We have had occasion to remark that pregnancy is not a condition of disease. It is not only an evidence of health, but during its continuance it confers increased physical vigor. As a rule, a woman enjoys _better health_ during her pregnancy than at any other time; she is less liable to contagious and other maladies; she is less apt to die than at any other period of her life; and her general constitution seems also then to receive a favorable impress, for wives and mothers live longer than celibates. It is wisely decreed that when woman is engaged in this, to her, anxious stage of reproduction, she shall not be exposed to the pains and dangers of disease, and that those great covenants of nature--marriage and child-bearing--shall be rewarded by added strength and length of days. There are certain disorders incident, in exceptional cases, to pregnancy, of which we shall shortly speak. In general, however, we repeat that this condition is one of extraordinary health. More than this, in numerous instances it exerts an ameliorating influence upon pre-existing diseases, suspending their march, or bringing about a decidedly curative effect. Thus, various obstinate chronic affections of the skin, of the womb and ovaries, and of the brain and nervous system, frequently get well during pregnancy; and it is well known to every physician, that by the judicious management of this state, and of the lying-in period, troublesome displacements of the womb may be arrested. It should nevertheless ever be recollected that the condition of pregnancy is one of excitement and enhanced susceptibility to impressions of all kinds. For this reason a change in the habits of life is necessary; and the importance of the directions laid down for the care of the health during this period, cannot be too strongly insisted upon. The diseases to which the wife is exposed during pregnancy will be treated of in the chapter on 'Health in Marriage.' CONFINEMENT. _PREPARATIONS FOR CHILDBIRTH._ Certain foolish preparations are sometimes made by wives, with the best intentions. Perhaps one of the most common and absurd of these is the local use of sweet oil, in order to facilitate the dilatation of the parts, for which purpose it is perfectly inert. There are, however, some wise and even necessary precautions which every wife should know and employ, to guard against unpleasant and dangerous complications in childbirth.