The ancients were not unmindful of infants and young children. In many of the early texts that have been handed down in more or less mutilated form, there are references to the hygiene of early life and accounts of diseases peculiar to the young. In the medical writings of the Egyptians, as in the Eber papyrus, in the Hindu books, in the Syriac "Book of Medicine," in the writings of Aetius, Paulus Aginetas and others, there are extracts of pediatric interest. Hippocrates did not neglect this subject, and Troĩtzki1 has made an interesting study of the passages relating to children.
But after all these and other writings have been considered, there is one early pediatric text that stands out in its clearness and accuracy. This is the writing of Soranus relating to the hygiene of infancy which forms a part of his περ[unk] γ[unk]ναικε[unk]ων. Perhaps the most useful text