[88] That Part of the Head where a Pulsation may be very plainly felt, where the Bones are less hard, and not as yet firmly joined with those about them. Weakly Infants [89] are those who have the greatest Need of being washed: such as are remarkably strong may be excused from it; and it seems scarcely credible (before a Person has frequently seen the Consequences of it) how greatly this Method conduces to give, and to hasten on, their Strength. I have had the Pleasure to observe, since I first endeavoured to introduce the Custom among us, that several of the most affectionate and most sensible Mothers, have used it with the greatest Success. The Midwives, who have been Witnesses of it; the Nurses and the Servants of the Children, whom they have washed, publish it abroad; and should the Custom become as general, as every thing seems to promise it will, I am fully persuaded, that by preserving the Lives of a great Number of Children, it will certainly contribute to check the Progress of Depopulation. [89] There is however a certain Degree of Weakness, which may very reasonably deter us from this Washing; as when the Infant manifestly wants Heat, and needs some Cordial and frequent Frictions, to prevent its expiring from downright Feebleness; in which Circumstances Washing must be hurtful to it. _Tissot._ They should be washed very regularly every Day, in every Season, and every Sort of Weather; and in the fine warm Season they should be plunged into a large Pail of Water, into the Basins around Fountains, in a Brook, a River, or a Lake. After a few Days crying, they grow so well accustomed to this Exercise, that it becomes one of their Pleasures; so that they laugh all the Time of their going through it. The first Benefit of this Practice is, as I have already said, the keeping up their Perspiration, and rendering them less obnoxious to the Impressions of the Air and Weather: and it is also in Consequence of this first Benefit, that they are preserved from a great Number of Maladies, especially from knotty Tumours, often called Kernels; from Obstructions; from Diseases of the Skin, and from Convulsions, its general Consequence being to insure them firm, and even robust Health.