189. Do you advise a bedroom to be darkened at night? Certainly a child sleeps sounder and sweeter in a dark than in a light room. There is nothing better for the purpose of darkening a bedroom than Venetian blinds. Remember, then, a well-ventilated, but a darkened, chamber at night. The cot or the crib ought not to face the window, light is best behind."*

as the 190. Which is the best position for a child when sleeping -on his back, or on his side?

His side: he ought to be accustomed to change about, on the right side one night, on the left another; and occasionally, for a change, he should lie on his back. By adopting this plan, you will not only improve his figure, but likewise his health. Lying, night after night, in one position, would be likely to make him crooked.

191. Do you advise, in the winter time, that there should be a fire in the night nursery?

Certainly not, unless the weather be intensely cold. I dislike fires in bedrooms, especially for children; they are very enervating, and make a child liable to catch cold. Cold weather is very bracing, particularly at night. "Generally speaking," says the Siecle, "during winter, apartments are too much heated. The temperature in them ought not to exceed 16° Centigrade (59° Fahrenheit); and even in periods of great cold scientific men declare that 12° or 14° had better not be exceeded. In the wards of hospitals, and in the chambers of the sick, care is taken not to have greater heat than 15°. Clerks in offices, and other persons of sedentary occupations, when rooms in which they sit are too much heated, are liable to cerebral [brain] congestion and to pulmonary [lung] complaints. In bedrooms, and particularly those of children, the temperature ought to be maintained rather low; it is even prudent only rarely to make fires in them, especially during the night."

If "a cold stable make a healthy horse," I am quite sure that a moderately cold and well-ventilated bedroom helps to make a healthy child. But, still, in the winter time, if the weather be biting cold, a little fire in the bedroom grate is desirable. In bringing up children, we must never run into extremes the coddling system and the hardening system are both to be deprecated; the coddling system will make the strong child weakly, while the hardening system will probably kill a delicate one.

* Sir Charles Locock in a Letter to the Author.

A child's bed ought, of course, to be comfortably clothed with blankets-I say blankets, as they are much superior to coverlids; the perspiration will more readily pass through a blanket than a coverlid. A thick coverlid ought never to be used; there is nothing better, for a child's bed, than the oldfashioned patchwork coverlid, as the perspiration will easily escape through it.

192. Should a child be washed and dressed AS SOON AS HE AWAKE in the morning?

He ought, if he awake in anything like reasonable time; for if he doze after he be once awake, such slumber does him more harm than good. He should be up every morning as soon as it is light. If, as a child, he be taught to rise early, it will make him an early riser for life, and will tend greatly to prolong both his existence and his happiness.

Never awake a child from his sleep to dress him, to give him medicine, or for any other purpose; let him always sleep as long as he can; but the moment he awakes let him be held out, and then let him be washed and dressed, and do not wait, as many a silly nurse does, until he has wet his bed, until his blood be chilled, and until he be cross, miserable, and uncomfortable! How many babes are made ill by such foolish practices!

The moment he leaves his bed, turn back to the fullest extent the clothes, in order that they may be thoroughly ventilated and sweetened. They ought to be exposed to the air for at least an hour before the bed be made. As soon as he leaves his room, be it winter or summer, throw open the windows. 193. Ought a child to lie alone?

He should, after he is weaned. He will rest more comfortably, and his sleep will be more refreshing.

194. Supposing a child should not sleep well, what ought to be done? Would you give him a dose of composing medicine?

Certainly not. Try the effects of exercise. Exercise in the open air is the best composing medicine in the world. Let the little fellow be well tired out, and there will be little fear of his not sleeping.

195. Have you any further observations to make on the subject of sleep?

Send a child joyful to bed. Do not, if you can possibly help it, let him go to bed crying. Let the last impressions he has at night be of his happy home, and of his loving father and mother, and let his last thoughts be those of joy and gladness.

He will sleep all the sounder if he he sent to bed in such a frame of mind, and he will be more refreshed and nourished in the morning by his sleep.

196. What are the usual causes of a child walking in his sleep, and what measures, during such times, ought to be adopted to prevent his injuring himself?

A disordered stomach, in a child of nervous temperament, or worms, are usually the causes. The means to be adopted to prevent his throwing himself out of the window, are to have bars to his chamber casement, and if that be not practicable, to have either nails or screws driven into the window sash to allow the window to open only for a sufficient space for ventilation, and to have a screw window fastening, in order that he cannot, without difficulty, open the window; to have a trusty person to sleep in his room, who should have directions given not to rouse him from his sleep, but to gently lead him back to his bed, which may frequently be done without awaking him; and to consult a medical man, who will adopt means to destroy the worms, to put his stomach into order, to brace his nerves, and to strengthen his general system. A trip to the coast and sea-bathing, in such a case, is often of great service.

