sore mouth, and from a "breaking-out" of the skin. Indeed, if it be possible to procure such a wet-nurse, she ought to be from the country, of ruddy complexion, of clear skin, and of between twenty and five-and-twenty years of age, as the milk will then be fresh, and pure, and nourishing.

age

I consider it to be of great importance that the infant of the wet-nurse should be, as nearly as possible, of the same age as your own, as the milk varies in quality according to the of the child. For instance, during the commencement of suckling, the milk is thick and creamy, similar to the biestings of a cow, which, if given to a babe of a few months old, would cause derangement of the stomach and bowels. After the first few days, the appearance of the milk changes; it. becomes of a bluish-white colour, and contains less nourishment. The milk gradually becomes more and more nourishing as the infant becomes older and requires more support.

In selecting a wet-nurse for a very small and feeble babe, you must carefully ascertain that the nipples of the wet-nurse are good and soft, and yet not very large. If they be very large, the child's mouth being very small, he may not be able to hold them. You must note, too, whether the milk flows readily from the nipple into the child's mouth; if it does not, he may not have strength to draw it, and he would soon die of starvation. The only way of ascertaining whether the infant really draws the milk from the nipple, can be done by examining the mouth of the child immediately after his taking the breast, and seeing for yourself whether there be actually milk, or not, in his mouth.

Very feeble new-born babes sometimes cannot take the bosom, be the nipples and the breasts ever so good, and although Maw's nipple-shield and glass tube had been tried. In such a case, cow's milk-water-sugar-and-salt, as recommended at page 29, must be given in small quantities at a time-from two to four tea-spoonfuls-but frequently; if the child be awake, every hour, or every half hour, both night and day, until he be able to take the breast. If, then, a puny, feeble babe is only able to take but little at a time, and that little by tea-spoonfuls, he must have little and often, in order that "many a little might make a mickle."

I have known many puny, delicate children who had not strength to hold the nipple in their mouths, but who could take milk and water (as above recommended) by tea-spoonfuls only at a time with steady perseverance, and giving it every half hour or hour (according to the quantity swallowed), at

length be able to take the breast, and eventually become strong and hearty children; but such cases require unwearied watching, perseverance, and care. Bear in mind, then, that the smaller the quantity of the milk and water given at a time the oftener must it be administered, as, of course, the babe must have a certain quantity of food to sustain life.

38. What ought to be the diet either of a wet-nurse, or of a mother, who is suckling?

It is a common practice to cram a wet-nurse with food, and to give her strong ale to drink, to make good nourishment and plentiful milk! This practice is absurd; for it either, by making the nurse feverish, makes the milk more sparing than usual, or it causes the milk to be gross and unwholesome. On the other hand, we must not run into an opposite extreme. The mother, or the wet-nurse, by using those means most conducive to her own health, will best advance the interest of her little charge.

A wet-nurse ought to live somewhat in the following way: -Let her for breakfast have black tea, with one or two slices of cold meat, if her appetite demand it, but not otherwise. It is customary for a wet-nurse to make a hearty luncheon; of this I do not approve. If she feel either faint or low at eleven o'clock, let her have either a tumbler of porter, or of mild fresh ale, with a piece of dry toast soaked in it. She ought not to dine later than half-past one or two o'clock; she should eat, for dinner, either mutton or beef, with either mealy potatoes, or asparagus, or French beans, or secale, or turnips, or broccoli, or cauliflower, and stale bread. pastry, soups, gravies, high-seasoned dishes, salted meats, greens, and cabbage, must one and all be carefully avoided; as they only tend to disorder the stomach, and thus to deteriorate the milk.

Rich

It is a common remark, that "a mother who is suckling may eat anything." I do not agree with this opinion. Can impure or improper food make pure and proper milk, or can impure and improper milk make good blood for an infant, and thus good health?

The wet-nurse ought to take with her dinner a moderate quantity of either sound porter, or of mild (but not old or strong) ale. Tea should be taken at half-past five or six o'clock; supper at nine, which should consist either of a slice or two of cold meat, or of cheese if she prefer it, with half a pint of porter or of mild ale; occasionally a basin of gruel may with advantage be substituted. Hot and late suppers

are prejudicial to the mother, or to the wet-nurse, and, consequently, to the child. The wet-nurse ought to be in bed every night by ten o'clock.

It might be said, that I have been too minute and particular in my rules for a wet-nurse; but when it is considered of what importance good milk is to the well-doing of an infant, in making him strong and robust, not only now, but as he grows up to manhood, I shall, I trust, be excused for my prolixity.

39. Have you any more hints to offer with regard to the management of a wet-nurse?

A wet-nurse is frequently allowed to remain in bed until a late hour in the morning, and during the day to continue in the house, as if she were a fixture! How is it possible that any one, under such treatment, can continue healthy? A wet-nurse ought to rise early, and, if the weather and season will permit, take a walk, which will give her an appetite for breakfast, and will make a good meal for her little charge. This, of course, cannot, during the winter months, be done; but even then, she ought, some part of the day, to take every opportunity of walking out; indeed, in the summer time she should live half the day in the open air.

