University of Virginia Library

LABOR.

Among primitive people, still natural in their habits and living under conditions which favor the healthy development of their physical organization, labor may be characterized as short and easy, accompanied by few accidents and followed by little or no prostration; the squaw of the Modoc Indians —a tribe which has been but little affected by the advance of civilization—suffers but an hour or even less in the agony of childbirth; the Sioux, the Kootenais, and the Santees are somewhat longer in labor, not, however, over two or three hours; two hours being about the average time among the North American Indians. The period of suffering is very much the same among the natives of Africa and of Southern India, the inhabitants of the Antilles and the Caribbees, of the Andaman and the Australian islands, and other savage people.

What little fear exists as to the occurrence of this event, which is so much dreaded by many of our delicately constituted ladies, may be judged from the instances of speedy and unexpected delivery so often related by those in contact with

the Indians. Dr. Faulkner, who spent some years among the Sioux tribes, tells me that he has known a squaw to go for a pack of wood in mid-winter, have a child while gone, wrap it up, place it on the wood and bring both to the lodge, miles distant, without injury. Dr. Choquette says, that two or three years ago, an Indian party of Flat Heads and Kootenais, men, women, and children, set out for a hunting trip; on a severely cold winter's day, one of the women, allowing the party to proceed, dismounted from her horse, spread an old buffalo robe upon the snow, and gave birth to a child which was immediately followed by the placenta. Having attended to everything as well as the circumstances permitted, she wrapped up the young one in a blanket, mounted her horse, and overtook the party before they had noticed her absence.

It seems to be an equally easy process among all people who live in a perfectly natural state. As civilization is approached, the time of labor is more extended. The Mexican Indians, half-civilized, require three to four hours for delivery, and the same is true for all such tribes as are in closer contact with the whites, as well as of other half-civilized people. Accidents rarely occur; thus a physician tells me that during a residence of eight years among the Canadian Indians, he knew of no accident, and heard of no death in childbed. Another professional brother, who lived four years with the Oregon Indians, was not aware of any irregularity occurring in that time, nor was he ever called upon to perform a more serious operation than the rupture of the membranes.

This may be accounted for by the active life which women lead among these people; all the work is done by them, so that the frame and the muscular system are developed, and the fetus, by constant motion, may be said to be shaken into that position in which it best adapts itself to the maternal parts into the long diameter, and once in such a position it is held there by the firm walls of the maternal abdomen, and the birth becomes easy. Moreover, they do not marry out of their own tribe or race, and the head of the child is adapted to the pelvis of the mother through which it is to pass.

As soon as there is any deviation from these natural conditions, trouble results. Positive statements from several of the Indian tribes indisputably prove the truth of this rule; thus

many of the Umpqua squaws die in childbed with half-breed children, whose large-sized heads do not permit of their exit. The Umpqua mother will be easily delivered of an offspring from an Umpqua father, but the head and body of a half-breed child is apt to be too large to pass through her pelvis. Unquestionably this is the case also among other savage tribes.

We can then readily account for the rapid and easy delivery of savage women who live in a natural state, and the rarity of accidents from these facts: First, they marry only their kind, and thus the proportions of the child are suited to the parts of the mother; secondly, their more healthy condition and vigorous frames; while, thirdly, from the active life they lead, head or breech presentations result. Should this latter fact not occur, the mother is generally doomed, or at best, the labor is extremely prolonged and fatiguing. If the child lie transversely in the pelvis, it cannot be born, and death follows.

The nearer civilization is approached, the more trying does the ordeal of childbirth become, as in the case of the Umpquas just cited. I am told that among the women of the Green Bay Indian Agency many deaths take place, and yet a physician states that he does not know of monstrosities or deformed pelves, but attributes the misfortune to malpositions; a greater number of half-breeds is to be found among them, and the resulting disparity between the child and its mother may be a cause of the trouble; again it may be the less active lives which they are supposed to lead, and the consequent cross-births. Dr. Williams has observed that the Pawnees are more exempt from accidents than the Mnemonees, and inquires whether it is on account of the squatting posture assumed by the Pawnee women in labor; I should rather ascribe it to the more active life led by the Pawnees, and the less frequent intercourse of their squaws with the whites.

