It is wrong, therefore, to wake a young child in the morning. It should be allowed to sleep as long as it will, which will be until the wants of the system are satisfied, if it be not aroused by noise or light.

When after a few months the infant is awake a considerable portion of the day, it should be brought into the habit of taking its second sleep near the middle of the day, say from eleven to one o'clock, and again, from half an hour to an hour, about three o'clock. It should not be permitted a nap later than this in the afternoon, as it would be very apt to cause a disturbed night. Although some physicians recommend that the sleep during the day be discontinued after the infant has attained the age of fifteen months, the wisdom of such advice may well be doubted. As soon as the child begins to walk, not only are its movements very constant and active, but its mind is busily employed and its nervous system excited. It therefore thrives better if its day be divided into two by sleep for an hour or two.

Should the infant sleep alone?—We have mentioned the danger of being overlain to which it is exposed when in bed with its mother or nurse. On the other hand, it must be remembered that an infant keeps warm with difficulty even when well covered, and that contact with the mother's body is the best way of securing its own warmth. Hence, during the first months the child had better be allowed to sleep with its mother. How, then, can the risk of being suffocated, which is no imaginary one, be lessened? The following rules are those given by a physician of reputation, to prevent an infant from being accidentally overlain.

'Let the baby while asleep have plenty of room in the bed. Do not allow him to be too near, or, if this be unavoidable from the small size of the bed, let his face be turned to the opposite side. Let him lie fairly, either on his side or on his back. Be careful to ascertain that his mouth be not covered with the bed-clothes. Do not smother his face with clothes, as a plentiful supply of pure air is as necessary as when he is awake. Never let him lie low in the bed. Let there be no pillow near the one his head is resting on, lest he roll to it and bury his head in it. Remember a young child has neither the strength nor the sense to get out of danger; and if he unfortunately either turn on his face or bury his head in a pillow that is near, the chances are that he will be suffocated, more especially as these accidents usually occur at night, when the mother or the nurse is fast asleep. Never entrust him at night to a young, giddy, and thoughtless servant. A foolish mother sometimes goes to sleep while allowing her child to continue sucking. The unconscious babe, after a time, loses the nipple, and buries his head in the bed-clothes. She awakes in the morning, finding, to her horror, a corpse by her side! A mother ought therefore never to go to sleep until her child has ceased sucking.'

When a couple of months have elapsed, the child, if a healthy one, may sleep alone. What the child sleeps in is not a matter of great moment, provided it has a sufficiency of clothing, and be not exposed to currents of air. A large clothes-basket will serve all the purposes of a crib. The mistake is often made of burying the child under too heavy a mass of bed-clothes in a warm room when asleep. And this inconsistency is committed by the very mothers who scantily clad the child during the day in order to inure it to the cold. The great transition from its wrappings by night to those by day is injurious to the health and comfort of the infant.

'In arranging night coverings, the soft feather-bed is very often estimated as nothing; or, in other words, the same provision of blankets is considered indispensable, whether we lie upon a hard mattress or immersed in down. The mother, looking only to the covering laid over the child, forgets those on which it lies, although in reality the latter may be the warmer of the two. An infant deposited in a downy bed has at least two-thirds of its body in contact with the feathers, and may thus be perspiring at every pore, when, from its having only a single covering thrown over it, the mother may imagine it to be enjoying the restorative influence of agreeable slumber. In hot weather much mischief might be done by an oversight of this kind.'

It is of course essential to the health and comfort of the infant that its bed and bed-clothing be kept perfectly dry and sweet. They should frequently be taken out and exposed to the air.

A child should be accustomed early to sleep in a darkened room. Plutarch praises the women of Sparta for, among other things, teaching their children not to be afraid in the dark. He says they 'were so careful and expert, that without swaddling-bands their children were all straight and well proportioned; and they brought them up not to be afraid in the dark or of being alone, and never indulged them in crying, fretfulness, and ill-humour; upon which account Spartan nurses were often bought by people of other countries.'

Position in sleeping.—It has long been a popular opinion that the position of our bodies at night, with reference to the cardinal points of the compass, has some influence on the health. This belief has recently been corroborated by some observations made by a prominent physician, Dr. Henry Kennedy. In an essay on the 'Acute Affections of Children,' published in the Dublin Quarterly Journal of Medical Science, he states that for several years he has put in force in his practice a plan of treatment by means of the position of the patient, and often with very marked results. He asserts that, in order to ensure the soundest sleep, the head should lie to the north. Strange as this idea may at first sight appear, it has more in it than might be supposed. There are known to be great electrical currents always coursing in one direction around the globe. In the opinion of Dr. Kennedy there is no doubt that our nervous systems are in some mysterious way connected with this universal agent, as it may be called, electricity. He relates several cases of acute diseases in children, in which, by altering the position of the body so that the patient should lie from north to south instead of from east to west, quiet sleep was induced. This plan of invoking sleep is often successful; but not always so, for all are not equally susceptible. It applies likewise to adults. It is not so striking in its effects on the poorer as on the richer classes of society. This is what might be expected, for it cannot be doubted that the nervous system in the middle and upper ranks is always in a much more sensitive state than with their poorer brethren. It is worth noting, that even in healthy persons sleep will often be absent or of a broken kind, from the cause of which we are now speaking. It is very common to hear people saying they can never sleep in a strange bed. Although many causes may conspire to this, Dr. Kennedy cannot doubt that amongst these ought to be placed the one to which we are now drawing attention.

THE CLOTHING OF INFANTS AND YOUNG CHILDREN.

A fertile cause of disease and death is to be found in the negligence or ignorance displayed in regard to the dress of children. And it is not the poorly attired, but nearly always the fashionably robed child, which suffers the most. To parental vanity can be traced many a catarrh on the chest or the inflammation of the bowels which has resulted in death. Most mothers appear to be ignorant of the fact that children are exceedingly susceptible to the influence of cold. The returns of the Registrar-General of England show that a very cold week always greatly increases the mortality of the very young. While adults carefully protect themselves against every change of the weather, and against currents of air, children, who most need such protection, are too often neglected.

The warmth of the infant's body is best secured by that of the nurse, and by warm clothing. It is more effectually and healthfully provided for in this manner than by confining the child to a warm atmosphere. Young children should never be dressed decollete—in low necks and short sleeves. That fashion is a dangerous one which leaves the neck, shoulders, and arms uncovered. To this irrational custom may be traced a vast amount of the suffering and many of the deaths of early life; doubtless, also, in many cases it lays the foundation of consumption, which manifests itself a little later. But, it is said, the child will be 'hardened' by having its chest and limbs thus exposed. The surest and safest way to harden the child is to so care for it that it shall pass through its first months and years of life without any ailment. Every mother should see to it, that her charge is so clothed that every part of the body is effectually protected from dampness and cold. She can then best secure for it a hardened constitution by carrying it daily into the sunlight of the open air.

The material of the clothing should be such as will unite lightness with warmth. Flannel and calico are therefore to be preferred. At first, as the skin of the child is very delicate, a shirt of fine linen may be interposed between it and the flannel. But, after the first few months, the gentle friction of fine soft flannel next the skin is desirable, as it stimulates the circulation of the blood on the surface of the body, and promotes health. Flannel under-clothing should be continued all the year, during the summer months a very light texture being used. When the dress of the child is shortened, care must be taken that the feet are well covered with soft stockings of cotton or woollen (which in winter should extend up above the knees), and with light leather shoes.

The night-dress, at least during cold weather, is best made of flannel, thin or thick according to the climate. It has been recommended that, after the child is somewhat advanced, the night-clothes be constructed in the form of night-pants, so that it may not be exposed if the bed-clothing be thrown off. Every article of dress worn during the day ought to be removed at night.

The rule in regard to the quantity of clothing is, that it should be in sufficient amount to preserve due warmth. It must therefore be regulated by the season of the year and the state of the weather. We have mentioned the fatal practice of leaving bare at all seasons of the year the upper part of the chest and arms of the little one, while the rest of the body is warmly clad. We can scarcely speak too emphatically nor too often of the danger to which the mother thus exposes that life, which it is her duty to wisely and safely conduct through the period of dependent infancy and childhood. It is of course possible for the child to be too closely enveloped, and the skin thus rendered highly susceptible to the impressions of cold. The prevalent error, however, at the present time, is in the direction of too scanty clothing.

The make of the dress should be loose and easy, so as to permit of the free movement of all portions of the body; it should be cut high in the neck, and with sleeves to the wrists; its construction should be simple, so that it may be quickly put off and on; and the fastenings employed should, as far as possible, be tapes, not pins. In the clothing of children the laws of hygiene, and not the code of fashion, should direct the shape and style.

THE BATHING OF INFANTS AND YOUNG CHILDREN.

Many advantages attach to the daily use of the bath for infants. It secures cleanliness, strengthens the nervous system, and preserves from colds and coughs.

We have already endeavoured to impress upon the mind of the reader the great susceptibility to cold which exists in early life. On this account the water for the bath should be warm (96 deg. or 98 deg.) for the first few weeks of infancy, especially during the winter season. Gradually the temperature may be reduced to that of the apartment, never to actual coldness. It is as foolish and hazardous to attempt to 'harden' infants by plunging them into cold water, as it is by carrying them with uncovered necks, chests, and limbs into the keen and damp air. Knowledge of these facts would bring safety to many children who now suffer, because of the dangerous ignorance of mothers in regard to the susceptibility of the infant organisation.

