SWADDLINß CLOTHES.

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allow them no more freedom of motion than can be enjoyedby a young maniac in a strait-jacket.

Increased knowledge in " wweducated " England has taughtmothers, that if there be a being on eartli that requires libertyof limb, it is the little human creature whose frame is destined,when allowed to be properly developed, to expand itself intothat of a man. In " educated Germany," however (where, bythe by, there are more dwarves and more idiots than in anyother part of the globe), mothers have still to leam, that ifthe limbs of children be swathed in cloths like mummies, thegrowth of the tissues must be more or less impeded — in thesame manner as a Chinese woman's foot comes to be un-naturally stunted by the mere compression of the part. Nordoes the swaddling of children injure the youthful frame bypressure alone; for every one with us is well aware thatexercise of limb is necessary for the due increase of themuscles, and bodily activity required for the maintenance ofhealth.

It is lamentable, however, to see how much the Germanpeople have still to learn upon such matters; and we know ofno more melancholy sight than a Prussian baby bound handand foot in its costume of a " Wickel-kind." It is impos-sible for minds that have any sense of the tender nature ofsuch creatures, not to feel acutely for the sufferings that thelittle things must undergo in such a State. When we thinkof the extreme irritability of the whole body at such an age,and of the high temperature of the tiny frame—bordering, in-deed, almost on fever; and when we call to mind, too, theutter inability of the poor babes to protect themselves, we areroused to indignation at the thought of the tortures they mustbe subject to, both in the stifling heat they must experienceand the painful cramps they must undergo, from the continualconstraint of their tender little limbs.