milk being given instead, and a little iced water only by the mouth to relieve thirst.

458. If there be sour diarrhoea a chalk mixture may be required. (See Appendix, 12.)

459. Wasting with green stools is often the result of too prolonged suckling; here the child should be weaned and iron and cod-liver oil tried.*

460. Then very small quantities of food may be commenced again, with a few drops of pepsine wine, or a few drops of brandy in sweetened water, cautiously administered, after which a mixture to give tone to the stomach will be beneficial. (See Appendix, 30.)

461. As most of the before mentioned ailments are caused by improper food, great care should be taken that the milk given dry-nursed children is neither sour nor putrid.

462. The milk should be kept in a nice cool clean place, and should be procured fresh-from the same cow if possible-twice a day; if it becomes sour it is sure to cause diarrhœa, and to prevent its turning sour ten grains of carbonate of soda should be added to each quart.

463. In hot weather it is a good plan to boil the milk.

464. Whenever a child vomits its milk curdled, or passes curds in its motion, the milk requires the addition of a little lime-water or carbonate of soda, both harmless remedies.

MOTHERS' MARKS.

465. From time immemorial these have been attributed to 'frights,' 'longings,' etc.; but there is no evidence that they owe their origin to any influence of the kind, one is a red patch usually covering a part of the head, face or neck, for which nothing can be done.t

466. The other 'nævus' shows itself as a red raised patch,

* Dr. Fothergill.

+ Called by the Greeks 'Keloid,' from its resemblance to the shell of a tortoise.

sometimes very small; but it

grows and spreads, and will some

times become a very formidable matter.

467. While it is small it should be touched with nitric acid a few times, or vaccinated-this will effect a cure; where it is larger, a surgical operation becomes necessary.

NURSING.

468. 'Nursing may be said to consist in putting an invalid in the best possible condition for nature to restore or preserve health;* and in the diseases of early life a great deal of the success of any treatment depends upon the mother or nurse of the child, carrying out the conditions indicated here.'

469. In the first place the imperative duty of a nurse is to keep the air of a sick room as fresh within as it is without, and doing so without chilling the patient.

470. To accomplish this, poke the fire, if in cold weather, and let in air from the top of the window, not by the door; if in hot weather, open the door and window, but in any case keep the invalid out of the line of draught.

471. The room of a sick child should be kept quiet, and at a temperature of 60° to 65° F. in winter.

472. There should be plenty of light—except in brain disease —sunlight during the day, and candle-light—not gas-light-by night.

473. The room, the bed, the utensils, should be kept clean; these are the best safeguards against infection. How can patients recover who are living on their own poisons, in close, stuffy, dirty rooms?

474. A nurse should notice, and be able to report correctly on the state of the secretions, expectorations, skin, temperature, appetite, pulse, breathing, sleeping, the effect of diet, stimulants, and the medicines given.

475. She should be gentle, truthful, cheerful, quiet, and vigilant during the night, and observant during the day.

* Quain's 'Medical Dictionary.'

476. She should be bright, firm, hopeful, not allowing herself to be discouraged by unfavourable symptoms, or let her patient be depressed from a want of cheerfulness on her part.

477. She should be regular in her duties, in her time of feeding, giving medicine, and attending to the wants of the

sufferer.

478. Above all, she should scrupulously carry out the instructions of the doctor in every particular of medicine and diet, even if she thinks it erroneous.

479. Half the battle in nursing is to relieve the patient from having to think or act for himself at all.*

480. Though the nurse may have nothing to do in prescribing stimulants and medicines, life often depends on her knowing, in dangerous cases, how to follow the changes in the patient's state, and to act accordingly with regard to calling in the physician in charge of the case.

481. The food of a sick child should not be allowed to remain in the room before it is wanted, or after it has been partaken of. It should be brought up warm, in small quantities, and at the proper intervals.

482. The light in a sick child's room should be behind the patient, and candles are better than gas during the night.

483. It is an excellent plan for the nurse to jot down, for the doctor's inspection, the quantities and number of times that the patient has taken food, and all the changes that have occurred during the day and night, for it is impossible to remember them. 484. Also the character of the excretions and secretions, the amount of sleep, delirium, restlessness, cough, etc., etc.+

* Abridged from Miss Nightingale.

How many cases have I known in my career lost through want of proper nursing; and, on the other hand, how many have I not seen saved by the vigilance and common-sense of a well-trained nurse.

DISEASES OF INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD.

INDICATIONS OF DISEASE.

485. The indications of disease in infancy and childhood are some of the following symptoms: loss of appetite, pain, increase of bodily heat, shortness of breathing, quickness of pulse, and fever.

486. As the patient may be too young to express his feelings in words, it is well to observe the expression of the face, and movement of the hands and legs.

487. To distinguish a serious ailment coming on, from a trivial passing one, in the first instance recourse must be had to-what may truly be called-the Barometer of Disease'-namely, the Clinical Thermometer. (See 410, 411, 412.)

488. A child may be flushed, its pulse may be quick, its skin feel hot, and it may be apparently very ill, in such a case the thermometer will tell at once if the ailment is a passing one or not.

489. Should such symptoms arise towards evening, and the thermometer show an increase of bodily heat, the case wants watching. Should the heat be normal, the symptoms will doubtless pass off during the night's rest.

490. Temperature is a better guide than the pulse in the diseases of young children, and should be used to correct its indications." "*

491. When it is found that with any of the foregoing symptoms there is an increase in the bodily heat of over 100° F. or a decrease under 97° F., the case requires immediate and skilled attendance.

492. Temperature is most simple and valuable when taken as directed in Nos. 411, 412, and by its aid alone fevers, such as typhoid and scarlet, and inflammatory diseases, such as those of the lungs and bowels, etc., may be forecast.

493. As a barometer rises and falls before a storm or a calm, so does the heat of the body rise in fever and inflammation, *Dr. Ellis.

or fall when the powers of life are low. (See 410 to 413.) See 'Ailments of Suckling,' 418.

494. A mastery of this simple instrument will save a mother many anxious hours, where medical aid is delayed by distance or accident.

495. An altered appearance of the brow and eyes, with continual squinting, betokens mischief in the head of the nose and cheeks, with rapid breathing, in the chest, of the mouth and lips, with sudden jerky movements of the legs, mischief in the bowels.

496. The indications of head mischief coining on are vomiting, increase of temperature, 99° to 103° F, loud sharp cries, called by French physicians Cri hydrocephalique,* contracted brows, thirst, restlessness, and squinting.

497. The indications of chest or throat mischief are shortness of breath, increase of temperature, a sharp hoarse cry, open nostrils, and extreme restlessness.

498. The indications of stomach or bowel mischief are vomiting, increase of temperature, drawing and jerking up of the legs, a low wailing piteous cry, restlessness and thirst, hardness of the belly, with a sunken and anxious expression of countenance.

499. The skin of a child in health, should be clean and rosy coloured; blotching, chafing, and eruptions round the mouth, are indications of derangement of the stomach, or of the blood.

500. The nervous system in infancy is exceedingly excitable, and sympathizes immediately with very slight derangements of health; vomiting is a common symptom at the beginning of every acute disease, and in many children any casual disturbance is apt to be attended by it.'

501. Children in health when asleep are tranquil; if they are restless, kick off the bedclothes or gnash their teeth, there is something wrong.

502. If a child has arrived at an age when it ought, but seems unable to, use its legs, rickets should be looked for. (See 'Rickets.')

503. In children at the breast the pulse averages 116 to 120

The cry of 'Water in the Head,'