for regular exercise during pregnancy should be strongly enforced, and the absurdity pointed out of the fashionable habit, so much, and so injuriously indulged in by fine ladies, who lounge all day long on their sofa, or spend half their day in bed, gratifying a mere indolence of habit which they calculate on being allowed, or even encouraged to indulge in, on account of their situation; while others erroneously adopt such a course from a belief that exercise is unfit for, or likely to prove injurious to them. But, they should be made fully aware how hostile to their present comfort and future welfare is such inactivity, by which a universal torpor of the system is induced, with sluggish action of the liver, indigestion, want of sleep, and a train of nervous anxieties which harass and depress the spirits. How different this from the joyous buoyancy of the sturdy peasant female, whose daily round of laborious occupations is continued without interruption to almost "the hour of nature's sorrow;" who "Instanti cum plena tument quoque viscera partu VANIER, Præd. Rust., lib. ii. p. 47. It should be strongly impressed on the mother, that the advantages obtained by well-regulated habits are, by no means, exclusively conferred on her, but that others equally important are thereby secured to the child, for whom a larger supply of nutrition, and of a better quality, will thus be provided; and so being plentifully nourished by sound and healthy fluids, it shall commence its career of life, strong, vigorous, and less liable to those morbid debilities and derangements which afflict the children of 'Which lines I venture to translate thus: Who teeming with the soon expected birth, Weeds the young corn, or harrows down the earth, And trains the tendrils of the straggling vines, Intent on labor; nor as yet forbears Till pain o'ertakes her 'midst her rustic cares. Her bosom's load so easily she yields One might suppose she found it in the fields. the indolent, the pampered, or the debauched. It is even asserted by late observers, that the number of cretins in the Valais is much diminished since the women have adopted the custom of passing the time of their pregnancy in elevated situations of the country, where they are not exposed to the damps which prevail in the depths of the valleys. Many a mother, with whom no other argument would prevail, might be weaned from injurious indulgences, if it were thus represented to her, that not alone her own, but the future health and happiness of her already-loved unborn infant, must be vitally influenced by the life she leads, while it is as yet drawing its very existence from her heart's blood. But, on the other hand, pregnant women should be made aware that there are certain modes of activity and of exercise which they should avoid, among which, may be mentioned, lifting weights, driving on rough roads, or in a jolting vehicle; dancing, especially in a crowded and overheated ball-room, and riding on horseback, are calculated to be injurious, and induce abortion; though I have known both deliberately resorted to, for the express purpose, without producing any such result. I am satisfied, also, that I have many times seen ill consequences to both mother and child from merely indulging too freely in frequenting balls and late parties, where she suffers from excitement both physical and moral, and indulges in food and drinks of a kind likely to disorder her digestion and disturb her rest; where a great portion of the night is spent in ill-ventilated rooms, crowded to excess, and where, consequently, the woman must breathe, for hours together, an atmosphere charged with contaminations of many kinds, and totally unfit for the renewal of her blood, from which, as a matter of inevitable consequence, her unborn child must derive only a poisoned supply for its support. This evil state of things is in no small degree aggravated by the style of dress which such assemblies lead to the adoption of; stays and corsets. so tightly laced, that the wearer can hardly breathe or move with. comfort, by which the breasts and abdomen are painfully compressed, and, both being in a state of progressive enlargement, their increase is interfered with, producing irritation and alterations in the former, of which failure in nursing is a frequent consequence; and with regard to the uterus, a tendency to pro lapse and miscarriage. Many a one who confesses, with a smile or a blush, that she is enceinte, would do well to remember the origin of the word she uses. It was the habit of the Roman ladies to wear a tight girdle or cincture round their waist; but when pregnancy occurred, they were required by law, at least that of opinion, to remove this restraint; and hence, a woman so situated was said to be incincta, or unbound, and hence, also, the adoption of the term enceinte to signify a state of pregnancy. Another article of dress too commonly worn is not without its evils, tight garters, which add seriously to the annoyances caused by cedema of the lower extremities, and by varicose veins. I believe, also, that many women are injured, especially in early pregnancy, and abortion induced, by indulging too freely in conjugal enjoyments; at the same time, I do not think that absolute abstinence is, in general, either required or would be salutary. When speaking of the physical changes which the uterine system undergoes in consequence of impregnation, it was remarked that the nerves distributed to the organ and its appendages were augmented in size and number, and having their sensibility exalted, diffused throughout the system generally an increase of nervous irritability, which, affecting both mind and