We see then certain differences and an increase of the difficulties of labor as civilization is neared. How different are the conditions upon which I have laid stress as existing among savage tribes, from those which we find in our centres of luxury! People intermarry regardless of difference in race or frame of body, and the consequence is the frequent disproportion between the head of the child and the pelvis of the

mother. In addition, the system suffers from the abuses of civilization, its dissipations, and the follies of fashion. On account of the idle life led, and the relaxed condition of the uterus and abdominal walls, there is a greater tendency to malpositions; additional difficulties are presented by the weakened organization, and the languid neurasthenic condition of the subjects in civilized communities. We do, however, sometimes find in our cities, more frequently in our rural districts, strong hardy women, who lead more active lives, and who pass through labor with an ease and rapidity much more like that displayed by their savage sisters.

I can hear but little of labor troubles from physicians who are in contact with our Indians, as they rarely have the opportunity of witnessing a confinement, it is only in the most desperate cases, and hardly then, that even the Agency Physician is called in, and Indians are extremely reticent upon such topics; but I should judge from the robust health and hardiness of their squaws that mishaps are few. The most serious accident which occurs is the shoulder presentation, and that must necessarily prove fatal. This rarity of accidents is most fortunate, since neither our own Indians nor other savage tribes have any means of meeting them, save incantations or the howling of the medicine men.

The Papagos and some other tribes seem to have a philosophical way of regarding accidents in labor; they think that the character of the fetus has a good deal to do in causing the obstruction, and the more severe the latter the worse the former; hence, they deem it better for mother, child, and tribe that the mother and child should perish, than that so villainous an offspring should be born and grow up to do injury to his people.

Rigidity of the perineum has been occasionally mentioned, and in a case of this kind among the Dakotas the attending squaw relieved her patient by inserting her open hands, placed palm to palm, within the vulva, and making forcible dilatation, an assistance which few other uneducated people seem to have the knowledge of rendering. No attention being paid to the perineum, rupture is probably frequent; I know this to be a fact only of the negroes of Loango, as the information gathered by travellers does not usually extend to these subjects.

The prolapse of an arm is managed, among the Nez-Percés, and undoubtedly among other tribes also, just as it is by some of our midwives, by pulling upon it, as they do upon any part which chances to present.

Prolapse of the uterus is not unusual in Mexico and quite frequent in the interior of Russia. The Sclavonians, for instance, who are not unlike some of our Indians, endeavor to shake the child out of the womb in cases of prolonged labor; the natural consequence is that both the child and placenta drop out, to be followed not unfrequently either by prolapse or inversion of the uterus. In Russia, these accidents are so common that people are always prepared to correct them; the poor sufferer is at once brought into the bath-room and stretched upon a slanting board, the feet higher than the head; then the board with the patient upon it is successively raised and lowered in order to shake the uterus back into the pelvis, precisely as one would shake a pillow into its cover.

Hemorrhage, of which I do not often hear, is treated in some instances by sousing the patient into the nearest stream, or rather more tenderly by the Santees, where the attendant gives the patient a shower-bath by filling the mouth with water and blowing it over the abdomen with as much force as possible until the flow of blood ceases.

Whatever may be their social condition, primitive people preserve a certain superstition as regards woman and the functions peculiar to her sex. In many tribes it is customary to set apart a hut or lodge to which the woman is banished during the period of the menstrual flow; so also the child-bearing woman, as a rule, seeks a quiet nook away from the camp, or if the habits of the people are more sedentary, she is confined in a separate lodge a short distance from the one occupied by the family. Sometimes a house is erected for this special purpose, common to the entire village. Again, if better situated, she may have a separate room in her own house, sacred for these occasions.