An infant should be immersed in its tub every morning. Besides the regular morning bath, it is often advisable to put the child for a few minutes in tepid water in the evening. This will quiet the nervous system, and induce sleep. The bath should not be too long a one, for fear of exciting perspiration; nor, for the same reason, should the water be too warm. If the child be of a delicate constitution, the evening bath will be especially useful, and can be made more so by the addition of two table-spoonfuls of salt to the water necessary for the bath.

The time immediately after nursing or feeding is not proper for bathing. An hour or two after a meal should be allowed to elapse. Neither should a bath ever be given in a cold room. Even in a warm atmosphere, care should be taken, both after and during the ablution, that the wet skin of the infant be not exposed to the air. Its body should be completely immersed; it should not be held up out of the water, nor, if it be old enough, allowed to stand or sit in the tub. It is well also to have a warm blanket in which to receive the child as it comes dripping from the bath. It should be wrapped up in this for a few minutes, to absorb a part of the moisture. Then a portion of the body should be uncovered at a time, and dried before exposing the rest.

Drying the skin.—For this purpose a piece of soft flannel will be found serviceable. By gently rubbing the surface of the body with it the skin will be warmed and stimulated, and the resulting glow will be as agreeable to the child as is that in the adult which follows the Turkish bath. The actual grooming of the human body is very useful to improve the health of scrofulous children.

At first from three to five minutes will be a sufficiently long immersion. In a little while, however, this period may be lengthened, all the precautions mentioned against injurious exposure being observed.

The lukewarm daily bath, taken either in the morning or evening, ought to be continued until at least the age of four years. If, after the fourth or fifth year, ablutions of the entire body be resorted to only every second or third day, the practice should be commenced of sponging the chest every morning with cold, or alternately with cold and hot water, followed by brisk frictions.

Soap is to be used but sparingly in the bath of young children. It must be of the blandest and purest quality. Various eruptions are caused by the employment of impure soaps, and even by the excessive application of the best kind.

In illustration of the importance of our present subject, we may state that Dr. Hufeland, to whose admirable work on the art of prolonging life we have before alluded, lays down, as one of the means which lengthen life, the care of the skin. He dwells upon the benefit of paying such attention to it from infancy that it may be kept in a lively, active, and useful condition.

The power of the bath to ward off disease in childhood is not sufficiently appreciated by parents. Properly managed, it soothes, but never increases, any internal irritation which may exist, and often does away with the necessity of resorting to the administration of drugs. If due attention were paid to the condition of the skin in early life, many of the most common ailments of childhood would be averted. The daily employment of the bath, and scrupulous attention to cleanliness of the person and clothing, would materially lessen the demand both for purgative medicines and for soothing syrups.

One word more in regard to the washing of the infant. The mother herself, if she be in health, should always perform this office, and not entrust it to the child's nurse. Plutarch awards high praise to Cato the censor, for his invariable custom of being present when his child was washed. Every mother, at least, would do well to follow the example of this old Roman. It will give her the opportunity to detect many incipient affections which would for a long while escape her attention if she saw the child only when dressed. The mother will also take pains to engage the mind of the little one, and render the bath a source of amusement to it.

After the fourth or fifth year, two or three baths a week during the colder seasons of the year will be sufficient to keep the skin clean, and properly active. During the summer, however, a daily bath is of great advantage to children, and ought not to be neglected.

Swimming is very useful and very invigorating to the health of both sexes. It is desirable that children be taught this art.

The importance of the culture of the skin to the well-being of infancy and childhood cannot be brought too prominently to the notice of all mothers. We have therefore endeavoured to give some useful hints in regard both to the preservation of its cleanliness, and to the prevention, by means of garments and warming, of its exposure to too great changes of temperature.

By proper attention to the skin in the manner pointed out, many of the eruptions with which children are afflicted might be prevented. The appearance of these the mother ought to regard as a great calamity, for they are often difficult of cure, and render the child an object of disgust. She ought also to look upon them as the mischievous consequences of the neglect of those laws of health which it is her duty to learn and observe.

AIR AND VENTILATION IN CHILDHOOD.

Fresh air is necessary for the robust development of infancy and childhood. Infants born in the summer season should be carried out daily when the weather is pleasant, from the second or third day after birth. Those born in the winter should be kept in the house for two or three months before being introduced to the outer world on some sunny noonday. Older children can scarcely pass too much time in the open air.

A change in the dress must, of course, be made before exposing the child to the outdoor air. The head should be covered, and the chest and limbs well protected from the cold.

As a rule, a child ought to be carried out, or permitted, when old enough, to walk out, at least once every pleasant day during the year. The time of the day is to be varied with the season. In the winter, the middle of the day is to be chosen; in summer, the early portion of the forenoon, a few hours after sunrise.

Children show very quickly, even when in ill-health, the beneficial results of a ride or walk. It quiets the irritability to which they are liable, more effectually than any other procedure. For a delicate child, or one recovering from sickness, fresh air and sunshine are the best tonics which can be administered. A fretful, peevish child will soon learn to look forward to its daily jaunt on the street or road, and will be quieted by it for the rest of the day.

At all times of the year regard must be had to the state of the weather. The infant ought never to be taken out on a wet day. Exposure to a damp atmosphere is one of the most powerful causes of catarrh on the chest and inflammation of the lungs, to which young children are so subject. A very high wind, even though the day be bright and dry, is injurious to a young infant, as it has been known to suspend its breathing for a time, which accident might, if not at once observed, bring about a fatal result.

Besides fresh air, light is an indispensable requisite to the health of children. Nothing can compensate for the absence of its beneficial effects. It is to be remembered, however, that during the first week or two the eyes of the new-born babe are not strong enough to bear the full glare of light. The first eight days of its existence should be spent in a half-darkened room. Gradually the apartment may be brightened, until finally, after about two weeks, the young eyes become entirely accustomed to the light, and may be exposed to it without injury. A neglect of this precaution is one of the most common causes of the bad inflammation of the eyes so frequently met with among young infants. After the sight has become quite strong, a bright room will strengthen the eyes, not weaken them; for light is the natural stimulant of the eye, as exercise is of the muscles, or food of the stomach.

Scrofulous diseases are the heritage of those children who are deprived of a plentiful supply of pure air and light. A distinguished writer upon the laws of health ascribes to the careful avoidance of the salutary influence of air and light by so many young girls, who are fearful of walking out while the sun is powerful, much of their sickly appearance, the loss of consistency of their bones, and their being able to afford but a deformed temple to the immortal soul.

Humboldt states that, during a five years' residence in South America, he never saw any national deformity amongst the men or women belonging to the Carif, Muyscas, Indian, Mexican, or Peruvian races. If parents in our own country were to accustom their daughters from an early age to daily exercise in the open air and sunlight, there would be fewer weak backs requiring the support of apparatus from the surgical-instrument maker, and less pallor in lips and cheeks to be remedied by iron from the shop of the apothecary.

EXERCISE IN CHILDHOOD.

The first exercise which a child obtains, is had of course in its nurse's arms. Are there any directions, then, to be noticed in regard to the manner of carrying an infant?—Dr. Eberle gives the following useful advice upon this subject:—'The spine and its muscles seldom acquire sufficient strength and firmness before the end of the third month to enable the child to support its body in an upright position without inconvenience or risk of injury. Until this power is manifestly acquired, the infant should not be carried or suffered to sit with its body erect, without supporting it in such a manner as to lighten the pressure made on the spine, and aid it in maintaining the upright posture of its head and trunk; therefore, at first (a few days after birth), the infant should be taken from its cradle or bed two or three times daily and laid on its back upon a pillow, and carried gently about the chamber. After the third or fourth week, the child may be carried in a reclining posture on the arms of a careful nurse, in such a manner as to afford entire support both to body and head. This may be done by reclining the infant upon the forearm, the hand embracing the upper and posterior part of the thighs, whilst its body and head are supported by resting against the breast and arm of the nurse. When held in this way, it may be gently moved from side to side, or up and down, while it is carefully carried through a well-ventilated room.'

After the child is three months old, it will probably have become strong enough to maintain itself in a sitting position. It may then be carried about in this upright posture, with the spine and head carefully supported by the nurse, which aid ought not to be withdrawn until the age of six or seven months.

'In lifting young children,' as has been well observed by Dr. Barlow, 'the nurse should be very careful never to lay hold of them by the arms, as is sometimes thoughtlessly done; but always to place the hands, one on each side of the chest, immediately below the armpits. In infancy the sockets of the joints are so shallow, and the bones so feebly bound down and connected with each other, that dislocation and even fracture of the collar-bone may easily be produced by neglecting this rule. For the same reason, it is a bad custom to support a child by one or even by both arms, when he makes his first attempt to walk. The grand aim which the child has in view, is to preserve his equilibrium. If he is partially supported by one arm, the body inclines to one side, and the attitude is rendered most unfavorable to the preservation of his natural balance; and consequently, the moment the support is in the least relaxed, the child falls over and is caught up with a jerk. Even when held by both arms, the attitude is unnatural and unfavorable to the speedy attainment of the object. To assist the child, we ought to place one hand on each side of the chest in such a way as to give the slightest possible support, and to be ready instantly to give more if he lose his balance. When this plan is followed, all the attitudes and efforts of the child are in a natural direction; and success is attained not only sooner, but more gracefully, than by any ill-judged support given to one side.

