit When he is laid in the Cradle he must be streight on his back and not bending and above all when the Nurse holds him in her Arms let her carry him sometimes upon one and sometimes upon the other for holding the Childs Legs alwaies on the same fashion it would be a great hazard if they did not at length grow crooked and it is often the only reason that so many Children have crooked Legs especially about the Knees and this few Nurses take notice of which notwithstanding is of great consequence When these parts have an evil conformation in their Figure they must be helpt with Swathes and Boulsters conveniently placed to keep the parts in a good posture whiles the Child is in swadling Clothes afterwards being grown a little bigger one may use little leather Boots somewhat stiff with which the Legs must be straitned and if the Foot be only awry Shoes underlaid of one side higher than the other will serve the turn When the Breast or Back-bone are in fault it must be helped if possible or at least hindered from growing worse and the fault may be hid by ordering the Childs clothes with Past-board Whale-bone and Tinne placed where the Chirurgeon shall think fit to reduce the mishapen part to a better Figure Having hitherto mentioned the most ordinary Diseases befalling little Infants 't is not necessary here to make a larger description of them for as for those that we have not treated of since they may indifferently happen to all sorts of ages they have nothing peculiar in respect of Children as to the knowledg or cure of them but only for the tenderness and delicacy of their Body There now remains only for to finish our undertaking that we give necessary directions in the choice of a good Nurse CHAP. XXXIV Of the requisites and necessary conditions in the choice of a good Nurse THe first and principal of all the qualities in a good Nurse is that she be the own Mother of the Child as well because of the mutual agreement of their tempers as that having much more love for it she will be much more careful than an hired Nurse who ordinarily loves her Nurse-child but with a feined and seeming love having no other end or foundation but the hope of her recompence she expects for her pains by a mercenary hire Wherefore the true Mother though not the best Nurse should ever be preferred before a Stranger But because there are several that either will not or cannot suckle their own Children whether it be to preserve their beauty as all persons of quality and most of the Citizens do or that their Husbands will not suffer them nor be troubled with such a noise or that being ill or indisposed they cannot there is then an obligation to provide another Nurse which should be chosen as convenient for the Child as may be Now even as we see Trees though of the same kind growing in the same place being afterwards transplanted into another soil produce fruits of a different taste by reason of the nourishment they draw thence Even so the health of Children and sometimes their manners depends on the nourishment they receive at the beginning for as to the health of the Body 't is well known it answers the Humours that all the parts are nourished and maintained with which Humours ever retain the nature of the food whereof they are engendred As for the Manners they ordinarily follow the Temperament which also proceeds from the quality of the Humours and the Humours from the Food By this consequence as the Nurse is so will the Child be by means of the nourishment which it draweth from her and in sucking her it will draw in both the vices of her Body and Mind This appears very easily in Animals that suck a strange Dam for they alwaies partake something of the creature they suck being accordingly either of a mild or fiercer nature or of a stronger or weaker Body which may be noted in the example of young Lions tamed by sucking a domestick Animal as a Cow Asse or Goat and on the contrary a Dog will become more furious or fierce if it sucks a Wolf The necessary conditions in a good Nurse are usually taken from her Age the time and manner of her Labour the good constitution of all the parts of her Body and particularly of her Breasts from the nature of her Milk and in fine from her good Manners As to her Age the most convenient is from twenty five to thirty five years of age because that during this space the Woman is most healthy strong and vigorous she is not fit before five and twenty because her Body not having yet acquired all its dimensions cannot be so robust nor after thirty five because not having Blood enough in so great abundance she cannot have Milk enough for the nourishment of the Child However some Women are indifferent good Nurses from twenty to fourty but very rarely before or after As to the time and manner of her Labour it must be at least a Month or six Weeks after it that so her Milk may be throughly purified because at that time her Body is usually cleansed of the Lochia which follows Labour and the Humours are no longer disturbed with it nor must it be above five or six Months that