and advising with your own medical man. It would be an act of great discourtesy to do so. Inattention to the foregoing advice has frequently caused injury to the patient, and heart-burnings and ill-will among doctors.

Speak, in the presence of your child, with respect and kindness of your medical man, so that the former may look upon the latter as a friend-as one who will strive, with God's blessing, to relieve his pain and suffering. Remember the increased power of doing good the doctor will have if the child be induced to like, instead of dislike, him. Not only be careful that you yourself speak before your child respectfully and kindly of the medical man, but see that your domestics do so likewise; and take care that they are never allowed to frighten your child, as many silly servants do, by saying that they will send for the doctor, who will either give him nasty medicine, or will perform some cruel operation upon him. A nurse-maid should, then, never for one moment be permitted to make a doctor an object of terror or dislike to a child.

Send, whenever it be practicable, for your doctor early in the morning, as he will then make his arrangements accordingly, and can by daylight better ascertain the nature of the complaint, more especially if it be a skin disease. It is utterly impossible for him to form a correct opinion of the nature of a "breaking-out" either by gas or by candle light. If the illness come on at night, particularly if it be ushered in either with a severe shivering, or with any other urgent symptom, no time should be lost, be it night or day, in sending for him.

"A little fire is quickly trodden out;
Which, being suffer'd rivers cannot quench."

Shakespeare.

WARM BATHS.

281. Have the goodness to mention the complaints of a child for which warm baths are useful.

1. Convulsions; 2. Pains in the bowels known by the child drawing up his legs, screaming violently, &c.; 3. Restlessness from teething; 4. Flatulence. The warm bath acts as a fomentation to the stomach and the bowels, and gives ease where the usual remedies do not rapidly relieve.

282. Will you mention the precautions, and the rules to be observed in putting a child into a warm bath?

Carefully ascertain before he is immersed in the bath that

the water be neither too hot nor too cold. Carelessness, or over anxiety to put him in the water as quickly as possible, has frequently, from his being immersed in the bath when the water was too hot, caused him great pain and suffering. From 96 to 98 degrees of Fahrenheit is the proper temperature of a warm bath. If it be necessary to add fresh warm water, let him be either removed the while, or let it not be put in when very hot; for if boiling water be added to increase the heat of the bath, it naturally ascends, and may scald him. Again, let the fresh water be put in at as great a distance from him as possible. The usual time for him to remain in the bath is a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes. Let the chest and the bowels be rubbed by the hand while he is in the bath. Let him be immersed in the bath as high up as the neck, taking care that he be the while supported under the arm-pits, and that his head be also rested. As soon as he comes out of the bath, he ought to be carefully but quickly rubbed dry; and if it be necessary to keep up the action on the skin, he should be put to bed, between the blankets; or if the desired relief has been obtained, between the sheets, which ought to have been previously warmed, where, most likely, he will fall into a sweet refreshing sleep.

WARM EXTERNAL APPLICATIONS.

283. In case of a child suffering pain either in his stomach or in his bowels, or in case he has a feverish cold, can you tell me of the best way of applying heat to them?

In pain either of the stomach or of the bowels, there is nothing usually affords greater or speedier relief than the external application of heat. The following are four different methods of applying heat:-1. A bag of hot salt-that is to say, powdered table-salt-put either into the oven or into a frying-pan over the fire, and thus made hot, and placed in a flannel bag, and then applied, as the case may be, either to the stomach or to the bowels. Hot salt is an excellent remedy for these pains. 2. An India-rubber hot-water bottle,* half filled with hot water-it need not be boiling-applied to the stomach or to the bowels, will afford great comfort. 3. Another and an excellent remedy for these cases is a hot bran poultice. The way to make it is as follows:-Stir bran into a

* Every house where there are children ought to have one of these India-rubber hot-water bottles. It may be procured at any respectable Vulcanised Indiarubber warehouse.

vessel containing either a pint or a quart (according to size of poultice required) of boiling water, until it be of the consistence of a nice soft poultice, then put into a flannel bag and apply it to the part affected. When cool, dip it from time to time in hot water. 4. In case a child has a feverish cold, especially if it be attended, as it sometimes is, with pains in the bowels, the following is a good external application:Take a yard of flannel, fold it in three widths, then dip it in very hot water, wring it out tolerably dry, and apply it evenly and neatly round and round the bowels; over this, and to keep it in its place, and to keep in the moisture, put on a dry flannel bandage, four yards long and four inches wide. If it be put on at bed-time, it ought to remain on all night. Where there are children, it is desirable to have the yard of flannel and the flannel bandage in readiness, and then a mother will be prepared for emergencies. Either the one or the other, then, of the above applications will usually, in pains of the stomach and bowels, afford great relief. There is one great advantage of the external application of heatit can never do harm; if there be inflammation, it will do good; if there be either cramps or spasms of the stomach, it will be serviceable; if there be colic, it will be one of the best remedies that can be used; if it be a feverish cold, by throwing the child into a perspiration, it will be beneficial.