'There is one very common mode of exercising infants, which we think deserves particular notice: we mean the practice of hoisting or raising them aloft in the air. This practice is of such venerable antiquity, and so universal, that it would be vain to impugn it. The pleasure, too, which most children evince under it, seems to show that it cannot be so objectionable as a cursory observer would be disposed to consider it. Still there are hazards which ought not to be overlooked. The risk of accident is one of some amount: children have slipped from the hands, and sustained serious injury. Some people are so energetic as to throw up children and catch them in descending. This rashness there can be no hesitation in reprobating; for, however confident the person may be of not missing his hold, there must ever be risks of injury from the concussion suffered in the descent, and even from the firmness of the grasp necessary for recovering and maintaining the hold. The motion of the body, too, has a direct tendency to induce vertigo; and when the liability of the infant brain to congestion and its consequences is considered, when the frequency of hydrocephalus in infants is borne in mind, an exercise which impels blood to the brain will not be regarded as wholly insignificant. There is one more objection which seems not to have attracted attention. The hold taken of the child in the act of hoisting him is by the hand grasping the chest. The fingers and thumb, placed on each side of the breast-bone, compress the ribs; and any one with the hand so placed will at once perceive that if the pressure were strong, and the resistance from the elasticity of the ribs weak, the impression on the chest resulting would correspond exactly with the deformity named chicken-breast. That any force is ever used capable of inducing speedily such a change, is in the highest degree improbable; but that reiterated pressure of this kind, however slight, would in a weakly child have power to impress and distort the chest, few, we imagine, will doubt.'

LEARNING TO WALK.

When two or three months old, the infant may be placed on a soft mattress upon the floor or on the carpet. He can then toss his limbs about without danger, and develope the powers of his muscular system.

'The best mode of teaching a child how to walk,' says Dr. Bull, 'is to let it teach itself; and this it will do readily enough. It will first learn to crawl: this exercises every muscle in the body, does not fatigue the child, throws no weight upon the bones, but imparts vigor and strength, and is thus highly useful. After a while, having the power, it will wish to do more. It will endeavor to lift itself upon its feet by the aid of a chair; and though it fail again and again in its attempts, it will still persevere until it accomplish it. By this, it learns first to raise itself from the floor; and secondly, to stand, but not without keeping hold of the object on which it has seized. Next it will balance itself without holding, and will proudly and laughingly show that it can stand alone. Fearful, however, as yet of moving its limbs without support, it will seize a chair or anything else near it, when it will dare to advance as far as the limits of its support will permit. This little adventure will be repeated day after day with increased exultation; when, after numerous trials, he will feel confident of his power to balance himself, and he will run alone. Now time is required for this gradual self-teaching, during which the muscles and bones become strengthened; and when at last called upon to sustain the weight of the body, are fully capable of doing so.'

It is not merely want of strength which prevents an infant from walking at first. The natural shape of the legs renders it impossible. The feet are turned in so that the inner sides look upwards. When placed upon its feet, therefore, the soles will not rest upon the ground. In a short time the position of the feet changes, and they become fitted for the purposes of support and locomotion. When he begins to walk, the child should have shoes with tolerably broad soles, which ought to be at least half an inch longer than the foot.

The first efforts of the little one to support and propel itself are to be carefully watched, but not unnecessarily interfered with; neither frightened by expressions of fear, nor rendered timid by too frequent warnings.

ADVANTAGES OF GAMES AND PLAYS.

The first seven years of life should be one grand holiday for all sports and amusements which will bring into play the muscles, and divert at the same time the mind. Time cannot be more usefully employed than in thus laying the foundation of health, upon which alone can rest the physical, mental, and moral well-being of after-life.

No greater mistake can be made by parents than to deprive the young of the innocent pleasures of childhood. Yet there are persons occasionally met with who think it their duty to check the natural lightness and gaiety of heart of their children for fear that they shall become too fond of pleasure. In this way great harm is done to both mind and body, and the very fault created which it is desired to avoid.

The wise parent sees in the games and plays of childhood not only necessary recreation and exercise, but a valuable means of education—of moral, mental, and physical training. He also seeks to impress early upon the young mind that play is most enjoyed when it has been earned by work, and that pleasure flies from those who continually pursue it.

The faculties of memory and attention can be called upon and developed by proper games in a most satisfactory manner. These exercises are all the more effective because the pleasure conceals, as it were, the mental labor, and the intellectual efforts are made, in a sense, unconsciously, though none the less efficiently.

Certain plays form a valuable means of educating the eyes and other senses. Such, for instance, are the toys which represent objects of natural history or of different trades and arts; the pictures which teach through the quick eye of the child what no dry descriptions could ever convey; and the games which develope closeness of observation and habits of order. A genial French physician has happily said, 'Every time I see a toy based on the reproduction of a scientific fact or of an industrial process, and which pleases while it enlightens, I feel a sentiment of real gratitude to him who has designed it.'

We are glad to see that each year more and more attention is being paid to the utilization, as it were, of the games of infancy. Although all education can never be made a play, all play can be made an effective education. Do not therefore, reader, restrict the games of your children, but direct them; do not render them less amusing, but seek to make them more instructive.

The schooling afforded by instructive plays should be the only schooling of the first seven years of life. Late springs produce the most abundant harvests in the mind as in the field. Precocious and delicate children especially should be kept from a too early and close application to books. By means of healthful and instructive games and sports; by visits to workshops and factories where familiar objects are made; and by a cultivation of the sense of the beautiful in nature and art, more can be done towards securing a sound mind in a sound body than by the easier and more common method of sending the child to school almost as soon as it can walk.

IMPORTANCE OF TEACHING CHILDREN HYGIENIC HABITS.

The force of habits should never be lost sight of by those having the charge of children. They constitute a power of which parents should early avail themselves. J. J. Rousseau has said, 'The only habit which one ought to permit the child, is of not contracting any.' But this is impossible and undesirable. When it is remembered that a good habit is just as hard to break as a bad one, the importance of seeking from the very cradle to frame good habits is evident. It is easy to create, but difficult to reform. What then are some of the principal hygienic habits which it is desirable to teach children?

First we will mention, a liking for proper food at regular times. The indigestion, or weakness of digestion, from which many children suffer, is in some cases hereditary or the result of feeble health. But most frequently it is the effect of bad management. The giving to the child of pastry and cakes at meals instead of simple and nutritious food, the encouragement of capriciousness of appetite instead of teaching it to like everything that is healthful, and the neglect to inculcate the habit of eating at regular hours, these are the principal causes of many cases of diarrhoea, vomitings, weak appetite, colicky pains, and indigestion among children.

The daily use of at least a sponge-bath of the entire person is an excellent habit. Cold water should be employed after the fifth or sixth year. This simple practice of a cold sponge-bath every morning, if more generally taught children, would avert many a cold and rheumatic attack in after life.

The habit of quenching the thirst with only simple drinks, milk and water, should be early and thoroughly formed. No American mother would think of giving spirits to her child, excepting under medical advice; but many permit almost from infancy the use of tea and coffee. These drinks are not only unnecessary in childhood, but to a certain extent injurious. They excite the nervous system and disorder the digestion. Before the age of puberty, neither tea nor coffee should be allowed.

ON THE TRAINING OF THE SPECIAL SENSES.

The special senses, sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, have been called the windows of the soul, by which it observes what passes without. The most noble and intellectual of these are the sight and hearing. Neither of them receives the attention at the hands of parents and educators which it should. Indeed, the Indians who yet inhabit our western plains, have better eyes and ears than we. The reason of this is evident. The savage is obliged to make other use of his eyes than to dreamily admire the beautiful landscape, and other use of his ears than to listen to the singing of birds and the murmuring of wind and stream. These senses are the defenders of his life. He depends upon them for food, clothing, and protection against his enemies. Hence, urged by necessity, he trains them from infancy, and brings them to a perfection which astonishes us. It will be said, however, that we in our civilized life, have no need of any such acuteness of sense. True, but we cannot avoid the consciousness that our organs of sight and hearing do not afford us the service they ought, and that they commence to fail us too early. The remedy is to be sought in the training of the special senses in early life. These senses, which are the first of our faculties to form and develope, should be the first to be educated; yet, as has been well said, they are nearly the only ones which are forgotten, or at least they are the most neglected.

The education of a sense has been compared to the education of a child,—it has its physical, its intellectual, and its moral side. It is necessary to maintain the organ in a condition of health in order that it may perform its work well; this is the physical education of the sense. The mind must learn to properly elaborate the impressions thus conveyed to it, this is the intellectual education of the sense. Finally, in the service of morality and justice, these impressions ought to be turned to the advantage of the good and the beautiful, this is the moral education of the sense. The subject of the training of the special senses is therefore, when properly viewed, a serious and most important one. It might well demand more attention at our hands than we have space to give it here. We will make our remarks as concise and practical as possible commencing first with

THE TRAINING OF THE SENSE OF SIGHT.

