ABSTRACT
B i r t h is the greatest sudden alteration which the fundamental phenomena of life impose upon mankind. Irrespective of the physiological changes in circulation, nourishment, and tempera ture, etc., the environment of the child is basically altered within a few hours. He is transplanted out of the uniformly liquid contents of the womb undisturbed by stimuli into an adult world of limitless stimuli, diversified, intense, and con tinuously changing, where the most elementary physiological needs are no longer automatically gratified. Metabolism no longer takes place within the limits of the united organism, the mother-fœtus, but requires to be started from out side for the newly-developed independent organism-the child. Exchange of gases stops for a few minutes and must be set into operation by a new act of lung breathing, which thenceforth usually functions automatically, although under muscular control.
