ervous temperament, a lukewarm bath taken
occasionally at night during pregnancy has a calming influence. This is
especially the case in the first and last month. But women of a
lymphatic temperament and of a relaxed habit of body are always injured
by the bath.

VENTILATION.

We have spoken of the benefits of outdoor air during pregnancy.
Attention should also be directed to keeping the atmosphere in the
sitting and sleeping rooms of the house fresh. This can only be
accomplished by constantly changing it. The doors and windows of every
room, while unoccupied, should be kept thrown open in the summer-time,
and opened sufficiently often in the winter to wash out the apartments
several times a day with fresh air. The extremes of heat and cold are
to be, with equal care, avoided. The house should be kept light. Young
plants will not grow well in the dark. Neither will the young child nor
its mother flourish without sunlight. The ancients were so well aware of
this, that they constructed on the top of each house a solarium, or
solar air-bath, where they basked daily, in thin attire, in the direct
rays of the sun.

SLEEP.

During pregnancy a large amount of sleep is required. It has a sedative
influence upon the disturbed nervous system of the mother. It favors, by
the calmness of all the functions which attends it, the growth of the
foetus. Neither the pursuit of pleasure in the evening, nor the
observance of any trite maxims in regard to early rising in the morning,
should be allowed to curtail the hours devoted to slumber. Pregnant
women have an instinctive desire to lie abed late, which, like the other
promptings of nature during this period, should not be disregarded. At
least eight hours out of the twenty-four can be profitably spent in bed.
No night-watching ought ever to be undertaken during pregnancy.

Feather beds should be avoided. The heat which they maintain about the
body is inconvenient and dangerous, predisposing to flooding and
exhausting perspirations. The hair or sponge mattress is to be
preferred. The bed-clothing should not be too heavy. Blankets are to be
employed rather than coverlids, as they are lighter and more permeable
to perspiration. The mattress and cover should be well aired during the
day. The sleeping-room should be capacious and well ventilated, and no
curtains permitted about the bed.

Occasional rest is also necessary in the daytime. A nap of an hour or
two upon a sofa or lou