ounce of dried senna leaves in a jar and pour a quart of boiling
water on them. Allow to stand two or three hours; strain off the
leaves and throw them away. To the liquor add a pound of prunes.
Cover and place on the back of the stove, allowing to simmer until
half the liquor has boiled away. Add a pint of water and sweeten to
taste, preferably with brown sugar. The prunes should be eaten with
the evening meal. The number required must be learned from
experience. Begin with half a dozen, and increase or decrease the
number, as required. The syrup is an even stronger laxative than the
prunes.

THE KIDNEYS.--Any one may judge for herself whether or not the bowels
are doing their work satisfactorily, but not so with the kidneys. For
this purpose the urine must be examined by a physician. In spite of
this fact, considerable responsibility rests upon the prospective
mother, whose duty it is to collect the specimens properly--a detail
that is apt to be neglected. It is impossible to urge too strongly
the importance of saving, at regular intervals, all the urine passed
in twenty-four hours, of protecting it from decomposition, and of
sending a sample to the physician. The intervals may be longer at
first, for the kidneys have very little extra work to do until the
sixth month. Usually, therefore, it is a satisfactory plan to send a
sample for analysis the first of each month during the early half of
pregnancy; but during the latter half one should be sent the first
and the fifteenth of each month.

To estimate the exact amount of urine passed in twenty-four hours and
to protect it properly, in the first place, the vessel in which it
will be collected should be carefully scalded out. As a further
precaution against decomposition, add a teaspoonful of chloroform to