A recent French writer on the hygiene of the sight has brought forward striking evidence in support of his statement, that in our time the sense of sight is growing markedly weaker. The number of the near-sighted is augmenting, as is also the number of those who become 'far-sighted' before old age. Cases of debility and disease of the eyes seem to be multiplying at a rate which should awaken general attention to this matter. The causes are to be found in the neglect, often the hurtful management, of the eyesight of children; in the influence of improperly regulating artificial light; and in the injury done by bad printer's ink and paper.

In the education of the child's eyesight, acuteness of vision is one of the first objects to be sought for. That this is largely a matter of training is apparent from the fact that persons in certain professions can readily distinguish objects too small or too distant for ordinary eyes. Children brought up in the country or at the sea-side, have a power of vision unknown to city children, with their limited range of observation. But it is not only necessary that the eyes should be able to make out the forms of distant or small objects, but that they should be quick to detect shades of color and delicacies of outline. The child should be stimulated and encouraged to make efforts in this direction. Here, also, there is room for the skill of the intelligent toy-maker, for toys can be made very useful educators.

One of the forms of sensorial memory which it is most desirable to develope is that of objects seen, that is to say, the fixing in the thoughts, to be brought up before the mind's eye when wanted, the recollection of visual impressions. This embraces the memory of forms, of dimensions, of the relations between various objects and between different parts of the same object, and of colors. When applied to places it is what is known as local memory, applied to the human face, it is the memory of physiognomy; applied to objects, it is graphic or descriptive memory; applied to colors, it is chromatic memory.

Local memory is sometimes developed to an extraordinary degree. It is only necessary for some persons to have once traversed a locality, a street, a city, in order to preserve of it a most minute and vivid recollection. This topographical memory is enjoyed by a number of the inferior animals; the elephant, the dog, and the horse, for instance, are well-known as being capable of noticing a road taken and of returning by it, of recognising readily a place once seen, and of showing a tendency to stop of their own accord at places where they have been arrested or kept. This local memory, useful as it is to every one, is necessary to the painter who draws upon it for the elements of his artistic creations.

The faculty of recollecting faces is a peculiar one, and possessed by different persons in vastly different degrees. There are those who recognise invariably every face they have once seen, and who by a simple effort can at any time recall with the utmost distinctness the features of the absent. On the other hand, there are those so wanting in this special form of memory that they are constantly exposed to serious social inconveniences, and, for fear of failing in politeness, often salute perfect strangers. The ancient Greeks possessed to an extraordinary degree the power of seizing and retaining types of face and form; it is to this, doubtless, that they owe, to a great extent, their unapproached excellence in sculpture and painting.

Graphic or descriptive memory is that which photographs, as it were, upon the brain the visual impressions that objects have made upon the retina, in such a manner that the thought can reconstruct them ideally. This, in particular, is the form of memory required by designers of all kinds, and, like the other forms of visual memory, is susceptible of education. The child is first taught to copy with his pencil and produce exact imitations of the objects about him. Then, little by little, he is to be taught in closing his eyes to reconstruct mentally the contours of objects, at first simple, then more complicated, and finally to penetrate into their details and give to the fictitious mental image all the relief of reality. This exercise not merely trains the child in correct observation, but quickly leads to the conquest of descriptive memory.

Chromatic memory, or the memory of colors, is a form of visual memory different from those we have enumerated. It is more difficult, perhaps, and technical than the others. The attention of the child should early be directed to the colors of natural and artificial objects, and he should be encouraged to imitate them.

But it is not our intention to go further into this important subject, the education of the sense of sight. Our space will not permit it. By these few elementary remarks, we have merely wished to remind parents that they can do much towards the development of this important faculty in their children.

TO PREVENT NEAR-SIGHTEDNESS.

Near-sightedness is, as we have said, greatly increasing. In Germany, this is particularly the case, and has led there to a careful study of the subject within the last few years.

Near-sightedness, like most of the disorders of the eyesight, is to be traced to causes which act during childhood, and which causes are all entirely preventable. Imperfect lighting of rooms in which children study or play is one of the chief among these preventable causes. When the windows are improperly constructed or placed, or when the artificial light is faulty in school-rooms, the book is naturally brought close to the eyes in order that it may be more easily read. The consequence of this is either that near-sightedness is quickly produced, or that the eyes soon become fatigued and permanently weakened. No less injurious is the effort to read 'between the lights' or before the fire. School-books with too small type, and school-desks which are too low or too far from the seats, are the direct cause of much mischief to many young eyes. Let parents, therefore, see to it that the school-rooms to which they send their children are clearly and properly lighted, that the books which they study are printed in a bold, clear type, and that no reading or study is permitted by a flickering or a dim light, nor before a desk or table which forbids a tolerably erect position of the head and shoulders.

THE EDUCATION OF THE SENSE OF HEARING.

The education of this sense is second only in importance to that of the sight. First of all, attention should be directed to the preservation of the health of the organ.

Many cases of deafness among children originate in long standing diseases of the nose and throat; others in obstinate skin affections; while not a few are caused by a want of cleanliness, which permits of the accumulation of wax in the passage of the ear.

The sensibility of the nerve which conveys impressions of sound from the ear to the brain can be greatly increased by exercise and training, when the organ is in a condition of health. It can be so highly developed that the ear will readily catch very feeble sounds.

A learned physician has recently pointed out with some force that sufficient attention is not paid to the conformation of the pavilion of the ear. Upon this conformation much of the delicacy of hearing depends. The hats which children wear, usually compress and deform the pavilion. Physiologists have shown that it ought to make an angle of about thirty degrees with the skull, in order to best collect sonorous vibrations. This angle is very much diminished by our artificial head-dresses, and to the detriment of acuteness of hearing.

Can education do much for the improvement of hearing? Everyday experience answers in the affirmative. There is an exercise which cannot be too highly commended to parents, which consists in inducing in play their children, even those very young, to detect from as far as they can faint and fading sounds. It is a game which amuses them much, and it is a pleasing sight to see the rivalry of several young children, each of whom with head bent forward, is earnestly trying to distinguish a receding sound longer than its fellows. A little ingenuity will readily devise amusing and useful plays with this object in view.

The training of the remaining special senses is of comparatively minor importance to that of those we have been considering, and need not detain us. We will only remind the reader of the wonderful adroitness and delicacy of touch possessed by the blind as an example of what this sense is capable of when educated.



HOME MANAGEMENT OF SOME COMMON DISEASES OF CHILDREN.

CROUP.

Although this disease is said to be more severe in Europe than in our own country, and more frequent in our northern than in our southern States, most American mothers, in all parts of the country, know and dread its alarming and often fatal attacks. It is a disease of childhood, but not of early infancy, being rarely met with under the first or after the tenth year of life.

Children who have once had this affection are very liable to another attack upon exposure to any of the causes which excite it. It has been noticed also that croup runs in certain families, and not unfrequently, children of a ruddy complexion and of a fleshy and apparently vigorous appearance are those most subject to it.

Among the causes of croup, which should be specially guarded against by mothers of croupy children, are checking of the perspiration, sudden alterations in the dress, change of climate, and even in some cases a residence at the sea-side. Croup also often follows measles, and at times is epidemic.

The unmistakable symptoms of croup quickly show themselves at the outset of the disease. Sometimes a sore throat, a short, dry cough, and a slight harshness of breathing, usher in the affection; in other instances, that which first attracts attention is hoarseness in the cry or tone of the voice, attended with, or quickly followed by, feverishness, thirst, and dulness, or fretfulness; while in another class of cases the disease suddenly developes itself without any noticeable premonitory signs. In all these cases the characteristic symptoms of the disease commonly make their appearance at night. The child's sleep is disturbed by a peculiar clanging cough, which, when once heard, will ever afterwards be remembered and easily recognised. The skin becomes hot and dry, the breathing difficult, the cough more frequent, and the child is soon awakened, frightened, and struggling for breath. With flushed face and staring eyes, the little sufferer starts up, grasping the throat with the hand as if seeking to remove some encircling pressure which is choking it. Each drawing in of the breath is attended with a hissing sound, the redness of the face and neck increases, and speech becomes impossible. This attack may pass off in a few minutes, or be prolonged, with varying degrees of intensity, for an hour. Almost invariably, however, it is followed by a period of relief, in some instances so complete as to deceive the anxious relatives into the belief that the disease is over and the child safe. This false confidence is, unfortunately, generally soon rudely dissipated by a return of the attack in all its first violence.

The disease attains its height by the end of the second, or at the latest the close of the third day. The fever is now the hottest, the tongue becomes white, the face and forehead red and covered with perspiration, the lips at times purple, the veins of the neck and temples distended, the countenance distressed, and the voice whispered or suppressed. The cough is now also most frequent and noisy; its peculiar sound has been compared to that made by a fowl when caught in the hand. The thirst is great, but swallowing difficult. The child often inserts its fingers in the mouth as if trying to clutch something which closes the air passages. These symptoms may either increase to the rapid exhaustion of the patient or take a favorable turn. One of the first evidences of the latter is a change in the character of the cough, which, although it may not lessen in force or frequency, becomes lower in tone, less dry, and finally moist.

