REST AND SLEEP.

358. A child should sleep in a cot or bed by itself, in the room of its parent or nurse; by this means any illness coming on in the night will be detected by the restlessness or delirium of the little sufferer.

359. From the age of two months to five years, a child requires twelve to fourteen hours of sleep in the twenty-four, and should have it.

360. From the age of two until four, a child requires a midday sleep from eleven to one; otherwise it will become fretful towards the afternoon, from brain weariness.

361. After five a child should go to bed at seven, and get up at seven in the morning; should sleep on an iron bedstead, and on a firm wool or hair mattress.

362. A child should not be put to bed immediately after a full meal; the sleeping-room should be darkened and kept quiet, and the child laid on its right side. (See 118.)

363. Rocking a child causes sleep by inducing cerebral congestion, the motion causing a congested state of the vessels of the brain; it is needless to say that this cannot be salutary.

364. Under no circumstances should a child be accustomed to soothing syrups or soothing powders to procure sleep. These are the resources of indolent and unfeeling mothers, and the causes of many deaths, or, more correctly speaking, murders.

365. Children that are accustomed to regular hours each day and night for sleep, do not require such adventitious aid.

366. A child should never be allowed to remain up late; it exhausts the nervous system, and induces habits of sleepless

ness.

367. Want of sufficient clothing, overfeeding producing flatulence and indigestion, are the common causes of wakefulness, to which may be added worms, teething, and fevers coming on.*

*In persistent sleeplessness of young children, the only safe sedative is the bromide of potassium; the dose is a grain for every year of life: hus a child three years old would require three grains at bedtime in

EXERCISE.

368. No child can enjoy robust health who has not regular out-door exercise and fresh air; it is only necessary to see the pale, pasty look of workhouse children to realize this fact.

369. After two months a child should be put on a bed, sofa, or carpet, during the day, and allowed to exercise its limbs freely. 370. The delight this affords evinces how grateful this is to its animal feelings.

371. In wet or damp weather a large room to romp in should be set apart for children.

372. Exercise, by quickening the circulation, gives healthy activity to the functions of the body, thereby inducing sound physical and mental health.

373. Rapid circulation of the blood is one of the means nature uses for burning off effete materials, the waste of the system; which is consumed in great measure by the aid of the lungs. 374. Exercise gives tone to the nervous system, and develops bone, sinew, and muscle.

375. It also keeps down that tendency to fat which is common in children, and by increasing the animal heat in cold weather, prevents them catching cold, suffering from coughs, chilblains, and many other childish ailments.

376. The temperature of the body in childhood falls one or two degrees towards evening. This is probably due to the depression of nervous power, as it recovers itself during sleep.

377. A child should not be taught to walk too early; let it crawl about the floor: nature will teach it to walk when its legs are strong enough to support its body. The evils that attend neglecting this advice are weak ankles, and if there is a tendency to rickets, bone deformity, and weak joints, will be the result.

sweetened water. This leaves no after ill-effects, but it must be remembered that there must be some cause for this sleeplessness, and the cause should be sought for and removed or remedied.

378. The age at which a child begins to walk depends upon whether it is suckled or dry nursed-suckled children walk early.

379. It further depends upon hereditary tendency, and the constitutional powers of its parents.

380. The children of blood relations, i.e. cousins, are never so strong, physically or morally, as those of strangers.

381. This is one of the greatest causes of idiotcy and imbecility, especially so where the parents come from a scrofulous or intemperate stock.

382. If a child is backward in walking, look to its general health, give it fresh air, cold baths, chemical food, and cod liver oil. (See Rickets.)

383. From ten to fourteen months is the age when children show an inclination to use their feet, with the assistance of a chair; and also to have some notion of language, but no 'hard and fast line' can be drawn, as so much depends upon the temperament of the child and its constitutional powers.

384. Should there be any symptoms of curvature of the spine or long bones, immediate medical advice should be sought, or the deformity so familiar to all will be the result.

385. When in a state of heat and perspiration, a child should be cautioned against lying on damp ground, sitting in wet clothes, etc. Many a case of fatal disease owes its origin to this cause. 386. The care of health in childhood by exercise, diet, and abstinence, is the best assurance of robust health in manhood and declining years, and the foundation of the train of circumstances that lead to green old age.

387. The diseases of youth always accelerate growth, but diseases of the bones, such as rickets and scrofula, retard it.

388. An infant should grow during its first year six or seven inches ; a child from the fourth to the sixteenth year about two inches yearly; from the sixteenth to the seventeenth one inch and a half yearly; and from the seventeenth to the twentieth one inch. These facts only apply where all circumstances inducing growth are favourable.

IDIOTCY.

SIGNS OF INTELLIGENCE.

389. A child should begin to use its hands and take hold of objects at three months.

390. The power to support its head and recognise familiar faces comes about twelve weeks after birth; idiots always fail in this.*

391. Idiotcy is congenital; it depends upon imperfect organization of the brain before birth, and an idiot is generally a deaf mute. 392. Where a child is born with proper mental development, the tongue is kept within the mouth from the earliest age.

393. A child should begin to talk at about the age of nine to twelve months.

394. Cases are recorded of idiotcy following whooping cough, fever, congestion of the brain, and convulsions, but they are very rare.

395. A child's brain at birth weighs about three-quarters of a pound, at the end of five years about a pound and a half.

396. Idiotcy is most frequently inherited by descent, and most idiots have insane relatives.

397. Marriages of consanguinity are a source of idiotcy-the greatest source of all.

398. Scrofula is a frequent cause of idiotcy, and two thirds of all idiots born develop that constitutional defect.+

399. Fright in a mother during pregnancy is said to be a source of idiotcy, but physiologists do not believe in this cause. 400. Blows, falls, epilepsy, or fright have caused idiotcy, by arresting the development of the brain or paralyzing the nervous system.

401. Thick everted lips, large mouth, projecting tongue, and dribbling of saliva, with a vacant expression of countenance, are early signs of idiotcy.

402. An unpleasant odour is often exhaled from the skin of

idiots; their habits are dirty. They are obstinate and brutal, with greedy appetites and often strong passions.*

403. Dr. Ellis says, 'Much may be effected even in the education and training of idiots; in fact, it is surprising how wonderfully, under those who have the necessary patience, long suffering, and experience, the poor idiot will develope into a being with some intelligence, and with trained and disciplined habits.'

404. Father Mabillon, who was said to have been in his younger days an idiot, and to have continued in this condition until he attained the age of twenty-six years. He then fell with his head against a stone staircase and fractured his skull. For this he was trepanned. After recovering from the effects of the operation and injury, his intellect fully developed itself. He is said after to have shown a mind endowed with a lively imagination, an amazing memory, and a zeal for study rarely equalled.'+

405. The total number of pauper lunatics and idiots in England and Wales is about 40,000. All pauper idiots are under Government surveillance, and it is a pity that others are not properly watched over; their treatment is often pitiable in the extreme.

AILMENTS OF SUCKLING.

406. As acute diseases in infant life run their course to death or convalescence more rapidly than in adults, it is the duty of the mother or the nurse to watch the FIRST indications of illness. 407. Increase of bodily heat is the first sign of incipient disease, but this cannot be felt by the hand with certainty.

408. The temperature of the body is a better guide than the pulse in the diseases of young children, and is very easy to take.

409. The temperature of the body must be taken accurately * Dr. Ellis.

'On Obscure Diseases of the Brain,' Dr. Forbes Winslow, London, 1861.