Science, folklore and ideology: studies in the life sciences in Ancient Greece

wet-nursing in England appears to be in the seventeenth century when the urban growth of London in particular presented mothers with similar problems regarding their infants. Evidence for bureaucratic intervention, however, is lacking in England. The conclusion of the author that economic pressure was the predominant cause in the rise and decline of wet-nursing is convincing. The sheer intensity of the business supports the theory that mothers, often poorly fed, sold their milk and were often ruthlessly exploited by middlemen and some female meneuses. It is to be hoped that this excellent book will encourage further research into the field of conflict between maternal instincts and economic necessity. Dorothy McLaren Luccombe, Somerset