The philosophy of marriage, in its social, moral, and physical relations : with an account of the diseases of the genito-urinary organs, which impair or destroy the reproductive function and induce a variety of complaints : with the physiology of generation in the vegetable and animal kingdoms : being part of a course of obstetric lectures delivered at the North London School of Medicine, Charlotte Street, Bloomsbury, Bedford Square / by Michael Ryan.

  • Ryan, Michael, 1800-1840.
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The philosophy of marriage, in its social, moral, and physical relations : with an account of the diseases of the genito-urinary organs, which impair or destroy the reproductive function and induce a variety of complaints : with the physiology of generation in the vegetable and animal kingdoms : being part of a course of obstetric lectures delivered at the North London School of Medicine, Charlotte Street, Bloomsbury, Bedford Square / by Michael Ryan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    infants, unless when labouring under disease or delicate health, or other conditions, which medical practitioners will explain to them. Every healthful woman is morally bound to suckle her infant; and nothing can excuse her for the non-performance of this duty. Nature never does any thing in vain ; she has given breast milk for the nourishment of infants, and this alone is the best food for them at birth, and for several months afterwards. But when circumstances prevent mothers from performing the duty of lactation, they are bound to procure wet-nurses, when their means permit; and these must be moral, not immodest, drunkards, &c. When wet-nurses cannot be procured, then artificial lacta- tion, and dry-nursing must be adopted; but the kinds of food are far inferior to that which nature intended for the human offspring. There are various other cares and duties of parents to- wards the physical and moral education of their offspring, which I have described in my Lectures on the Physical Education and Diseases of Children.—(See London Medical and Surgical Journal, 1834-1835.) I shall now merely ob- serve, that parents should be cautious in placing young in- fants in the same bed with themselves, for fear of suffocating them. They are also bound to acquire property, fame, honour, intellectual education, and religious instruction for their offspring. Parental authority and correction are neces- sary when persuasion and mildness have failed, but it is always to be recollected that children are much more influ- enced by suavity than by asperity of language, and that re- peated blows will disgust them and destroy their mind. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged, Col. iii. 21. It is cruel to punish a child who does not know right from wrong, and has not the use of rea- son ; and who ought to be treated with kindness and per- suasion. Spare the rod and spoil the child/' is an adage opposed to physiology and reason. I have repeatedly ob- served children reared to the age of five years, who never were punished by corporeal chastisement. The truth of this statement will appear hereafter, when we consider the development of the intellectual and moral states of infants. In my opinion, it is a most barbarous cruelty to strike a child at an age under seven years; that is to say, before it pos- sesses reason; and I am pleased to think, that all well-edu- cated modern medical practitioners loudly condemn domes-