He is of opinion that it should take the form of compulsory assurance, to which the worker, the employer, and the State alike contributed (Perruc, _Assistance aux Femmes Enceintes_, These de Paris, 1905).
It is probable that during the earlier months of pregnancy, work, if not excessively heavy and exhausting, has little or no bad effect; thus Bacchimont (_Documents pour servir a l'Histoire de la Puericulture Intra-uterine_, These de Paris, 1898) found that, while there was a great gain in the weight of children of mothers who had rested for three months, there was no corresponding gain in the children of those mothers who had rested for longer periods.

It is during the last three months that freedom, repose, the cessation of the obligatory routine of employment become necessary.

This is the opinion of Pinard, the chief authority on this matter.

Many, however, fearing that economic and industrial conditions render so long a period of rest too difficult of practical attainment, are, with Clappier and G.Newman, content to demand two months as a minimum; Salvat only asks for one month's rest before confinement, the woman, whether married or not, receiving a pecuniary indemnity during this period, with medical care and drugs free.

Ballantyne (_Manual of Antenatal Pathology: The Foetus_, p.