On the Sandwich Islands, on the contrary, the confinement is more public and the performance is witnessed by all who happen to be about. The same lack of privacy prevails among the Mohammedans of India, who are as careless of the privacy of their confinements as they are of their copulations.

The wilder tribes of Southern India allow female relatives and friends to crowd around the woman as do the Aborigines of the Andaman Islands. The Pahutes, the Brulé-Sioux, and the Umpquas conduct the labor in the family lodge, and the sympathizing as well as the curious crowd around at will. A very good idea of such a scene is given me by Dr. Ed. V. Vollum, Surgeon U. S. A., who attended the wife of an Umpqua chief. He states that he found the patient lying in a lodge, rudely constructed of lumber and driftwood; the place was packed to suffocation with women and men; the stifling odors that arose from their sweating bodies, combined with the smoke, made it impossible for him to remain in the apartment longer than a few moments at a time. The assembly was shouting and crying in the wildest manner, and crowding about the unfortunate sufferer, whose misery was greatly augmented by the apparent kindness of her friends. Not much better were the half-civilized Mexican inhabitants of Monte Rey in early days: but even in these cases where such publicity is permitted, men are, as a rule, excluded.

Commonly labor is conducted most privately and quietly; the Indian squaw is wont to steal off into the woods for her confinement. Alone or accompanied by a female relative or friend she leaves the village, as she feels the approach of labor, to seek some retired spot; upon the banks of a stream is the favorite place the world over, the vicinity of water, moving water, if possible, is sought, so that the young mother can bathe herself and her child and return to the village cleansed and purified when all is over. This is true of the Sioux, the Comanches, the Tonkawas, the Nez-Percés, the Apaches, the Cheyennes, and other of our Indian tribes.

In winter, a temporary shelter is erected in the vicinity of the family lodge by those who make the solitude of the forest their lying-in chamber in milder weather.

The Chippewas, as well as the Winnebagos, also follow this custom. The natives of the Caucasus, the Dombars and other tribes of Southern India, those of Ceram, the inhabitants of Loango, of Old Calabar, and many of the African races, are delivered in this quiet way, and the women are not only kept apart from their husbands and the villagers during their confinement, but for weeks afterwards. The reason why we know

so little of Indian labor is the great secrecy which they observe regarding such matters, and their extreme reluctance to speak to inquisitive whites of these subjects which are to them enshrouded in a veil of superstition and mystery.

Some of the Sioux tribes, the Blackfeet and the Uncapapas, are in the habit of arranging a separate lodge, generally a temporary one, for the occasion, as also do the Klamaths, the Utes, and others. The Comanches construct a shelter for parturient women a short distance outside of the camp and in the rear of the patient's family lodge. This is made of brush or bushes, six or seven feet high, stuck into the hard ground, the branches intertwining so as to form a circular shelter about eight feet in diameter, an entrance is provided by breaking the circle and overlapping the two unjoined ends. In

a line outside the entrance are placed three stakes made from the stems of small saplings with the bark left on, these are set ten paces apart and are four feet high. Inside the shelter are made two rectangular excavations in the soil, ten to eighteen inches in width, with a stake at the end of each. In one hole is placed a hot stone, in the other a little loose earth to receive any discharges from the bowels or the bladder. The ground is strewn with herbs. This is their usual mode of constructing a shelter when in camp, and at other seasons, when boughs fail them, pieces of cloth are used to cover up the gaps, or else the leafless brush is covered with skins; but on the march some natural protection is usually sought, or one is hastily extemporized out of robes with, perhaps, a lariat attached to the nearest tree for the woman to seize during the pains.

