Aëtius gives somewhat fuller directions. He says, the nurse ought not
to be younger than twenty, nor older than forty; should be free from
disease, and have breasts neither too small nor too large; for when the
breasts are too large, they contain more milk than the child can manage:
and part being retained spoils, and proves injurious to the child, and
even affects the health of the nurse; when too small, on the other
hand, they do not contain a sufficient supply of milk. Large nipples, he
remarks, hurt the gums, and impede deglutition; whereas, when too small,
they cannot be got hold of. The nurse, he says, should be chaste, sober,
cleanly, and cheerful. (iv, 4.)
The directions given by the other authorities, are very similar to our
author’s. See, in particular, Rhases (ad Mansor. iv, 30); Avicenna
(Cantic.); Averrhoes (in Cant. p. ii, tr. 1.) Avicenna says, the nurse
ought to be from twenty-five to thirty-five years old. Averrhoes says,
from twenty to thirty.
It appears to have been a general practice among the Romans, after they
became luxurious and effeminate, for the ladies of noblemen to consign
the care of their infants to wet nurses. Tacitus, in his elegant dialogue
‘de Oratoribus,’ inveighs against this practice. See also a spirited
declamation on this subject, by the philosopher, Phavorinus, in the
‘Noctes Atticæ’ of Aulus Gellius. (xii, 1.)