Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 2, 1802).djvu/123

Rh When a person arrives at the place where the net is to be laid, he should open and spread it out at its full length and breadth. The lower end should next be fastened along the ground, so that it can only be moved up and down: the upper end must be extended on the long cord, the extremity of it being previously staked to the earth, by another at the distance of about five yards from the net, which must be placed in a straight line with the lower edge of the latter. The other end must be at least 25 yards distant, so as to extend to some natural or artificial shelter, by means of which a person should conceal himself from the fowl; otherwise no success can be expected. The net must, likewise, be placed in such an exact order that it may admit of being played on the birds, by the least agitation of the cord, which must be expeditiously pulled, lest the latter escape. This net may be advantageously employed for taking pigeons, crows, or other fowl, on corn-fields newly sown, as also in stubble-fields, provided the straw be long enough to hide the apparatus from the acute sight of the feathered tribe.  CRYING, the act of weeping, usually accompanied with tears; but this term is more generally applied to the squalling of infants.

It is remarkable, that the first symptoms of human life are uniformly those of loud cries: hence, superstitious persons are apt to imagine that such are the prognostics of future misery. Those who reflect upon the previous situation of the new-born, who is now surrounded by a different element, and placed in a much colder temperature, may easily account for this natural phenomenon. Instead, therefore, of being alarmed by those plaintive expressions, we ought to rejoice; because they indicate expanded lungs, and vital action. In a similar manner, judicious persons will consider the frequent and almost instinctive cries of children, as they advance in age, unless arising from accidental and obvious causes. The conduct of those mothers, who from an excess of tenderness, and of those nurses, who from too much officiousness, exert their utmost endeavours to relieve the clamorous noise of infants (often by the most absurd and pernicious means), equally deserve to be censured. Admitting that in some, nay, in many cases, it proceeds from a concealed pain, yet experience has sufficiently evinced, that these very cries alleviate, and often totally remove, such painful sensations as are produced by flatulency, gripes, &c. Nevertheless, when children continue in an uneasy state for a considerable time, violently drawing their legs towards their belly, we may conclude that they are afflicted with colic pains; or, if they suddenly move their hands and arms to their face, while crying, we may attribute it to difficult teething; and, if other morbid symptoms accompany these loud complaints, especially if repeated at certain periods of the day, we ought, in such cases, by no means to neglect them, but endeavour to ascertain the efficient causes.

Hunger is frequently assigned as a motive for crying, but it is not always reaily so; the latter is the sole language of infants, by which they manifest all their sensations and wants. If they cry without Rh