She ought strictly to avoid crowded rooms; her mind should be kept calm and unruffled, as nothing disorders the milk so much as passion, and other violent emotions of the mind; a fretful temper is very injurious, on which account you should, in choosing your wet-nurse, endeavour to procure one of a mild, calm, and placid disposition.*

A wet-nurse ought never to be allowed to dose her little charge either with Godfrey's Cordial, or with Dalby's Carminative, or with Syrup of White Poppies, or with medicine of any kind whatever. Let her thoroughly understand this. and let there be no mistake in the matter. Do not for one moment allow your children's health to be tampered and trifled with. A baby's health is too precious to be doctored, to be experimented upon, and to be ruined by an ignorant person.

*The child is poisoned.' 'Poisoned! by whom?'

By you. You have been fretting.

'Nay, indeed, mother. How can I help fretting?

'Don't tell me, Margaret. A nursing mother has no business to fret. She must turn her mind away from her grief to the comfort that lies in her lap. Know you not that the child pines if the mother vexes herself ?'"--The Cloister and the Hearth. By Charles Reade.

40. Have the goodness to state at what age a child ought to be weaned.

This, of course, must depend both upon the strength of the child, and upon the health of the parent; on an average, nine months is the proper time. If the mother be delicate, it may be found necessary to wean the infant at six months; or if he be weak, or labouring under any disease, it may be well to continue suckling him for twelve months; but after that time, the breast will do him more harm than good, and will, moreover, injure the mother's health, and may, if she be so predisposed, excite consumption.

41. How would you recommend a mother to act when she weans her child?

She ought, as the word signifies, do it gradually-that is to say, she should, by degrees, give him less and less of the breast, and more and more of artificial food; at length she must only suckle him at night; and lastly, it would be well for the mother either to send him away, or to leave him at home, and, for a few days, to go away herself.

A good plan is, for the nurse-maid to have a half-pint bottle of new milk-which has been previously boiled *—in_the bed, so as to give a little to him in lieu of the breast. The warmth of the body will keep the milk of a proper temperature, and will supersede the use of lamps, of candle-frames, and of other troublesome contrivances.

42. While a mother is weaning her infant, and after she have weaned him, what ought to be his diet?

Any one of the foods recommended in answer to question 34, page 22.

43. If a child be suffering severely from "wind," is there any objection to the addition of a small quantity either of gin or of peppermint to his food to disperse it?

It is a murderous practice to add either gin or peppermint of the shops (which is oil of peppermint dissolved in spirits) to his food. Many children have, by such a practice, been made puny and delicate, and have gradually dropped into an untimely grave. An infant who is kept, for the first five or six months, entirely to the breast-more especially if the mother be careful in her own diet-seldom suffers from "wind;" those, on the contrary, who have much or improper food,† suffer severely.

*The previous boiling of the milk will prevent the warmth of the bed turning the milk sour, which it otherwise would do.

For the first five or six months never, if you can possibly avoid it, give artificial food to an infant who is sucking. There is nothing, in the generality of cases, that agrees, for the first few months, like the mother's milk alone.

Care in feeding, then, is the grand preventative of "wind;" but if, notwithstanding all your precautions, the child be troubled with flatulence, the remedies recommended under the head of Flatulence will generally answer the purpose.

44. Have you any remarks to make on sugar for sweetening a baby's food?

A small quantity of sugar in an infant's food is requisite, sugar being nourishing and fattening, and making cow's milk to resemble somewhat in its properties human milk; but, bear in mind, it must be used sparingly. Much sugar cloys the stomach, weakens the digestion, produces acidity, sour belchings, and wind:

"Things sweet to taste, prove in digestion sour.

Shakspeare.

If a babe's bowels be either regular or relaxed, lump sugar is the best for the purpose of sweetening his food; if his bowels are inclined to be costive, raw sugar ought to be substituted for lump sugar, as raw sugar acts on a young babe as an aperient, and in the generality of cases, is far preferable to physicking him with opening medicine. An infant's bowels, whenever it be practicable (and it generally is), ought to be regulated by a judicious dietary rather than by physic.

VACCINATION AND RE-VACCINATION.

45. Are you an advocate for vaccination?

Certainly. I consider it to be one of the greatest blessings ever conferred upon mankind. Small-pox, before vaccination was adopted, ravaged the country like a plague, and carried off thousands annually; and those who did escape with their lives were frequently made loathsome and disgusting objects by it. Even inoculation (which is cutting for the small-pox) was attended with danger, more especially to the unprotected-as it caused the disease to spread like wildfire, and thus it carried off immense numbers.

Vaccination is one, and an important cause of our increasing population; small-pox, in olden times, decimated the country.

46. But vaccination does not always protect a child from small-pox?

I grant you that it does not always protect him, neither does inoculation; but when he is vaccinated, if he take the