SECOND DENTITION,

197. When does a child commence to cut his SECOND set of teeth?

Generally at seven years old. He begins to cut them at about that time; but it should be borne in mind (so wonderful are the works of God) that the second crop of teeth, in embryo, is actually bred and formed from the very commencement of his life, under the first tier of teeth, but which remain in abeyance for years, and do not come into play until the first teeth, having done their duty, loosen and fall out, and thus make room for the more numerous, larger, stronger, and more permanent teeth, which latter have to last for the remainder of his existence. The first set is sometimes cut with a great deal of difficulty, and produces various diseases; the second, or permanent teeth, come easily, and are unaccompanied with any disorder. The following is the process:-One after another of the first set gradually loosen, and either drop out, or with little pain are readily pulled out; under these, the second -the permanent-teeth make their appearance, and fill up the vacant spaces. The fang of the tooth that has dropped

out is nearly all absorbed or eaten away, leaving little more than the crown. The first set consists of twenty; the second (including the wise-teeth, which are not generally cut until after the age of twenty-seven) consists of thirty-two.

I would recommend you to pay particular attention to the teeth of your children; for, besides their being ornamental, their regularity and soundness are of great importance to the present as well as to the future health of your offspring. If there be any irregularity in the appearance of the second set, lose no time in consulting an experienced and respectable dentist.

198. Do

you

ON DISEASE, ETC.

think it important that I should be made acquainted with the symptoms of the SERIOUS diseases of children. Certainly. I am not advocating the doctrine of a mother treating serious diseases; far from it it is; not her province, except in certain cases of extreme urgency, where a medical man cannot be procured, and where delay might be death; but I do insist upon the necessity of her knowing the symp toms of disease. My belief is, that if parents were better informed on such subjects, many children's lives might be saved, much suffering averted, and sorrow spared. The fact is, the knowledge of the symptoms. of disease is, to a mother, almost a sealed book. If she were better acquainted with these matters, how much more useful would she be in a sickroom, and how much more readily would she enter into the plans and views of the medical man! By her knowledge of the symptoms, and by having his advice in time, she would nip disease in the bud, and the fight might end in favour of life, for "sickness is just a fight between life and death."— Geo. M'Donald.

It is really lamentable to contemplate the amount of ignorance that still exists among mothers in all that appertains to the diseases of children; although, fortunately, they are beginning to see and to feel the importance of gaining instruc tion on such subjects; but the light is only dawning. A writer of the Medical Times and Gazette makes the following remarks, which somewhat bear on the subject in question. He observes "In spite of the knowledge and clear views possessed by the profession on all that concerns the management of children, no fact is more palpable than that the most

grievous ignorance and incompetency prevail respecting it .among the public. We want some means of making popular the knowledge which is now almost restricted to medical men, or, at most, to the well-educated classes."

In the earlier editions of this work I did not give the treatment of any serious diseases, however urgent. In the eight last editions, I have been induced, for reasons I will presently state, to give the treatment of some of the more urgent serious diseases, when a medical man cannot instantly be procured, and where delay might be death.

Sir CHARLES Lоcock, who has taken a kind interest in this little work, has given me valid reasons why a mother should be so enlightened. The following extracts are from a letter which I received from Sir CHARLES on the subject, and which he has courteously allowed me to publish. He says,- "As an old physician of some experience in complaints of infants and children, I may perhaps be allowed to suggest that in a future edition you should add a few words on the actual treatment of some of the more urgent infantile diseases. It is very right to caution parents against superseding the doctor, and attempting to manage serious illness. themselves; but your advice, with very small exceptions, always being, to lose no time in sending for a medical man, much valuable and often irremediable time may be lost when a medical man is not to be had. Take, for instance, a case of croup: there are no directions given at all, except to send for a medical man, and always to keep medicines in the house which he may have directed. But how can this apply to a first attack? You state that a first attack is generally the worst. But why is it so? Simply because it often occurs when the parents do not recognise it, and it is allowed to get a worse point than in subsequent attacks, when they are thoroughly alive to it. As the very best remedy, and often the only essential one, if given early, is a full emetic, surely it is better that you should give some directions as to this in a future edition, and I can speak from my own experience when I say that an emetic, given in time, and repeated to free vomiting, will cut short any case of croup. In nine cases out of ten the attack takes place in the evening or early night, and when vomiting is effected the dinner of that day is brought up nearly undigested, and the severity of the symptoms at once cut short. Whenever any remedy is valuable, the more by its being administered in time, it is surely wiser to give directions as to its use, although, as a