hunger was not satisfied or its body nourished by the parent's milk, which, although abundant in quantity, was seriously deteriorated in its nutritive quality. This was caused, I believe, from great anxiety of mind. The monthly nurse became suddenly deranged; and the whole responsibility and care of the child thus devolved upon the mother, while she was entirely ignorant of her duties. A wet-nurse was obtained. In a few hours after this change was effected the screaming ceased, the child had quiet and refreshing sleep, and in twelve hours a healthy motion was passed. The child gained flesh almost as quickly as it had previously lost it, and is now a fine and healthy boy. The mother has since had two children, and proved a good nurse.

Whenever there has previously existed any nervous or mental affection in the parent, wet-nurse suckling is imperatively required, and, with a judicious management of childhood, will do much to counteract the hereditary disposition in the offspring.

The Mother who only nurses her Infant when it suits her Convenience, ought not to engage in this Duty at all. The mother who cannot make up her mind exclusively to devote herself to the duties of a nurse, and give up all engagements that would interfere with her health, and so with the formation of healthy milk, and with the regular and stated periods of nursing her infant, ought never to suckle. It is unnecessary to say why; but I think it right, for the child's sake, to add, that if it does not sicken, pine, and die, it will not have to thank its parent; and disease, in all human probability, will be generated in its constitution, to manifest itself at some future time. The child, then, under all the foregoing circum૨

stances, must be provided with its support from another source; and a wet-nurse is the best.

Sect. 3.-Rules for Nursing the Infant.

From the first moment the infant is applied to the breast, it must be nursed upon a certain plan; this is essential to the well-doing of the child. One of the most fruitful sources of disease in the early part of the infantile life is improper management in relation to diet; and a large portion of the suffering and mortality which occur during this period arises from this cause alone. Regularity, however, is necessary to the parent's health.

The Plan to be followed until the Breast-milk is established.—From the mother's breast alone, in some cases, the child will be able from the first to derive its nourishment; but in the majority of instances, particularly in first confinements, only in part until the third or fourth day after delivery. Where this deficiency exists, it must be supplied by an artificial diet as like the breast-milk as can be found. This is obtained by taking either of ass's milk and boiling water equal parts, or of cow's milk one-third and boiling water two-thirds, slightly sweetening the latter mixture with loaf-sugar. A few spoonfuls of one or the other of these (and the ass's milk is to be preferred) are to be given through the sucking-bottle and not from the boat or spoon. This will secure the infant's stomach from repletion. It will not suck more than it requires-appetite being at this age a better guide than, perhaps, ever after. The act of sucking promotes the flow of saliva, and its mixture with the aliment that is being swallowed, which is

necessary to digestion. Attention to this point will prevent derangement of stomach, with its train of acidity, flatulence, and colic. The breast-milk being fully established, and furnished in sufficient quantity, the artificial food is to be put aside, and from this time nourishment is to be obtained from the breast alone.

The Plan to be followed until the first Teeth appear. For a week or ten days the appetite of the infant must be the mother's guide as to the frequency in offering the breast. The stomach at birth is feeble, and as yet unaccustomed to food; its wants, therefore, are easily satisfied, but they are frequently renewed. An interval, however, sufficient for digesting the little swallowed, is obtained before the appetite again revives, and a fresh supply is demanded.

The week or ten days having expired, the infant is to be nursed until the end of the lying-in month at regular intervals of every three hours night and day. This will allow sufficient time for each meal to be digested, and the stomach to regain the time necessary for the digestion of the next, and tend very essentially to promote the due and healthy action of the bowels. Such regularity, moreover, will do much to obviate fretfulness, and to prevent that constant cry which it appears to the parent and to all about her that nothing but perpetually giving the breast to the infant can allay. The evil, indeed, generally grows out of irregular nursing. The young mother, considering every expression of uneasiness as an indication of appetite, runs into the very serious error of offering the breast at all times and seasons, so that frequently the child has not left the breast ten minutes before it is again put there. In consequence of this injurious and dangerous practice, the stomach of the infant becomes

overloaded, the food remains undigested, the bowels disordered, fever excited, and by-and-by the infant becomes seriously ill, and is, perhaps, eventually lost; when, by simply observing from the first the rules of nursing laid down, it might have continued healthy, and grown into a vigorous child. These cases of indigestion in the infant, caused by irregular and too frequent nursing, are continually occurring; and medicine is given without permanent relief, because the cause of the mischief is not removed-it is overlooked. Fortunately, in most cases, the mother, tired of a fruitless repetition of medicine, seeks further aid, when, by simply adopting a more rational course, the child's symptoms are removed, healthy digestion restored, and no relapse occurs, this happy issue being perhaps obtained without any further employment of medicine.

The lying-in month having expired, it is advisable to alter the periods of night-nursing, or rather to do away with night nursing altogether; that is, to suckle the infant as late as ten o'clock P.M., and not put the child to the breast again until four or five o'clock the next morning. I am constantly in the habit of advising this measure; and I have always found it, when adopted, of great advantage to the mother's health, and never attended by the slighest injury to the child. With the latter it soon becomes a habit; to induce it, however, it must be taught early. It is true that, where there is much delicacy and a feeble constitution, it will be necessary sometimes to postpone it a little longer. This very delicacy, however, though it demands a more frequent supply, calls for the greatest care in affording it, lest it be too frequent and too great in quantity. And be it remembered by

the reader, that this is only an occasional exception to a most important principle, the adoption of which should never be delayed except from paramount nenecessity. Indeed, so convinced am I of the importance to the nursing mother of calm, quiet, and undisturbed repose during the night, that, whenever circumstances will allow of it, I would advise that the child from this time no longer sleep in the bedroom of its parent, but in charge of its nurse. Sleep is as necessary for the restoration of strength as nourishment itself, and the deprivation of it will soon diminish and deteriorate the quantity and quality of the mother's milk, and sometimes-the cause being little suspected-will drive it away all together. I am fully aware of the repugnance of some mothers to this measure, and that even in the wealthiest families, where the best services can be obtained, and every convenience exists, they are unwilling to entrust the child, that they desire should be constantly under their own eye, to a servant's care. however, this change must take devoted mother must submit to it; and the peril is not greater at this time of the child's life than at any other. The grand point is to select a proper person for this duty, and then to exercise over her an active, wise, and firm surveillance. This is seldom sufficiently regarded. A sensible and experienced nursemaid is the exception, not the rule. The short-sighted economy of a few pounds per annum is preferred before the services of one whose watchfulness and care over the physical and moral education of the child would repay a hundredfold any sacrifice it might be necessary to make to obtain them.

Sooner, or later, place; the most

The course, then, is to be followed until the ap