44. If this comes up curdled, put a few drops of lime-water in each supply of food. (See 'Diet,' page 130.)

45. An infant's bowels act four or five times a-day, and the bladder is emptied oftener than that; therefore frequently examine the napkins and change them.

46. See that the parts are sponged, dried, and powdered before you put on clean ones.

47. If this is not done the excretions of the bowels and bladder soon cause soreness and blistering, the beginning of infantile troubles.

48. The first evacuations from the bowels of new-born children are greenish brown, or almost black, and sticky.

49. After this the evacuations through infancy become bright yellow in colour, like mustard, having but slight smell; observation of the motions will enable a mother to detect early derangements of the stomach or bowels.

50. A dark green colour of the motions generally indicates serious disease of the stomach or intestines.*

51. An infant may sometimes pass a motion containing curd or mucus, and the next be quite natural; but the evacuations should not be persistently 'liquid.'

52. When the child's buttocks become sore from diarrhoea or an acid state of its water, they should be frequently, cleansed and dusted, but not washed. (See Appendix 1.)

53. A little vaseline or zinc ointment should be rubbed over the sore part, especially the last thing at night, after the bath. 54. As infancy passes into childhood, the frequency of the action of the bowels diminishes, and the motions become firm.

55. When the secretion of water seems deficient, and therefore irritating, a few drops of sweet spirit of nitre two or three times a day is a good remedy. (See also Appendix 3.)

56. The infant's cot should be roomy, so that it can kick about; this is its way of taking exercise, and the cot-linen should be sweet and clean, and frequently changed.

* Dr. Tanner.

57. It is a mistake to begin rocking a child to sleep; this system once begun cannot be left off. (See 346.)

58. Nature has meant a healthy child to sleep nearly all its time away, and if in health and comfort, it will do this whether rocked or not.

59. The best way to make children sleep is to carry them out in the open air during the day, and this can be done from their earliest infancy, if proper precautions are taken against cold.

60. During the first three or four months of life they should be carried in arms, as they are not so likely to take cold as in a perambulator, especially in cold weather.

61. The nursery or sleeping-room, in cold weather should be warmed with a fire, as this not only keeps the room at a proper temperature, but also ventilates it.

62. Hot-water pipes or stoves are very injurious in rooms occupied by children; as they dry the air and keep the room close.

63. Light has also great influence on the well-being of children; the nursery should face the sun and have large windows.

64. Children kept in close, ill-ventilated, dark rooms, become 'chlorotic' (i.e. pale and bloodless) and rickety, and develope in such congenial soil any hereditary taint, such as scrofula. No room can be wholesome where the rays of the sun do not enter; not only do they light, but warm, their heat being healthier than artificial heat. (See Rickets and Scrofula.)

65. Everyone knows the necessity for sunlight in vegetable life; plants grow pale, delicate and sickly without it, and children. are affected in the same manner.

66. A nursery should be on the upper floor of the house, and as large as possible, for the sake of ventilation and exercise, when the infant begins to crawl and run about.

67. The walls should be papered with a light, lively-coloured paper, and the temperature in cold weather warmed to 60° F.; the fire should be guarded with a wire protector.

68. It is an error to suppose that by exposing children to cold you can harden them: they will be killed in the process; infants rapidly part with their heat, and are very sensitive to change of temperature. (See Bronchitis.)

69. A child's napkin should be made of old calico-not linen, -as this is soft; it should be three-quarters of a yard square.

70. The clothing and bibs should be frequently changed, as the milk spilt over them soon becomes sour and offensive.

71. The growth, progress, and ruddy health of the child will more than repay this trouble-which should really be a pleasure to the mother.

72. The windows of a child's sleeping-room should be opened when it is out of the room, to purify the air. Too great attention cannot be paid to this matter; these little items make all the difference between ruddy health and a sickly, unhealthy

child.

73. In early infancy a child breathes on an average thirtynine times per minute, and the respirations vary from between thirty to fifty the first year.

75. A child does not raise its head off the pillow until about two months old, and it does not sit erect until four or five months old.

76. An infant should not sleep with its mother, but in a cot near her. (See 2.)

77. An infant instinctively creeps under its mother for warmth, and thus frequently gets overlaid and suffocated.

78. 1,176 children under fifteen years of age died of suffocation during the year 1870, and 1,063 of these perished during their first year. This fact shows the necessity of a cot for infants, and careful watching during the night. The cot should not be placed in a draughty part of the room, and the covering should be plentiful, but light.

* Dr. Ellis.

79. A healthy child sleeps twenty out of the twenty-four hours, and wakes up quiet and smiling—that is, if it is a child of ordinary amiability.

80. In illness, it is well to remember when a child wakes up fretful, frowning, or languid, as the commencement of the attack dates from that.

81. Children shed no tears before they are three or four months old.

82. The earlier a child sheds tears, the better for its mental powers and well-being.*

83. A nurse should not wash a new-born child's head with spirits, give it castor oil, rue tea-or other medical concoctions -sugar and butter, gruel, or pap; she should not be allowed to break what she calls the nipple strings (there are no such things), or use any other than safety-pins in any part of its dress.

84. Ignorance seems the especial privilege of the monthly nurse,' and the early troubles of infant life are often due to her interference.

85. Physiological knowledge and common sense she abhors, and her nostrums seem to have come down from primeval times.

86. After her departure, choose as a nurse for your first child, a middle-aged woman of steady and cleanly habits, and if possible one who has had children herself.

87. To entrust the superintendence of your infant's outdoor exercise to a young and giddy girl, who will heedlessly carry it where there is fever, or leave it to starve in its 'perambulator' -the coffin of many an unfortunate infant-may lead to results that can never be remedied.

88. The strength of a chain is its weakest link,' so all the care a mother herself bestows upon her offspring, may in a few minutes be cast to the winds in her absence, by indulging in the questionable economy of a youthful nurse.

Dr. Trousseau.

NATURAL FEEDING.

89. Nature exacts a heavy penalty from those who fail in this duty, and unfortunately imposes it alike on the guilty mother and innocent offspring.

90. "There can be no question whatever of the incomparably greater value of breast milk over any method of artificial feeding, both as regards the chance of life and the perfection of the infant."*

91. Can a woman forget her sucking babe?' asks the Prophet. Facts seem to show that she can and does, and her own selfish gratification often takes the place of her regard for the helpless atom of humanity placed in her care.

92. A mother who does not suckle is more liable to peritonitis, inflammation of the womb, abscesses in the breast, cancer of the breast or womb, and many other diseases.†

93. A woman's health is more robust during suckling, and only when it is continued too long do evil consequences ensue.

94. If a child thrives upon suckling its mother, it may be taken as a conclusive proof that her milk is GOOD, and no FICTI

TIOUS AID IS NECESSARY.

95. No more disgraceful custom can well be imagined than that of a healthy woman neglecting the duty of suckling, unless it be that of a medical practitioner sanctioning such an impropriety.

96. Only when a mother is suffering from constitutional disease, such as consumption, puerperal fever, abscess of the breast, insanity, or other serious illness, should a wet nurse or artificial feeding be resorted to.

97. Some women are also physically unable to nurse owing to retraction of the nipples, or poverty of the milk; in these cases exception must be made, but before doing so the medical attendant should be consulted.

* Dr. Ellis.

Dr. Decaisne.

'Medical Maxims.'