The Indians of the Uinta Valley Agency observe a similar custom. At the first indication of labor-pains, the parturient leaves the lodge occupied by her family, and a short distance from it erects for herself a small "wick-e-up,'' in which to remain during her confinement, first clearing the ground and making a slight excavation in which a fire is kindled; rocks are placed around the fire and heated, and a kettle of water is kept hot, from which copious draughts are frequently taken. The "wick-e-up'' is made as close as possible, to prevent exposure to changes of temperature, and to promote free perspiration. Assistance is given by squaws living in the neighborhood, but no particular one is chosen, nor is any medicine-man called in to render aid. In Ceram, a temporary hut is hastily built in the woods, and in some parts of the interior of Russia a separate house is provided, as among our own Indians; such is also the custom of the Samojedn. The Gurians make use of a special room in the house; the apartment set aside for this purpose has no flooring, but the ground is plentifully strewn with hay, upon which the bed is made; above this a rope is fastened to the ceiling for the woman to grasp when in pain. The usual and favorite place of confinement for the Laps and other polar tribes is the bath-room.

As the place of confinement varies, so does the couch upon which the labor occurs. Some care is devoted to its preparation by all people, even the Susruta, that ancient system of midwifery, tells us that "the parturient should lie on her back upon a carefully spread couch, that a pillow should be given her, the thighs should be flexed, and that she should be delivered by four aged and knowing midwives, whose nails were well trimmed.''

The women of ancient Greece were delivered upon stools; the large arm-chair is still at home in the East, while in Syria a rocking obstetrical chair is used. The Kootenais employ a box covered with buffalo robes; the Sandwich Islanders, a stone; and certain of the tribes of Finns and Mongols, as well as many of our Caucasian race, look upon the lap of the husband as the best obstetrical couch. Many of our Indians use nothing but the bare ground, others a buffalo robe or old

blanket spread upon the floor of the tepee, or else some dried grass and weeds; in one way or other, however, they make a soft and comfortable couch upon the ground. A common method is to place a layer of earth beneath the buffalo robe upon which they are confined. Thus F. F. Gerard tells me that the Rees, the Gros-Ventres, and the Mandans, lay a large piece of skin on the ground, over which is strewn a layer of earth three to four inches deep, and upon this is spread the blanket or skin on which the parturient kneels.

The Japanese make their preparations for the coming event in the seventh month, so as to be sure of being in time. The bed which they then provide consists of a mat of straw about three feet square, on which is spread a layer of cotton or cloth. This simple arrangement upon which the patient is to be delivered is then set aside to be available at any emergency.

The above figure represents this mat, together with the mattress upon which it is laid, and the cushions used to support the back during the puerperal state. I need enter no further into this subject, as I have frequently referred to it, and have treated of it fully in my paper on Posture.

With regard to the assistants who aid the parturient woman, there is some difference in the customs of the various races. In many cases she has no help of any kind. As a rule, the assistants, if any, are females, relatives, or neighbors, and the

aid they give the sufferer is about the same as that which is too commonly obtained by her more civilized sisters, the world over, often worse than none at all. Occasionally they have professional midwives, whose qualifications depend chiefly upon their age or the number of children they have borne. In case that the patient is a lady of quality, the wife perhaps of a chief, or if the labor prove a very difficult one, the prophet or medicine man is summoned. The physician is mistrusted and is only consulted in the most desperate cases; the medicine man is aware that the forceps of his white brother are more efficacious than the rattling of the tum-tum, and, actuated by that same professional jealousy which is occasionally observed in more civilized communities, ho uses his influence to malign the stranger, and glorify himself.

In Siam and in Ceram, in parts of Africa and South America, among the Indians of Canada and some of our own—the Tonkawas, the Cheyennes and allied tribes, the Arrapahoes, and the Cattaraugus, there is no class corresponding to our midwives, and the patient has no help whatsoever; but usually relatives and friends aid each other, or there is some assistance rendered by the habitual old woman. This is true of the savage tribes of the vast Russian empire; each village or settlement has an old crone who possesses the power of second sight, and by this gift and other similar means drives away disease; but above all haunts the lying-in room, where she causes much harm to both mother and child by her rude and ill-timed manipulations. Other tribes have their particular old women, who, for various reasons, are supposed to be specially skilled. Thus the Navajos and the Nez-Percés have their sages femmes, and in Mexico there are midwives who are acquainted with medicinal herbs and their properties. The Indians of the Quapaw Agency, those in some parts of Mexico, and many of the Pueblos have women who make this a specialty. So also the Klatsops, the Klamath, the Rees, the Gros-Ventres, and the Mandans.