The treatment should be most prompt, active, and energetic. Few diseases require, for the safety of the patient, such quick and efficient aid at the outset. Prepare at once sufficient hot water for a bath, and make a fire in the room. In the meanwhile, immerse the child's arms in some hot water, and apply cloths, wrung thoroughly dry from it, to the throat. Give the child a tea-spoonful of powdered alum in a little syrup, molasses and water, or honey. Repeat the dose in a quarter of an hour if full vomiting be not excited by the first tea-spoonful. So soon as the warm bath is ready (the water should have the temperature of 98 deg. Fahrenheit), place the child in it, and keep up the heat of the bath by the occasional addition of hot water. Have hot towels in readiness to dry the skin completely, and a warm blanket in which to wrap the patient. See that the temperature of the room is raised to about 66 deg. Fahrenheit, and that it does not fall below this. Moisten the air by putting a kettle of boiling water on the fire and diffusing the steam from it by means of a long roll of paper fixed to the spout.

The warm bath and the emetic will usually relieve the breathing; but no matter how complete this relief may appear to be, nor how quietly the little one may sleep, it must be carefully watched all night, so that the first return of unfavorable symptoms may be promptly treated. In all instances also, however favorably the case may progress, the patient must be confined to bed for several days, and the temperature of the room, and the moisture of the air, carefully maintained, as directed for the first treatment of the attack. If the child has had previous attacks, or if the weather be cold and inclement, it should be kept in this warm moist atmosphere for two weeks. Were these precautions known and heeded we should have to lament fewer fatal cases of croup.

Of course in this, as in all other serious diseases, skilled medical advice should be secured as quickly as possible. We have given the above directions, not only for those so situated that they cannot secure medical aid, but also for all others, in order that no valuable time may be lost in commencing the treatment, that the efforts of the physician may be intelligently seconded and carried out, and that the importance of promptness at the outset, and prolonged care during convalescence, maybe impressed upon every mother who consults these pages.

HEAD COLDS.

Young infants are very liable to take cold when being washed, or carried about the house into rooms and passages of different temperatures. This cold often shows itself by sneezing and "snuffles" in the nose. In a short time a discharge from the nostrils appears, the eyes become watery, and the voice sounds "through the nose." The skin is hotter than natural, and the infant cross. If the child be able to talk, it will complain of headache, some soreness in the limbs and back, and of a burning, uncomfortable feeling in the nose. These symptoms last for three or four days, when in mild ordinary cases they begin to disappear. After one or more attacks of this kind the child is very liable to a return on every slight exposure to cold.

The treatment required in these cases is mild and simple, but must not be neglected. A warm bath should be taken at bed-time for a number of days; the patient should be kept in an even temperature and out of draughts. The best relief to the distress in the nose, from which the child suffers, is afforded by dipping a hollow sponge in hot water, squeezing it nearly dry, and applying it over the nose and forehead. The common domestic practice of greasing the nose is also beneficial. The wearing of a flannel cap until the disease is cured is a remedy strongly recommended by the late Dr. Meigs. A flannel cap will also often prevent the recurrence of the complaint in those very subject to it.

FITS.

Infants and young children are much more liable to fits and convulsions than adults. The causes which excite them are numerous, and should be generally known, that they may be as far as possible avoided.

Many infants are born with a tendency to fits. The children of feeble parents, or of those who have married very early or very late in life, are apt to be afflicted with a predisposition to them. Great fright or severe shock received by the mother during the latter months of her pregnancy may give rise to convulsions in the child soon after birth.

Pale, badly nourished, soft, flabby children, and those of a sensitive, nervous temperament, are more liable to fits than those who are ruddy and hardy. Hence we find convulsions more common and fatal among the poor and miserable than among the 'well-to-do' and comfortable. City children are more subject to the complaint than the country born and bred.

Fits are very frequent among infants while teething. In such cases lancing the gum secures immediate relief. Another cause of fits, and one which every mother should know, is the giving of meat to the child before its teeth are cut. In such cases the attack is sudden, and often very severe. Children most affected in this way by animal food are those with water on the brain, and those of a very delicate constitution. The juice or broth of meat is in some such instances sufficient to produce fits. The remedy consists in the institution of a milk diet. In all doubtful cases avoid a meat diet in any form, and watch the result.

Strong mental emotions, such as fright, shame, or anger, may cause a fit in a child. A nurse in England threatened to throw a child out of the window if he did not stop crying; the little boy fell at once into convulsions, from which he died.

Among other known causes of fits are confinement to heated, badly ventilated rooms, tight bandaging, and sudden exposure to severe cold or heat.

In treating of the influence of the mother's mind over the nursing child (p. 251), we mentioned a number of instances of children thrown into convulsions by changes in the quality of the milk caused by the mental emotion of the mother. The importance of the subject induces us to quote here the corroborating remarks of Dr. Churchill, in the last edition of his standard work on diseases of children. 'During the first year of life, convulsions may not unfrequently be traced to the milk of the mother or nurse disagreeing with the infant, or having been disordered temporarily by fright, passion, or suffering. Soemmering mentions a curious case of a woman whose milk agreed with her own child, but caused convulsions in all others. M. Guersant relates the instance of a woman deserted by her husband, and in her distress her infant had an attack each time it took the breast. Dr. Underwood mentions a mother who nursed her child immediately after witnessing a sudden death; the child was attacked by convulsions, after which it remained comatose for thirty-six hours, but ultimately recovered. Numerous cases are on record of convulsions supervening upon violent passion in the nurse. I have witnessed more than one case resulting from the mother suckling her child during a time of severe affliction and distress.'

We deem it useless to describe a fit. Almost every one has seen it, and at once recognises it. We shall proceed, therefore, at once to the treatment.

When a child is attacked with a fit the dress should be loosened, all tight bandages and pins removed, and plenty of fresh air admitted into the room. It should not be held upright in the arms, but placed in a lying position. A warm bath (that most useful remedy in so many of the ailments of children) should be speedily prepared, and the child immersed for a few minutes, then removed, dried, and wrapped in a blanket. A hot mustard foot-bath is also of service. The cause of the fit should be at once sought, for upon it will of course depend to a great extent the treatment required. If the child be teething, and the gums be found to be red and swollen, they should be lanced. If the child has eaten too much, or of improper food, an emetic should be given. A little mustard and salt mixed in a tumbler of warm water affords a ready, safe, and effectual emetic.

The dashing of cold water upon the face will sometimes promptly end the fit. The application of powdered ice in a bladder, or of cold water cloths to the head, is of service where the face is much flushed and the movements very violent.

Children subject to fits should live in a well warmed house. By this we do not mean that the rooms and hall ways should be kept hot, still less that they should be close and improperly ventilated. The temperature of the bed-room should not be lower than 70 degrees, and great care should be taken during cold weather to avoid chilling the child outdoors.

Rubbing of the child's body once a day with good salad oil is an excellent and readily applied remedy in these cases. The little patients do not ordinarily object to it. As it is a procedure calculated to improve the general health, we strongly recommend every mother whose child has frequent fits, to try it.

The dress of the child should be warm, loose, and comfortable. Perfect quietness is important for a time after attacks. Do not excite the child by seeking to amuse it. Let it sleep as much as it will.

In those cases in which a fit has been followed by weakness of the limbs, medical assistance will of course be procured. As a rule, recovery in such instances is slow, but, when properly directed, perfect. Change of scene, country air, and exercise, friction of the body with a flesh-brush or salt towel, salt water baths, and electricity, are all valuable agents towards cure.

NOSE-BLEED.

Bleeding from the nose may be produced by a blow or by over-exercise of the child at play. In either case the trouble is usually a trifling one. Some children, however, are liable to attacks of nose-bleed coming on without any assignable causes. One of the consequences of scarlet fever and whooping cough is sometimes a tendency to repeated and serious spells of bleeding from the nose.

The treatment in these cases consists in quieting the alarm of the child if it be frightened, and in applying cold water or pounded ice to the nose and forehead and to the back of the neck. It is because of its coldness that the key placed down the back, as so commonly advised in domestic practice, does good.

An exaggerated idea of the amount of blood lost is often a cause of distress to parents. They forget that the child has been bleeding in a vessel of water, and that a very little blood darkly colors a large quantity of water.

Bleeding from the nose is sometimes a favorable symptom, as when it occurs during a fever, or when in girls approaching womanhood it precedes the expected signs of puberty. It is an unfavorable symptom, however, in scrofulous children and in girls affected with green-sickness, as in these instances it aggravates the existing disorders.

In those rare cases of protracted bleeding which resist the remedies we have mentioned, it may be necessary for the surgeon to plug the nostrils, both in front and at their opening into the throat.

This extreme measure is fortunately scarcely ever called for, and can only be carried out by the physician.

WORMS.

Children are often thought to have worms when entirely free from them. There is hardly a symptom of any disease which has not been supposed by some to be a sign of the presence of worms. A child suffering from some other complaint is, therefore, not unfrequently dosed with vermifuges to its injury. We can give the mother one symptom of worms which is infallible. It is the only one upon which she can rely, namely, the detection of worms in the stools of the child. Until these expelled intruders are actually found she should be slow to believe that the child is thus affected, and still slower to give worm medicine. Before beginning treatment, let the mother wait until the need of it is made out by the result of the examination we have mentioned.

