The patient should now be given one teaspoonful of the fluid extract of ergot, which should be repeated in an hour. Should there be an excessive flow of blood after this period it may be again repeated at the third hour. CUTTING THE CORD.--As soon as the child is born, and of course long before the after-birth is expelled, the physician will tie the cord. This is best done at two places, one about two inches from the child, and the other two or three inches nearer the mother. Cut the cord about one-half inch beyond the first ligature, which will be between the two ligatures. The cord should be tied with sterile tape made for the purpose, or heavy twisted ligature silk, or a narrow, ordinary, strong tape, previously boiled. It should be tied firmly and inspected a number of times within one hour of its birth. It is possible for a baby to lose enough blood from a cord badly tied to cause its death. A very good way to ensure against such an accident is to cut the cord one inch from the ligature nearest the baby, then turn this inch backward and retie with the same ligature, thus making a double tie at the same spot. Cut the cord with scissors that have been boiled and reserved for this purpose. WASHING BABY'S EYES AND MOUTH IMMEDIATELY AFTER BIRTH.--As soon after birth as is practicable, wash the baby's eyes with a saturated solution of boracic acid. Immediately after the eyes have been washed the physician will drop into them a solution of silver nitrate, three drops of a two per cent. solution in each eye, or argyrol, three drops 20 per cent. solution. This precaution is taken against possible infection during labor and, as explained elsewhere, it is a preventive against certain diseased conditions which, if present, would result in blindness. The physician should then wind a little sterile cotton round his moistened little finger, dip it in the boracic solution, and holding the baby up by the feet head down, insert this finger into the throat, thus clearing it of mucus. The tongue and mouth may be gently washed with the same [103] solution. After the baby has cried lustily as an evidence of life and strength, he should be wrapped up in a warm blanket quickly, and immediately put in a cozy basket in a warm place, and left there undisturbed, with his eyes shaded from the light until the nurse is ready to attend to him. The baby should be laid on his right side. CONDUCT IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING LABOR.--As soon as the physician is satisfied that the patient is well enough to be left in care of the nurse or attendant, every effort should be made to favor a long, refreshing sleep. Nothing will contribute to the patient's well-being so much as a quiet, restful sleep after labor. The nurse will therefore take the baby into another room, fix the mother comfortably, and give her a glass of warm milk,--draw the shades or lower the light and tell the tired-out mother to go to sleep. As a rule she will sleep easily, as she is sore and exhausted.