Whenever a midwife or some other old woman assists the progress of labor, one or more younger women are always on hand to perform the actual work, whilst the midwife sits in front of her charge to receive the child. In Syria, the assistant is an old woman who learned her trade by practicing with

her mother who was a midwife before her; it is necessary for a woman there to practice for a long time before she thoroughly gains the confidence of the people. We find midwives also in Japan, in parts of India, where in ancient times only women assisted the parturient, whilst in ancient Egypt difficult cases were attended by surgeons specially skilled in midwifery, as it will be remembered that they had their specialists as well as we of the present day. Susruta speaks of midwives attending his patient, and the mention of midwives in Exodus i. 19 implies that these good women were as unskillful thirty-five centuries ago as they can still be found at the present day. From all that we have seen it appears that the Yi of India, the Dye of Syria, the herb-knowing hag of Mexico, and the midwife of the Bible are very much the same in their habits, their qualifications, and their knowledge. It is the same habitual old woman who figures in all countries and at all times, and with whose peculiar qualifications we are quite familiar. In cases where the midwife is at a loss, the aid of the medicine man is sought. The Baschkirs rely upon their "devil-seer'' who discovers the presence of the evil spirit and drives him away if rewarded by the present of a sum of money or a fat sheep. Among others a priest is called who hastily mumbles a few verses of the Koran, spits into the patient's face, and leaves the rest to nature.

The assistance which is rendered to the parturient woman is very simple and consists entirely of external manipulations, support of the patient in whatever position she may be confined, together with compression of the abdomen for the purpose of expressing the child: in addition to this, the incantations of the medicine men as well as other means, by which they endeavor to act upon the imagination of the patient, must not be forgotten. How little actual help the lying-in women receives, and how limited is their knowledge of correcting malposition or other of the accidents of labor, will be readily perceived if we state that but few of those primitive people, whose habits we have so far considered, ever manipulate within the vagina. I have positive statements to this effect from the Indians of the Pacific coast, the Umpquas, the Pueblos, as well as the natives of Mexico. The introduction of the hand into the vagina or into the uterus for any definite purpose is a manipulation

unknown to the natives of other countries as well. At least I never see it referred to unless it be in a few instances for the purpose of distending the perineum or of removing the placenta from the vagina, which must remain if retained in utero. The midwife or older woman in attendance, as we have seen, usually receives the child, whilst the younger women support the patient, steadying the pelvis, resting her head and shoulders, and holding her arms and legs according to the position which she assumes. The younger women also compress the abdomen and rub the body wherever directed. The most reasonable of all their means of assisting the patient in her labor is the steady compression of the abdomen and the following down of the child in its descent. This is a feature common to the red, yellow, and black races, be it by compression of the fundus, by the encircling arms of the husband upon whose lap the patient rests; be it by the hands of one of the female assistants sometimes from behind, sometimes from the front; or by a broad cloth or binder (California Indians and the natives of Southern India) which an assistant tightens during each pain—a treatment which has not yet lost the favor of obstetricians and was once quite popular. There are some who still place a towel about the abdomen of their patients, thinking to assist the descent of the child by the pressure exercised; it serves both to correct the direction of the child's descent and to hasten its passage. In its extreme and worst feature we see this method of treatment exemplified by the Siamese who seek to force the expulsion of the fetus in difficult cases by permitting the attendant to trample upon the abdomen of the patient who is lying prone upon her back.

