Page:A Short History of Aryan Medical Science.djvu/56

48 becoming deformed and defective. She should be kept happy and contented, should wear white clothes and ornaments, and avoid disagreeable sights and smells, and sexual and other excitements ; should take easily digestible food ; should neither remain hungry nor eat too much. She is enjoined not to touch a dirty, ugly, or defective woman, and is advised not to live in a lonely house or to have her bed very high.

Parturition generally takes place after nine calendar months, when the foetus is fully developed. Sometimes the period of gestation extends to the tenth, eleventh, or even the twelfth month in exceptional cases. It is laid down that the lying-in room should be clean, and not less than eight cubits long, and four cubits broad, with ventilators in the north or the east wall. Four old and experienced midwives should be at hand to render necessary assistance. They should be trustworthy, skilled in their work, obliging, and have their nails cut close. When the time of delivery draws near, they should lubricate the genital tract with sweet oil, and one of the four should thus advise the woman in labour : "O Lady, do bear down when you are inclined to do so, but not otherwise ; strain gradually, and to the utmost of your power when the child reaches