ON DRESSING THE AMERICAN NEWBORN INFANT A CENTURY AGO

In 1866, Dr W. B. Fletcher of Indianapolis, Indiana described the "time-honored folly of the absurd and cruel system of the first dressing" of the newborn infant as follows: In most cases, as soon as the child is born and the cord divided, it is tied and the baby given to an employed nurse, some wise neighbor, or friend. The question of "What will she do with it" may best be solved by watching her. First she huddles it up in an old shawl or other garment. She is careful to cover its head, as though it were a young puppy she would smother; or rid the world of an infant cat. In a few moments, someone brings water, soap and towels, and also a heap of old linen, and a trunk full of new. The good woman now turns to the blazing fire, or the hot stove, that the baby may not take cold, and while the youngster implores with yells and cries, she bakes its tender skin on one side while she dabbles its head, eyes, mouth and body with a vile solution of frequently very bad soap. After this ceremony has been past (it matters not whether the child be cleaner than before) she turns her attention to the cord, upon which she frequently deposits, slyly, some pestiferous saliva. "It's healin'," she says, and now she follows authority. First, she cuts or burns a hole in the centre of a bit of cloth, through which she draws the cord.

PULMONARY VASCULAR ADJUSTMENTS IN THE NEONATAL PERIOD

Pulmonary arterial or right ventricular pressures were measured repeatedly in 18 puppies and 2 goats, from 1 to 36 days of age; these pressures were measured with the use of indwelling catheters in unanesthetized animals. In puppies the systolic pressure in the pulmonary circulation decreased rapidly to near adult levels in 5 to 10 days after birth, and then more slowly to adult levels by 5 to 6 weeks of age. In goats the pressures decreased more slowly, reaching near adult levels in about 12 to 14 days. Acetylcholine produced a decrease in pulmonary arterial pressure in the puppy in the first 5 days of life, but an increase in pulmonary pressure after that time in the resting animal. In the hypoxic puppy, a reduction in pulmonary arterial pressure was induced by acetylcholine. These findings suggest that the pulmonary vessels in the young puppy are actively constricted but that relaxation occurs after the first few days of life.