All primitive people resort to expression in one way or another. The Finns, in tedious cases, compress the abdomen by a belt or binder of some kind or by holding the patient up, suspended, and shaking her as they would a pillow out of its case—a proceeding which is more efficient than mild, and serves as a last resort to the natives of Mexico as well as other far distant people. In Syria, some effort is made to support the perineum in the same manner as is usual with us. In Mexico, as I have already said, they seek to overcome the tension by the introduction of the hands, and in India the parts are carefully anointed, as it is done by some of our Western

tribes. The description of an Indian labor, as given me by Dr. McCoy from his experience at the Nisqually agency, will give an excellent idea of the assistance which is tendered the Indian woman in her confinement. "The midwives, of whom there are two in attendance, call upon the Great Spirit for help in a muttering tone, and in the same tones name over the parts immediately connected with the parturient effort, and often all the joints and limbs of the body. By applying their hands to the abdominal walls they try to ascertain the position of the fetus in utero and usually to correct malpresentation. They use oil to anoint the parts, and just before the expulsion of the child give medicines to increase the pains.''

Somewhat similar was the experience of Dr. Shortt among the natives of Southern India. He says: "When the woman is taken with labor pains, her relatives and family friends come in and crowd around the sufferer, who is directed to walk about. The midwife, an old woman of experience, rubs her with oil and bathes her back, loins, and lower extremities in warm water; if the pains are false, the woman may partake of food, but after the commencement of labor nothing is given. She is made to sit with her legs extended, one assistant supporting her back, whilst the nurse shampoos back and loins, and her friends keep up a constant noise by talking. Prior to the rupture of the membranes, the nurse places a bag filled with ashes under the perineum as a support and to prevent the clothes being stained. The pelvis and abdomen are rubbed with a limpid oil and shaken several times to promote delivery. The membranes are not ruptured; this is left to nature; when the head protrudes the nurse supports it with her hands and directs the woman to lie on her back.''

Little is known to these people of the assistance given by the abdominal muscles, a help which has been recognized even in ancient times and so judiciously advocated by Susruta, who limits the efforts of the patient to the expulsive pains and advises more or less use of the abdominal muscles according to the progress made by the head of the child. The influence of the emotions is, however, thoroughly recognized, as is evident by the incantations to which the prophets of the tribe resort. In Russia, in India, and America, a sudden shock is often made use of and proves a

wonderful help in hastening the expulsion of the child; it is appreciated as such by the Kalmucks who always have a number of men, with their guns in readiness, waiting near the bed of the patient; as soon as the midwife perceives the head distending the perineum she signals the men who fire simultaneously, thinking to assist nature by the sudden fright which the noise must cause. A similar practice is occasionally resorted to among the Comanches, and Dr. Forwood, who attended a Comanche squaw in a difficult labor, told me that at a former confinement of the same patient, a practical application had been made of the effect of fright. She was brought out on the plain and Essehaby, a noted warrior, mounted on his fleetest steed, with all his war paint and equipments on, charged down upon her at full speed, turning aside only at the last moment when she expected to be pierced through the body and trampled under foot. This terrible ordeal is said to have been followed by the immediate expulsion of the child.

Besides the incantations which are customary as a last resort in difficult cases, there are a great many ridiculous superstitions in regard to labor, and much nonsense is practiced with the view of making labor easy. Thus in the middle ages the stars were consulted. Some of the most northern of the Russian tribes think to make labor easy by obliging the parturient to give the names of such men, besides her husband, with whom she has cohabited, and he, by a messenger, informs the midwife of his own misdeeds in that direction. Should the labor prove a difficult one, notwithstanding this important proceeding, it is ascribed to a false statement on the part of husband or wife. The Finns kill a chicken and hold the animal struggling in the agony of death before the pudenda of the mother. Another custom of theirs is to ply the husband with beer, mixed with Ledum palustre, upon the eve of his wedding day, in order to produce deep sleep, during which the wife crawls through between the husband's legs without his noticing it. But no more of this. All of these various superstitions are equally as efficacious as the incantations of the Klamath squaw who tells the child, as she anxiously watches the progress of the labor, that a rattlesnake was coming to bite it, if it does not hurry into the world and leave its present abode.

