MATERNAL DUTIES AND PRIVILEGES.
It has been well said by Madame Sirey, that women who comprehend well their rights and duties as mothers of families, certainly cannot complain of their destiny. If there exists any inequality in the means of pleasure accorded to the two sexes, it is in favor of the woman. The mother who lives in her children and her grandchildren has the peculiar privilege of not knowing the grief of becoming old.
'So low down in the scale of creation as we can go,' says Professor Laycock of Edinburgh, 'wherever there is a discoverable distinction of sex, we find that maternity is the first and most fundamental duty of the female. The male never in a single instance, in any organism, whether plant or animal, contributes nutrient material.'
Among the Romans, it was enacted that married women who had borne three children, or if freed-women, four, had special privileges of their own in cases of inheritance, and were exempted from tutelage. Juvenal has recorded the reverence paid in Rome to the newly-made mother, and the sign by which her house was designated and protected from rude intruders, namely, by the suspension of wreaths over the door.
At various times, and in different countries, legislators have made laws discriminating in favor of matrons, justly regarding the family as the source of the wealth and prosperity of the State.
Louis XIV. granted, by the edict of 1666, certain pensions to parents of ten children, with an increase for those who had twelve or more.
NURSING.
So soon as the infant is born, it ought to be placed at the breast. From this source it should receive its only nourishment during the first four or six months, and in many cases the first year, of its life. The child which the mother has carried for nine months and brought with suffering into the world, still depends upon her for its existence. At the moment of its birth her duties to the infant, instead of ceasing, augment in importance. The obligation is imposed upon her of nourishing it with her own milk, unless there are present physical conditions rendering nursing improper, of which we are about to speak. It is well known that the artificial feeding of infants is a prominent cause of mortality in early life. The foundlings of large cities furnish the most striking and convincing proof of the great advantages of nursing over the use of artificially-prepared food. On the continent of Europe, in Lyons and Parthenay, where foundlings are wet-nursed from the time they are received, the deaths are 33.7 and 35 per cent. In Paris, Rheims, and Aix, where they are wholly dry-nursed, their deaths are 50.3, 63.9, and 80 per cent. In New York city, the foundlings, numbering several hundred a year, were, until recently, dry-nursed, with the fearful and almost incredible mortality of nearly one hundred per cent. The employment of wet-nurses has produced a much more favorable result. Therefore, if for any reason the mother cannot nurse her own child, a hired wet-nurse should be procured. This brings us to the consideration of
HINDRANCES TO NURSING, AND WHEN IT IS IMPROPER.
Women who have never suckled often experience difficulty in nursing, on account of the sunken and flat condition of the nipple. We have pointed out the causes of this depression, and how by early attention before the birth of the infant it may be prevented. If, however, these precautions have been neglected, and it is found that the nipple is not sufficiently prominent to be grasped by the child's mouth, it may be drawn out by a common breast-pump, by suction with a tobacco-pipe, by the use of the hot-water bottle in the manner described, or by the application of an infant a little older. Neither the child nor the mother should be constantly fretted in such cases by frequent ineffectual attempts at nursing. Such unremitting attention and continual efforts produce nervousness and loss of sleep, and result in a diminution of the quantity of the milk. The child should not be put to the breast oftener than once in an hour and a half or two hours. By the use of the expedients mentioned, the whole difficulty will be overcome in a few days.