t placed on the floor. The
bed should have no foot-board, or a very low one.

_The dress of the mother._--Either a folded sheet should be adjusted
around the waist as the only skirt, so as not to interfere with the
walking, or a second chemise should be put on, with the arms outside the
sleeves, to extend from the waist to the feet. Then the chemise next the
body should be drawn up and folded high up around the breast. It should
be plaited neatly along the back, and brought forward and fastened by
pins. This should be thoroughly done, so that the linen may not be found
wet nor soiled when it is drawn down after confinement. A wrapper or
dressing-gown may be worn during the first stage of labor, before it is
necessary to go to bed. When, however, that time comes, the wife will
take her place on her left side on the temporary dressing, with a sheet
thrown over her, her head on a pillow so situated that her body will be
bent well forward, and her feet against the bed-post. A sheet should be
twisted into a cord and fastened to the foot of the bed, for her to
seize with her hands during the accession of the 'bearing-down pains.'
Care should be taken to have a number of napkins, a pot of fresh lard,
and the basket containing the scissors, ligature, bandage, etc.--which
have been previously enumerated in the remarks on preparations for
childbirth--at hand, for the use of the doctor.

We have now noted all that it is useful for the wife to know in regard
to the preparation for and management of confinement, when a physician
is in attendance, as, for obvious reasons, he should always be. In some
instances, however, the absence of the doctor is unavoidable, or the
labor is completed before his arrival. As a guide to the performance of
the necessary duties of the lying-in room under such circumstances, we
give some

HINTS TO ATTENDANTS.

The room during confinement should be kept quiet. Too many persons must
not be allowed in it, as they contaminate the air, and are apt by their
conversation to disturb the patient, either exciting or depressing her.
So soon as the head is born, it should be immediately ascertained
whether the neck is encircled by the cord; if so, it should be removed
or loosened. The neglect of this precaution may result fatally to the
infant, as happened a short time since in our own practice; the infant,
born a few minutes before our arrival, being found strangled with the
cord about its neck. It is also o