The treatment of the ordinary worms to which children are subject is simple and usually speedily efficacious. Commence with a dose of Epsom salts, of magnesia, or of cream of tartar, as may be preferred. The next day administer a vermifuge, of which the best and pleasantest is santonine. Obtain from the druggist three or four three-grain powders of this medicine. Give the half or the whole of one of these powders, according to the age of the child, at bed-time. The next morning administer a purgative dose of oil or salts. Repeat this treatment every other day until three doses of santonine have been taken. Or, from two to six grains, according to the age of the patient, may be dissolved in two table-spoonsful of castor-oil, and a tea-spoonful given every hour until it operates.

An excellent domestic remedy for worms, one which was a great favorite with the celebrated Dr. Rush of Philadelphia, is common salt. For a child two or three years old, the proper dose is a tea-spoonful mixed in a wine-glassful of water. When the child can be got to take it in sufficient quantity, this remedy is a very efficient one.

Most cases of supposed worms in children are best treated by regulating the diet, by attention to the air and exercise of the child, by warm baths, and by endeavoring to improve the appetite, the digestion, and the strength. The food should be plain and unirritating (bread, milk, rice, arrowroot, chicken, lamb or mutton broth, beef-tea, mutton chop, young chicken); the meals should be taken in smaller quantities than usual, and at regular intervals. Sweets and confectionery should be forbidden, and but few vegetables permitted for awhile. A perseverance in this regimen for a short time will usually cure the little patient without the necessity of resorting to any vermifuge.

Worms are most frequent between the ages of three and ten years. Girls are oftener affected than boys. A tendency to worms is hereditary. Cases occur more frequently during the spring and autumn than during the other seasons. A residence in cold, damp, unhealthy situations leads to their production in many instances.

BED-WETTING.

This troublesome disorder is not unfrequently met with in children—more especially boys—under twelve years of age. It is a mistake to suppose, as is done by some parents, that slothfulness or negligence is the invariable and only cause of this infirmity; on this point Dr. Vogel says:—'In most cases which I have observed, the children through their own sense of honor or on account of repeated punishments, had a lively interest in avoiding the accident, and yet were unable to do this without appropriate treatment pursued for months, and even years.' Dr. Tanner states:—'Very frequently this affection is the consequence of bad habits; being favored by the free use of fluids during the after part of the day, by exposure to cold in the night, and by lying on the back.'

The presence of worms in the bowels is one of the causes of this annoying ailment, and they should be sought for in all cases. Stone in the bladder sometimes occasions the affection, but in such instances other symptoms will soon point to the true nature of the trouble.

This subject is one of an importance which demands some attention from us in a work for parents. In the language of Dr. Vogel, 'the effects of this malady are unpleasant, for the psychical development in particular suffers. The repeated punishments which these children undergo blunt their sense of honor considerably; they become cowardly and deceitful, and have no personal spirit. If great and expensive cleanliness is not practised, the bed, and even the whole room, acquires a urinous odor, which contaminates the atmosphere and begets conditions by no means favorable to healthy growth. Such children may be ultimately attacked by indolent ulcers on the nates and lower extremities, the results of urinous excoriations.'

The only symptom ordinarily present is that the child towards morning or in the middle of the night wets the bed without waking. This may happen several times during the sleep, and recur every night. In some cases the act takes place only every other night, but it is rare that there is an interval of more than one night.

The cause of this failing is sometimes very simple and one easily remedied; for it is often the result of neglecting to take young children up once during the many hours they require for sleep. By attention to this matter and to the diet, the habit may be speedily broken. Unfortunately most cases are not so quickly amenable to treatment.

In the treatment of this infirmity, corporal punishment should not be thought of. It is useless, cruel, and unnatural. The child might as well be punished because it squints or has club-foot.

Care must be taken to see that the little patient eats or drinks nothing for several hours before bed-time. The child should also be awakened a little before midnight, and at a very early hour in the morning, and made to empty its bladder. It is of great importance to get the child to sleep upon its side or face, as lying upon the back is sure to increase the trouble. Indeed, it is frequently observed that the child always remains clean when it is prevented from turning upon its back during sleep. The difficulty lies in the prevention. The plan of tying a cloth or towel around the child with a knot over the spinal column, to awaken it by the pain when it rolls over upon the back, so often proposed, seems good advice easily followed. But practically it fails, as it is impossible, without making the bandage too tight, to keep it in place. The benefit which, in some instances, has followed the employment of a succession of small blisters directly over the lower part of the spinal column, is doubtless due to their forcing the child to sleep upon the face or side. The remedy is somewhat a painful one, but should be tried in obstinate cases.

The child's general health, if enfeebled, should be improved by cold baths, bitter tonics, and if possible a change of air. In no case should any mechanical means be employed to arrest the infirmity. Serious and even fatal results have followed such attempts.

If the precautions and simple remedies we have mentioned fail, recourse must be had to the family physician. The drugs which are of benefit are too powerful to be entrusted to any other hands. The hygienic method of cure we have pointed out will, if instituted early, be effectual in all excepting very obstinate cases, which latter indeed sometimes resist for a long time the best efforts of medical skill.

LOOSENESS OF THE BOWELS.

Children under one year of age should have two movements of the bowels in the twenty-four hours, and those from one to three years at least one stool a day.

A slight attack of looseness is often beneficial if it passes away within a day or two. It is easy, however, for such an attack to become hurtful, especially if the food be improper, or the weather warm. A looseness which is of no consequence in the winter may well excite uneasiness during the summer months.

Diarrhoea in a healthy child is ordinarily preceded by vomiting. If the diarrhoea persist long, the little patient is much prostrated by it, and rapidly reduced in flesh. Such an attack should never, therefore, be neglected.

In the case of an infant not weaned, it should be removed from the breast for half a day or more, that the stomach may have little or nothing to do. Barley or rice water, or ordinary water, may be given in small quantities at a time to relieve the thirst. This in many cases will be all the treatment required.

In the case of an elder child, all meat and vegetables should be at once forbidden, and the only food allowed for a day or two must be rice and milk, arrowroot, or milk and water.

The dose of castor oil which is so frequently given by nurses in these cases under the impression that the oil is 'healing,' is only of service when the diarrhoea has been caused by food of improper quality or quantity. It then aids nature in her efforts to get rid of the offending matter, which by its irritation is doing the mischief. In such instances one dose of the oil is quite sufficient. It has no 'healing' virtues, and should not be repeated from day to day.

Children who are teething are frequently affected with looseness. A warm bath every evening, and attention to the gums, will be ordinarily all that is required in these cases, at least during the cold months. It is of the utmost importance, however, during the summer that such patients, if living in the city, should be at once removed into the country; otherwise their lives are in danger.

Looseness of the bowels in children is usually best treated by careful management of the clothing and diet, by attention to all that affects the health, and by avoiding as much as possible the administration of medicines. No case should be allowed, however, to run on without seeking competent medical advice.

An excellent remedy for the diarrhoea of children is the subnitrate of bismuth.

This medicine may be disguised in the food, as in a case narrated by Dr. Inmann. A lad about ten years old was brought to him by an aunt, who stated that the boy suffered much from diarrhoea, and was emaciating visibly; that he would not try any domestic remedy, was an obstinate fellow, and determined to take no medicine. After sending the lad to another room the doctor recommended the lady to get some white bismuth and give it to the cook, telling her to mix a large pinch of it with some butter, and to send in the bread and butter so arranged that the lady would know which was for the boy. This was done. The lad was duly drugged without his knowledge, and the diarrhoea stopped in two days.

INDIGESTION.

Infants and young children suffer often from indigestion, or dyspepsia, as well as adults. One of the most frequent signs of this disorder is vomiting. But every infant which throws up its milk is not suffering from indigestion. Vomiting is sometimes a sign of health, and shows that the stomach is vigorous enough to free itself promptly from excess of food. The child is thus saved from the effects of over-feeding. The obvious remedy is to diminish the quantity of milk taken at each nursing or meal.

But vomiting from over-feeding is very different from that caused by irritation of the stomach, which causes it to reject proper food. The common sense of the mother will enable her easily to distinguish between the two sorts. In the former, the child remains cheerful, happy, and well nourished, scarcely changing countenance even while the superabundant milk is being returned from its stomach. In the latter, the child soon becomes pale, feeble, and distressed looking. Over-feeding, if persisted in, may occasion indigestion.

Indigestion during the first year of life shows itself by languor, pallor, and evident discomfort. The child wishes to be constantly at the breast, and suckles eagerly, but vomits the milk shortly after, usually curdled. The bowels are either constipated or too loose. The most prominent and often the only symptoms are this alternation of vomiting and an eager desire to take the breast, associated with loss of flesh and strength. The child is evidently not nourished by the food it takes, and if relief be not afforded it sinks, and dies from starvation in the course of a month or two.

Children who are weaned abruptly, and at a very early period, are liable to a serious form of indigestion, which may come on in a few days after weaning, or not for several weeks.