It is well for a mother to know how to make a white bread poultice; and as the celebrated Abernethy was noted for his poultices, I will give you his directions, and in his very words: -"Scald out a basin, for you can never make a good poultice unless you have perfectly boiling water, then, having put in some hot water, throw in coarsely crumbled bread, and cover it with a plate. When the bread has soaked up as much water as it will imbibe, drain off the remaining water, and there will be left a light pulp. Spread it a third of an inch thick on folded linen, and apply it when of the temperature of a warm bath. It may be said that this poultice will be very inconvenient if there be no lard in it, for it will soon get dry; but this is the very thing you want, and it can easily be moistened by dropping warm water on it, whilst a greasy poultice will be moist, but not wet."-South's Household Surgery.

ACCIDENTS.

284. Supposing a child to cut his finger, what is the best application?

There is nothing better than tying it up with rag in its blood, as nothing is more healing than blood. Do not wash the blood away, but apply the rag at once, taking care that no foreign substance be left in the wound. If there be either glass or dirt in it, it will of course be necessary to bathe the cut in warm water, to get rid of it before the rag be applied. Some mothers use either salt or Fryar's Balsam, or turpentine, to a fresh wound; these plans are cruel and unnecessary, and frequently make the cut difficult to heal. If it bleed immoderately, sponge the wound freely with cold water. If it be a severe cut, surgical aid, of course, will be required.

285. If a child receive a blow, causing a bruise, what had better be done?

Immediately smear a small lump of fresh butter on the part affected, and renew it every few minutes for two or three hours; this is an old-fashioned, but a very good remedy. Olive oil may-if fresh butter be not at hand-be used, or soak a piece of brown-paper in one-third of French brandy and two-thirds of water, and immediately apply it to the part; when dry renew it. Either of these simple plans-the butter plan is the best-will generally prevent both swelling and disfiguration.

A "Black Eye."-If a child, or indeed any one else, receive a blow over the eye, which is likely to cause a "black eye,” there is no remedy superior to, nor more likely to prevent one, than well buttering the parts for two or three inches around the eye with fresh butter, renewing it every few minutes for the space of an hour or two; if such be well and perseveringly done, the disagreeable appearance of a "black eye" will in all probability be prevented. A capital remedy for a "black eye" is the Arnica Lotion,

Take of-Tincture of Arnica, one ounce ;

Water, seven ounces :

To make a Lotion. The eye to be bathed by means of a soft piece of linen rag with this lotion frequently; and, between times, let a piece of linen rag, wetted in the lotion, be applied to the eye, and be fastened in its place by means of a bandage.

The white lily leaf, soaked in brandy, is another excellent remedy for the bruises of a child. Gather the white lily blossoms when in full bloom, and put them in a wide-mouthed bottle of brandy, cork the bottle, and it will then always be ready for use. Apply a leaf to the part affected, and bind it on either with a bandage or with a handkerchief. The white lily root sliced is another valuable external application for bruises.

fire, which they might have done, had he not have thrown the match away, or if his mother had not been so near at hand, he would, in all probability, have either been severely burned or have been burned to death.

290. If a child's clothes takes fire, what ought to be done to extinguish them?

Lay him on the floor, then roll him either in the rug, or in the carpet, or in the door-mat, or in any thick article of dress you may either have on, or have at hand-if it be woollen, so much the better; or, throw him down, and roll him over and over on the floor, as, by excluding the atmospheric air, the flame will go out:-hence the importance of a mother cultivating presence of mind. If parents were better prepared for such emergencies, such horrid disfigurations and frightful deaths would be less frequent.

You ought to have a proper fire-guard before the nursery grate, and should be strict in not allowing your child to play with fire. If he still persevere in playing with it, when he has been repeatedly cautioned not to do so, he should be punished for his temerity. If anything would justify corporal chastisement, it would surely be such an act of disobedience. There are only two acts of disobedience that I would flog a child for-namely, the playing with fire and the telling of a lie! If after various warnings and wholesome corrections he still persist, it would be well to let him slightly taste the pain of his doing so, either by holding his hand for a moment very near the fire, or by allowing him to slightly touch either the hot bar of the grate or the flame of the candle. Take my word for it the above plan will effectually cure him—he will never do it again. It would be well for the children of the poor to have pinafores made either of woollen or of stuff materials. The dreadful deaths from burning, which so often occur in winter, too frequently arise from cototn pinafores first taking fire.*

If all dresses after being washed, and just before being dried, were, for a short time, soaked in a solution of tungstate of soda, such clothes, when dried, would be perfectly fire-proof.

Tungstate of soda may be used either with or without starch; but full directions for the using of it will, at the time of purchase, be given by the chemist.

291. Is a burn more dangerous than a scald?

"It has been computed that upwards of 1000 children are annually burned to death by accident in England."