body, displays itself under a great variety of forms and circumstances, rendering the female much more excitable and more easily affected by external agencies; especially those which suddenly produce strong mental or moral emotions, whether of the exhilarating, or depressing kind, as fear, joy, sorrow, anger. The powerful influence of such impressions over the functions and actions of the uterus, in every stage of female life after puberty, is recognized in a multiplicity of circumstances, whether as deranging menstruation, inducing abortion, modifying the energy of parturient action, or in affecting the recovery from childbed.1 Hence the importance of preventing, as far as possible, pregnant women from being exposed to causes likely to distress, or otherwise strongly impress, their minds. Sights of an affecting kind, books, pictures, or theatrical representations which may deeply excite the imagination, or engage the feelings, are decidedly unsafe, and, in illustration of the dangers which may thence arise, 1 Vide Burrows on Insanity, p. 378, and Merriman, Synopsis, pp. 33 and 224. I shall mention one or two instances. I was once urgently called to see a lady who had gone to the theatre, when two months pregnant, to witness some grand spectacle, in which armed knights on horseback were to cross a bridge and storm a castle; while doing so, the bridge gave way, and the besiegers were precipitated into the canvas torrent, and some of them much hurt: the lady was dreadfully terrified; screamed, fainted, and was carried home almost insensible, when it was discovered that she was flooding profusely, under the influence of which, and the previous fright, she soon became alarmingly exhausted: however, by the adoption of proper measures, she was restored and tranquillized; but she miscarried before morning. Another case was that of a lady, who after passing several years of her life in straitened circumstances and actively employed, married when no longer very young, and was thereby placed in a condition of comparative affluence, which, unfortunately for herself, enabled her to dispense with any further exertion, and to indulge a natural inclination to indolence and sedentary habits. She soon became pregnant, and spent her whole day lying on a sofa at the fireside, or with her feet on the fender, reading novels, eating and drinking heartily, and having a discharge from the bowels perhaps once or twice in the week. Amongst the books, which she thus daily devoured, was one containing a highly wrought description of one of the Maisons de Santé in France, and of its inmates; this affected her strongly, and took great hold on her mind, and she expressed the greatest desire to visit one of the large lunatic asylums in this city, that she might assure herself of the reality of such things as she had been reading of. In this wish she was indulged, as in everything else, whether right or wrong, to which she took a fancy; and the consequence was, that the appearance of the persons she had seen, and their extravagant expressions and gesticulations, continued to haunt her imagination incessantly up to the time of her delivery; on the third day after which, she showed symptoms of insanity, which became rapidly confirmed, and continued for many months. During her illness, and after her recovery, she repeatedly told me that, from the time of reading the book, and visiting the asylum, she felt as if she would certainly become deranged. Morgagui telle us of "a certain woman in the fourth month of her pregnancy, and just entering upon the fifth, when news was suddenly brought to her of the instant death of her absent husband; being struck with grief and fear at the same moment, she, from that very time, at first observed the motion of the foetus to be made more languid, and after that to cease entirely. And at the end of the eighth day, after she ceased to feel the child's motion, she miscarried." "You see, then," he subjoins, "what power passions of this kind have in producing these effects."1 Smellie relates a very extraordinary case, in which the shock occasioned by the death of a child from convulsions, in the lap of a pregnant woman, was followed by a train of circumstances of a most remarkable kind.' A striking and pathetic illustration is also recorded in the first book of Samuel,' in the account of the death of Eli's daughter-inlaw, "who was with child, near to be delivered; and when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was taken, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and travailed, for her pains came upon her. And about the time of her death, the women that stood by her said unto her, fear not; for thou hast borne a son; but she answered not, neither did she regard it." Dr. Merriman relates a most melancholy case, in which, during labor, the abrupt entrance of a person much disliked by the female was instantly followed by a fit which put an end to her life. I believe it is well known that during the years which immediately succeeded the lamented death of the Princess Charlotte, the most gloomy anticipations clouded and depressed the minds of pregnant and parturient women in these countries, and, in the opinion of some of the most competent judges, many untoward events were thus produced in childbed. "Indeed," says Dr. Merriman," "this calamitous event is still found to operate unfavorably on the minds of patients in a certain rank of life;" and a similar opinion is expressed by Dr. Ramsbotham with reference to this unfortunate case, from which, he says, "danger was transferred to others; the shock sustained by many 'Epist. xlviii., art. 18, 19, vol. ii. p. 721, Alexander's translation. |