Older children are liable to slight attacks of indigestion, which are attended with vomiting or purging, or both, for a few days, when the stomach recovers its health. In some cases, however, the derangement continues longer, the child then losing its appetite, and suffering from colic, and becoming fretful, pale, and weak. The breath becomes sour, and the passages green. Such cases require careful watching and treatment, especially during the hot weather of the summer.

In infants at the breast indigestion is usually caused by giving the breast too often or by an excess or change in the quality of the milk. Errors in diet on the part of the mother, and other faults which we have pointed out in our chapter on nursing, are the most frequent causes of this ailment. In children who are weaned the causes are almost invariably improper food or food taken too frequently, or in too large quantities. The hint should be taken when a child rejects its food, to change it, or give it less. Instead of this, too frequently the child is urged to take more, and thus derange the stomach.

The treatment of indigestion in childhood is usually easy and satisfactory. The first thing is to look to and regulate the quantity and quality of the food. If it be due to excess of food, this is easily remedied. If due to improper quality, change it promptly. When the mother's health is such that her milk is found to frequently or constantly disagree with her child, a suitable wet-nurse must be procured.

In most cases the attack is mild, and readily yields to a few hours' abstinence from food. As it often happens, especially in artificially-fed infants, that the gastric juice is more acid than it should be, great benefit is derived from the use of precipitated chalk or carbonate of soda. A few grains of either of these, given several times a day for a few days, will be found to effect a surprising change and alone restore the appetite and digestion.

In older children an attack of indigestion should be the signal for putting them upon a simpler and more restricted diet for a time. Milk, eggs, arrowroot, tapioca, sago, panada, &c., are better than animal food. If the child becomes much weakened, jellies, chicken, lamb, mutton, or oyster broth, beef tea, or wine whey, should be given to check the tendency to exhaustion.

We repeat, that most cases of indigestion in infants and children yield promptly to an immediate change in the diet, without medicine.

HINTS ON HOME GOVERNMENT.

On this subject, as it may be regarded as outside of our domain of hygiene, we have but few words to say. We wish, however, in the interests of medicine and hygiene, to insist upon the necessity of training children to prompt, implicit obedience to the parental voice. As physicians, we have seen the spoilt, undisciplined child, when sick, rebellious alike to persuasion and command, refusing food and medicine, revolting against the slightest examination, and by its violence and capriciousness, converting a slight illness into a dangerous one. For a child unaccustomed to obedience there is no proper treatment possible when sick; nor when well is there any proper care possible for the preservation of the health. What it wants, and not what it ought to have, is given it, and every one knows that a child's instincts are no guide to health. With health, happiness is sacrificed also. There is no surer way of making a child miserable than by accustoming it to obtain all it wishes, and to encounter no will but its own. Its desires grow by what they feed upon. As a French writer on education has well expressed it: 'At first it will want the cane you hold in your hand, then your watch, then the bird it sees flying in the air, and then the star twinkling overhead. How, short of omnipotence, is it possible to gratify its ever-growing wants?' Accustom the child to hear 'no' and 'must,' but let these hard words be softened by voice and manner—an art in which every true mother excels.

But, on the other hand, do not harass the child by needless restrictions, nor worry it by excess of management. We desire to call attention here to the words of an eminent English divine and learned writer, Archbishop Whately:—

'Most carefully should we avoid the error which some parents, not (otherwise) deficient in good sense commit, of imposing gratuitous restrictions and privations, and purposely inflicting needless disappointments, for the purpose of inuring children to the pains and troubles they will meet with in after life. Yes; be assured they will meet with quite enough in every portion of life, including childhood, without your strewing their paths with thorns of your own providing. And often enough you will have to limit their amusements for the sake of needful study, to restrain their appetites for the sake of health, to chastise them for faults, and in various ways to inflict pain or privations for the sake of avoiding some greater evils. Let this always be explained to them whenever it is possible to do so; and endeavor in all cases to make them look on the parent as never the voluntary giver of anything but good. To any hardships which they are convinced you inflict reluctantly, and to those which occur through the dispensation of the All-wise, they will more easily be trained to submit with a good grace, than to any gratuitous sufferings devised for them by fallible man. To raise hopes on purpose to produce disappointment, to give provocation merely to exercise the temper, and, in short, to inflict pain of any kind, merely as a training for patience and fortitude—this is a kind of discipline which man should not presume to attempt. If such trials prove a discipline not so much of cheerful fortitude as of resentful aversion and suspicious distrust of the parent as a capricious tyrant, you will have only yourself to thank for the result.' It is a matter of common observation that those who complain of their fortune and lot in life have often to complain only of their own conduct. The same is true of those who complain of their children. They have themselves only to blame in each case.

Parents who do not appreciate the responsibilities of their position usually err on the side of over-indulgence to their children; on the contrary, those fully alive to the importance of home discipline often err on the side of over-regulation. To the latter, we commend the reply of an old lady to the anxious inquiry made by the mother of a too rigorously disciplined child as to what course should be pursued, 'I recommend, my dear, a little wholesome neglect.'

Lessons of truthfulness; of fortitude in bearing pain and disappointment; of the duty of right doing, because it is right and not because it is the best policy; of frugality and industry; of self-denial, contentment, and charity, should be early impressed upon the plastic mind of infancy. We wish also, in this connection, to quote the words of a wise physician and observer of men, that 'the little child who is brought up to repeat short and simple prayers at his mother's knees, has a rule of conduct thereby instilled into him which will probably never be forgotten; and, in after life he may not only look back to these beginnings with feelings of reverence and love, but the recollection of them may serve to strengthen him in some good resolution, and help him to resist many a powerful temptation.'

We have had occasion frequently in various parts of this work to point out the intimate relations which exist between the physical and mental nature of parents and their offspring. Like parent, like child. The same close connection and sympathy extends to the moral and religious character; hence that direction and training which relies largely upon the force of parental example is the most effective method of home government. Virtuous precepts, or rigidly enforced rules of conduct, avail little unless the parent keeps the path to which he points the child.

'Well, upon my word, Mrs. Primrose, you have the handsomest children in the whole country.' 'Ah! neighbor,' replied the wife of the Vicar of Wakefield, 'they are as heaven made them—handsome enough if they be good enough—handsome is that handsome does.'

IS THE RACE DEGENERATING?

This is a question which perplexes some minds in our times. A German author of note has recently written a volume to prove that each generation is feebler than the preceding. Old physicians say that in their youth diseases of exhaustion were rarer than now-a-days. For this our habits of life, the pressure on our nervous systems, the prevalence of hereditary diseases, and the excessive use of narcotics and stimulants, are held responsible. 'The fathers,' say these croakers, 'have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.'

We attach little weight to these gloomy views. There are plenty of facts on the other side. The suits of old armour still preserved in our museums prove that, as a rule, we have slightly gained in weight and size. Tables of life insurance companies and reports of statistics show that the average length of human life is greater than it ever was. Dr. Charles D. Meigs used to state in his lectures that the size of the head of American infants at birth is somewhat greater than in the Old World.

That there are more numerous diseases than formerly, is not true; but it is true that we know more, for we have learned to detect them more readily and to examine them more minutely. This is especially true of such as are peculiar to women. Within the last ten or twenty years so much that is of sovereign importance has been contributed to this department of medical science, that it is hardly possible for one to become an expert in it unless he gives it his whole attention.

To avoid the tendency to debilitated frames and chronic diseases, woman should therefore learn not only the laws of her own physical life, but the relations in which she stands to the other sex. Thus she can guard her own health, and preserve her offspring from degeneracy. It is only by enlightenment, and the extension of knowledge on the topics relating to soundness of body and mind, that we can found rational hopes of a permanent and wide-spread improvement of the race.

Some have maintained, not understanding the bearing of the facts, that such degeneracy is more conspicuous in the frame of woman than anywhere else. They quote the narratives of travellers, who describe with what fortitude—we might almost say with what indifference—the Indian women, and those of other savage races, bear the pangs of childbirth, and how little the ordeal weakens them. A squaw will turn aside for an hour or two when on the march, bear a child, wash it in some stream, bind it on the top of her load, and shouldering both, quietly rejoin the vagrant troop. Our artificial life seems indeed, in this respect, to be to blame; but if we look closer, we can learn that these wild women often perish alone, that they are rarely fertile, that unnatural labors are not unknown, and that the average duration of their life is decidedly less than among the females in civilised States.



HEALTH IN MARRIAGE.

THE PERILS OF MATERNITY.

In the early part of this work we quoted some authorities to show that those women who choose single life as their portion do not escape the ills of existence, nor do they protract their days, but, on the contrary, as shown by extensive statistics, are more prone to affections of the mind, and die earlier. While, therefore, nature thus rewards those who fulfil the functions of their being, by taking part in the mysterious processes of reproduction, and perpetuating the drama of existence, it is true also that she associates these privileges with certain deprivations and suffering. We do not wish to throw around the married state any charms which are not its own. Rather is it our aim to portray with absolute, and therefore instructive, fidelity all that this condition offers of unfavorable as well as favorable aspects.

Let us say at once, maternity has its perils,—perils as peculiar and as inevitable as those which pertain to single life. Our present purpose is to mention these, and by stating their nature and what are their causes, so far as known, to put married women on their guard against them. Some are almost trifling, at least not involving danger to life; others most harassing to the sufferer and to her friends.