Although most savage tribes have roots and herbs to which

they resort in various diseases, they rarely seem to make use of them during labor. We have just seen that the Indians of Washington Territory give some medicine just before the expulsion of the child, and that Uva ursi is used by others. The tribes of Russia use a decoction of Artemesia vulgaris to increase the pain; in the same way Achillea millefolium is used, and this latter is universally resorted to in all uterine troubles. In the government Riäsan, Comarum palustre is used. The Esthonians give the patient a decoction of valerian with beer. Those who have no medicines, or cannot afford them, in the interior of Russia, let the patient blow with all her force into an empty bottle, or place a vessel or pot, like a surgical cup, upon the abdomen, or they make the poor woman swallow some ashes or a few lice in place of other medicine.

We have seen that the Indians of the Uinta Valley Agency drink a good deal of hot water during labor. The Crow Indians of Montana drink tea made of various roots and leaves, the kind preferred being made from the root of a plant called E-say, said to resemble the tobacco plant, with a root about as large as a turnip. Small quantities of whiskey are also frequently given during labor, and so much importance is attached to this that any price will be paid for a pint or two which is frequently carried about for months before it is to be used. The Winnebagos and Chippewas give the patient, just before the delivery of the child, a drink from a root steeped in hot water which is supposed to relax the system and make delivery quick and easy. The Indians of the Skokomish agency use a tea made from the leaves of Uva ursi which they believe from their own experience to possess oxytocic properties. In India, it is considered very dangerous for the patient to drink water during labor. In ancient Mexico, a decoction of the root of a plant called civapacthi, which possessed some oxytocic properties, was given, but if the pains were too severe, a small piece of the tail of an opossum, carefully rubbed down in water, had to be taken. However ridiculous this may seem, it is not more so than a prescription given by the court physician in Siam to a lady of high rank at the time of her confinement: "Rub together shavings of sapan wood, rhinoceros blood, tiger's milk (a fresh deposit found on certain leaves in the forest), and cast-off skins of spiders.'' The Sandwich Islanders

drink freely, before confinement, from a mucilage prepared from the inner bark of the halo or hibiscus tree. Susruta advises the parturient to drink quantities of sour rice gruel. In southern India, it is still customary to take some food in the early stages of labor, but as soon as the pains distinctly set in, no more is permitted. Where labor is so short, there is little opportunity to take food, hence little can be said of the customs of primitive people during labor in this respect.

Whatever villianous decoctions the lying-in woman may be obliged to take, her labor, as we have seen, is, as a rule, an easy one, and if we consider in connection with this the stoic character of the Indian, we will not be astonished that during the throes of labor the mother is usually dumb and patient, and willing that the child should inflict any pain to accomplish the delivery. Although comparatively quiet, at the recurrence of each pain the parturient woman will frequently utter a plaintive cry, and in this she differs somewhat from her white sister; the latter will most frequently announce the occurrence of pain by a sound which by the old women has been determined "grunt,'' the former gives vent to a low plaintive cry, best expressed perhaps, by the words "wail'' or "whine.'' but sometimes the Indian squaw gets noisy and restless in her suffering, and a description which is given of a laboring woman in the days of the ancient Hebrews, some thirty-five centuries ago, appears much more natural to us and is much more in accord with the sufferings which we suppose a woman to undergo. It is said of the parturient that "she trembles and writhes in her pain'' (1 Sam. iv. 19). Her face is all aglow, she sees and bears nothing in her anxiety, especially the primipara cries out aloud and says, with extended hands, "Woe unto me, for my soul succumbs to the murderers'' (Gen. iii. 16). And for men there seems to be no greater threat than "the heroes of Moab will upon that day show a bravery equal to that of a woman in labor pains''[1] (Jer. xlviii. 41; xlix. 29).