When the Death of the Child proceeds from any _accidental_ Injury, the _breeding_ Woman commonly knows it, by the Perception of a _Weight_ within her, in the Part where it lies, instead of its _usual_ Motions, which from that Time cease, and occasion, not without Reason, a Solicitude for the best Assistance. One of my Neighbours, whom I lately deliver’d, had the Misfortune to fall flat on her Face, between the 7th and 8th Month of her Pregnancy; from which Time to that of her Labour, above three Weeks after, she had a continual Sensation of a Weight within her, without _any_ of the Child’s Motions, as before this Accident, although it was not succeeded by a _Flooding_, as is common upon a _partial_ or _total Separation_ of the _Placenta_: She had frequently been attacked with Pains resembling Travil, for above two Weeks before it came on effectually; in this Case after I had brought the Child by _turning_, I found the Secundines extremely offensive, by Reason of their Putrefaction. From Causes less manifest, ’tis a Thing more precarious to judge of the Infant’s Death; the Woman in Travil has not perceived the _Motion_ of the Child for some Days, while it was yet living; a _cadacerous_ Smell is not infallible; the coming away of the Child’s _Excrement_, may proceed from the _Compression_ of its Abdomen in the _Birth_, especially when the _Buttocks_ present; these Appearances therefore can only be a Foundation at best for _probable_ Conjecture; nothing short of the Peeling of the Cuticle or Scarf-Skin of the Child upon _Touching_ it, can be a _certain_ Token of its Death. CHAPTER XV. _The necessary Care of a_ Mother _and_ Child. After Delivery, tis too universal a Practice to palliate the After-pains by _Opiates_, which if given beyond the Proportion, necessary to take off the Spasms attending, are mischievous, tending to obstruct the natural Cleansings, so absolutely necessary to succeed; and as these Pains cease of Course for the most Part in two or three Days, it were much better to have recourse to _Sperma Ceti_ dissolv’d with the Yolk of an Egg in a Draught of Caudle, or a Linctus of Sallad Oil and Sugar, if Oil of Sweet Almonds cannot be had fresh, as often as the Pains are violent. Particular Occasions may indeed require other Methods, but then ’tis best to be well advis’d, whether _Opiates_, or other _Medicines_ are necessary. During their Purgations, the Woman, in Child-bed, ought to be kept warm, from all Danger of taking cold, to a Degree of sensible Perspiration, and if she has no Stool by the third Day, which commonly brings, with the Milk, a feverish Heat, a Kitchen Glyster ought to be given and repeated in costive Habits, as there is Occasion.