We shall now consider the principal diseases to which married women are exposed from pregnancy, from childbirth, and from nursing.

DISEASES OF PREGNANCY.

In treating of pregnancy we have pointed out that it was a healthy and happy condition to most women. The exceptional cases are mainly those in which the health is injured by mental trouble or anxiety. Thus the young and delicate girl newly married is full of vague alarms in regard to the pains and dangers of her untried path to maternity. She frets herself and embitters her life during those months in which tranquility is of the utmost importance. Is it surprising, then, that her health should be disordered, and that she should suffer from some of the diseases incident to the pregnant state?

Again, the mother of a large family, but the mistress of a small income, is distressed by the thought of additional expense, which it seems to her, particularly in her nervous state, impossible to meet. This condition of protracted anxiety is ill fitted to enable her to resist any tendency to disease to which she may be exposed. Indeed, prolonged vexation from these and other causes not unfrequently tend to puerperal mania (a disease of which we shall shortly have something to say), or to some other nervous affection.

The wife during pregnancy should therefore be treated with unusual kindness by those about her, and every attempt made to soften her lot. The erroneous impression prevails among some that the pregnant wife should enure herself to toil and hardship. This notion is doubtless due to the observation that domestic animals that are subjected to a life of labor bring forth their young with little suffering. 'The cow in the country farm living unfettered in the meadow until the day of calving, has in general a safe and easy labor. The poor beast, on the contrary, which is kept in a town dairy, has a time so incredibly dangerous that the proprietor generally sells off his stock every year, and replaces it with cows in calf; such cows not being put into the stalls till within six or eight days of the expected period of labor. The deduction from this is that an artificial mode of life—a life maintained by improper food, and without a sufficient supply of pure air, or a due amount of exercise—has a most deleterious influence upon the process of labor; and not that a toilsome existence, embittered with all the pains and anxieties of poverty, gives comparative immunity from danger in the hour of childbirth.' One of the discomforts of pregnancy is—

MORNING SICKNESS.

This affection, when confined, as is usually the case, to the morning and early part of the day, rarely requires much medical care. Its absence, which, as we have said, is a frequent cause of miscarriage, is more to be regretted than its presence especially as it is apt to be replaced by more serious troubles.

Relief will be afforded by washing the face and hands in cold water, and taking a cup of milk or a little coffee and a biscuit or sandwich, before raising the head from the pillow in the morning, remaining in bed about a quarter of an hour after this early meal; then dressing quickly, and immediately going out for a half-hour's walk. Rest in a half-recumbent posture during the day, particularly after meals, is beneficial. The affection is mostly a nervous one, and is best combated by eating. The food should be plain and unirritating, but nutritious, and should be taken frequently, in small quantities at a time.

When the nausea and vomiting are excessive, and continue during the day, there is generally some disordered condition of the digestive apparatus.

This may be corrected by taking at night a tea-spoonful of the confection of senna, a pleasant preparation of this ordinarily disagreeable medicine, and by drinking three times a day, before each meal, a wine-glassful of a tea made with columbo. Half an ounce of powdered columbo should be added, for this purpose, to a pint of boiling water.

Dr. John H. Griscom of New York recommends the bromide of potassium, which is a harmless medicine for domestic practice, as affording the most useful means of arresting the nausea attendant on pregnancy.

The following prescription may be compounded by any druggist, and will often be found very effective:

Take of Bromide of Potassium, two drachms, Cinnamon water, three fluid ounces.

Of this a dessert spoonful may be taken two or three times a day. It may be used with confidence as an entirely safe and harmless remedy in this troublesome affection.

A prescription frequently ordered for the nausea of pregnancy by the late distinguished Dr. Meigs, consisted of equal parts of sweet tincture of rhubarb and compound tincture of gentian—a dessert spoonful to be taken after meals.

Pain in the abdomen, caused by the distension of its walls, may be relieved by the application of equal parts of sweet oil and laudanum.

Another common and annoying, but rarely dangerous, trouble during pregnancy is—

VARICOSE VEINS.

The veins of the legs become distended, knotted, and painful. Women who have borne a number of children suffer most from this affection. It seldom attacks those passing through their first pregnancies. It ordinarily first shows itself during the second pregnancy, and becomes rapidly worse during the third or fourth.

Although it is difficult to cure this disease during the continuance of the pregnancy, much can be done to prevent its occurrence, and to relieve it when present. Tight garters worn below the knee, and closely laced corsets, tend to cause and increase this swollen condition of the veins. Neither should be used during pregnancy.

Relief is best afforded to the suffering parts by means of a well-made and adjusted elastic stocking, which may be readily procured from a druggist or surgical instrument maker. In severe cases it may be necessary for the patient to keep herself as much as possible in the recumbent position on the bed or sofa. In all cases the feet should be supported when seated, so as to keep the blood from further distending the already swollen veins.

PILES.

That painful condition of the veins of the lower bowel known as haemorrhoids, or piles, is a not unfrequent annoyance to pregnant women. Sometimes it is caused by prolonged constipation. During the period of pregnancy, therefore, constipation should be guarded against.

Ordinarily the piles are small, and of little consequence beyond the slight uneasiness they occasion. The trifling loss of blood from them is of no account, and often beneficial. The case is different, however, when the piles are large and painful, and give rise to much pain and copious bleeding. They then require prompt treatment.

In the treatment of piles the first point to be aimed at is to keep the bowels moderately open. It must not be forgotten, however, that during pregnancy only the mildest of purgatives are ever to be given. Castor oil, although a disagreeable, is a most excellent prescription in these cases. A small dose, repeated when necessary, will be found to act most kindly. If this remedy be too repugnant to the patient, small quantities of citrate of magnesia, or of cream of tartar, or of some of the natural mineral waters, may be employed. Small injections of lukewarm water are also of great service, and may be tried instead of laxatives.

After every movement the parts should be well sponged with cold water, and an ointment of galls and opium, procured from the druggist, applied.

If the parts become very much inflamed, warm poultices or hot chamomile solutions should be used, and the patient kept in bed until the inflammation subsides.

No attempt is to be made to effect the radical cure of piles during pregnancy. Any such attempt, besides being dangerous, is unnecessary, for the piles usually disappear of their own accord after the confinement. Every effort to make the sufferer more comfortable in the manner we have suggested is, however, right and safe.

DIARRHOEA.

Some women always suffer from looseness of the bowels during pregnancy; others are very liable to attacks of it during this period, either coming on without any assignable cause or easily excited by any slight indiscretion in eating. In many instances these attacks alternate with constipation or with morning sickness.

The diarrhoea, if at all severe or prolonged, should not be allowed to go on unchecked, for it quickly weakens the patient and predisposes her to abortion. The foetus is especially endangered when the passages are attended with much bearing-down pain. In some exceptional cases, however, a slight diarrhoea seems to be beneficial, for every attempt to remove it appears to do harm; but these instances are very rare.

The treatment required is a simple, and must be a cautious one. Ordinarily no medicine will be needed. If the patient will merely confine herself to milk and arrowroot and rice for twenty-four hours a cure will be effected in mild cases. When it is apparent that the attack has been caused by improper food, a table-spoonful of castor-oil or a tea-spoonful or two of tincture of rhubarb will remove the offending material in the bowels, upon the presence of which the diarrhoea depends. A small injection of a tea-spoonful of rice water and thirty or forty drops of laudanum will often speedily arrest the excessive discharges, and relieve the pain.

CONSTIPATION.

No woman while pregnant should allow several days to elapse without a movement from the bowels. The symptoms of constipation, slight at the outset, soon cause great inconvenience. Among the effects, which, sooner or later, show themselves, may be feverishness, sleeplessness, headache, distressing dreams, sickness at the stomach, severe bearing-down pains, and piles.

Medicines are rarely required in the treatment of constipation, and the pregnant woman should never take an active purgative, excepting under medical advice. Outdoor exercise and regularity in soliciting nature's calls, together with a change in the diet, will usually have the desired effect. Brown bread, wheaten grits, oatmeal gruel, ripe fruits, fresh vegetables, stewed prunes, or prunes soaked in olive oil, baked apples, figs, tamarinds, honey, and currant jelly, are all laxative articles which should be tried.

In some instances a tumbler of cold water drunk the last thing at night, and another the first thing in the morning, will act in a most satisfactory manner. If the constipation should resist these safe and homely remedies, which will rarely be found the case, then medical assistance should be called in. On no account should the wife herself, or in accordance with the counsel of any non-medical friend, resort to purgative drugs.

COUGH.

A troublesome cough sometimes affects delicate, nervous women during the early months of pregnancy. If it be not very frequent nor severe, it requires no attention, as it will pass away of itself in a short time. When, however, it disturbs the sleep at night, renders the patient anxious, and causes headache and weariness, it is time to do something for it. It may, indeed, be so violent as to threaten abortion on account of the forcible concussion of the abdomen it produces.

A tea-spoonful of paregoric occasionally repeated during the day will be found a most efficient soothing remedy.

WAKEFULNESS.

Sleeplessness, always distressing, is particularly so to pregnant women. If prolonged, it leads to serious consequences. It should receive, therefore, the most prompt attention.