shown conclusively that women who rest during pregnancy have
finer children than women who do not rest. Apart from the more
general evils of work during pregnancy, Pinard found that during
the later months it had a tendency to press the uterus down into
the pelvis, and so cause the premature birth of undeveloped
children, while labor was rendered more difficult and dangerous
(see, e.g., Pinard, _Gazette des Hôpitaux_, Nov. 28, 1895, Id.,
_Annales de Gynécologie_, Aug., 1898).

Letourneux has studied the question whether repose during
pregnancy is necessary for women whose professional work is only
slightly fatiguing. He investigated 732 successive confinements
at the Clinique Baudelocque in Paris. He found that 137 women
engaged in fatiguing occupations (servants, cooks, etc.) and not
resting during pregnancy, produced children with an average
weight of 3,081 grammes; 115 women engaged in only slightly
fatiguing occupations (dressmakers, milliners, etc.) and also not
resting during pregnancy, had children with an average weight of
3,130 grammes, a slight but significant difference, in view of
the fact that the women of the first group were large and robust,
while those of the second group were of slight and elegant build.
Again, comparing groups of women who rested during pregnancy, it
was found that the women accustomed to fatiguing work had
children with an average weight of 3,319 grammes, while those
accustomed to less fatiguing work had children with an average
weight of 3,318 grammes. The difference between repose and
non-repose is thus considerable, while it also enables robust
women exercising a fatiguing occupation to catch up, though not
to surpass, the frailer women exercising a less fatiguing
occupation. We see, too, that even in the comparatively