OUR CHILDREN: THEIR PHYSICAL AND MENTAL DEVELOPMENT. THE GREAT AIM OF PARENTS SHOULD BE TO RECONCILE EDUCATION WITH HEALTH AND HAPPINESS. A AUGUSTUS Z.gARMER, A.M., M.D. LATE PBOFESSOB IX X. T. MEDICAL COLLEGE ; AUTHOR OF “ DISEASES OF FEMALES," AXD OTHSB MEDICAL TEXT-BOOKS. HARTFORD, CONN. BELKNAP* & BLISS. DUFFIELD ASHMEAD, PHILADELPHIA, PENN.; W. E. BLISS, TOLEDO, OHIO; WATSON GILL, SYRACUSE, N. T; NETTLETON & CO., CINCINNATI, OHIO. 1872. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by BELKNAP & BLISS, in the office of Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C. THIS LITTLE WORK IS DEDICATED TO JAMES F. D. LANIER, Esq. OF The City of ISTew York. —A. PAT TERM FOR OTJR CHILDREN TO COPY-- IK TESTIMONY Of his Persistent Professional Trust in, AKD UNWAVERING KINDNESS TO THE AUTHOR. INTRODUCTION. There is no theme which comes so near to the universal human heart as that which pertains to our children. What- ever else we may he, rich or poor, patriot or rebel, religious or irreligious, moral or vile, pure or foul, sick or well, we are all fathers and mothers, or we fondly look forward to a time when we shall have our own children to love and care for and he anxious concerning. And curious enough too, whatever has been our experience in early life, whether our origin was humble or lowly, whether we have been sickly or robust, whether petted or neglected, we all are determined that the lot of our children shall, so far as we can effect it, be, in many material respects, different from our own. We would gladly screen our offspring from such hardships, sufferings, annoyances, vexations, or simple neglects by which our early days were clouded, and from which our entire after lives were colored and shaded and more or less disagreably disturbed. We are unable indeed to determine how much we owe to nature and how much to education, how much to inherited characteristics, and how much to accidental circumstances. We are unable to say whether our goodness, such as it is, is not INTRODUCTION. solely owing to such misfortunes as chanced to us; and per- haps all our defects, to injudicious kindness and unregulated opportunities afforded for ease and enjoyment. We are ignorant, and we confess it, and desire more knowl- edge. We think, and we read, and we think again. We get perplexed with doubts respecting the relig- ious and moral and intellectual methods of developing the faculties of our children. We waver between the views of those who advise the largest liberty and the least restraint for children, and those who consider the young mind but like Plaster of Paris, which in youth should be moulded and fashioned and adorned, that thus developed, it may harden and solidify and become as universally upright as the ever- lasting hills. Alas for our theories IWe find too many neglected, orphan- less boys, self-developing, attain the highest altitudes of humanity, and apparently to the celestial height of spiritual excellence. On the contrary, we see the carefully restrained, the sedulously instructed, the object of the warmest parental prayers and solicitude, spurning all, and casting all good examples under their feet, trampling upon virtue and wallow- ing in the sloughs of iniquity. Thus our theories become empty bubbles, our prayers do no further good than, recoil- ing upon ourselves, to bless and strengthen us. We are about to join with the moody, melancholic preacher, and say, “Vanity of Vanities, all is Vanitybut while the words are upon our lips, we remember that although we may not be able to find the hidden springs of the mind and heart, we may yet be able to do something which shall have a permanent effect upon the child of our deep affec- tion. We say to our readers, what is mentality without health, what is moral excellence without life ? We have thought of reaching the shadow, let us rather seize the substance, without which all is nugatory and imagi- INTRODUCTION. nary. Let us seek for the physical elevation of our child- ren. Their health is in no little degree within our power; “it is of this earth, earthy,” and with our finite powers we may guide and guard and elevate. Let us devote ourselves to this initial duty. Health is the basis upon which all else rest. The dispositions, tempers and current thoughts depend, in no little degree, upon it. The receptivity for truth, the appreciation of excellence, the power even of observing goodness and virtue, or judging between right and wrong depend upon the condition of our stomach or brain; perhaps a persistant neuralgia, may make one a bigot and a fanatic; a club-foot a godless, regardless repro- bate. The happiness of our children is then measurably in our hands. We can assiduously guard their first feeble steps, we may preserve their faculties intact, their physical con- stitutions sound by proper care; neglect, may create one blind from almost birth, may develop scrofula in blood and bone, may invite the very messenger of death. Nor while we are thus engaged in this mundane labor, need we neglect the more etherial and less certain labors in de- veloping the mind and soul. The best of all teachings is correct example, and the worst is didactic teachings and en- forced ordinances. Health is a great prophylactic against sin; Few very healthy men are deeply depra/ved. This natural happiness drives away temptation from many}: and vigor of body is the basis for a robust morality. I have been induced to write this present work from an idea that the subject of the physical education and devel- opment of children is not only a very important one, but INTRODUCTION. one of very general interest, and upon which, little or nothing has been said. I don’t suppose that everybody will agree with every portion of it. Indeed, I don’t care if they do not; I have no especial theories to proclaim, no pet hobbies to ride. What I do desire, however is, to have the ideas enter- tained and then discussed, contradicted, disproved even, for this will imply that they have been thought of, weighed, accepted, or what is far better, something more worthy accepted iu their place, and acted upon. I notice, sometimes, a long string of cars, loaded down with valuable merchandize, standing fixed on the track. In vain the engineer attempts to force it along in the de- sired direction, but after futile attempts, he allows the train to run back for a distance, before again attempting to proceed. All that he wants is some motion, in any direct- tion—anything but stagnation. I should not care if my ideas and plans are even switched off the track, and more progressive thoughts be allowed to pass current; surely then I should not object to running back a little, prior to the whole train being carried on into general acceptance. Let me then hopefully offer this new work to a commu- nity that has in other directions encouraged me in writing for the popular mind, in endeavoring to present these great truths of science in simple language, and in familiarizing all with information, till lately much hidden in the mys- terious arcana of learned tongues, professional big wigs and gold-headed canes. The public have long claimed the right of self education, and to think for themselves. More especially is the female mind becoming awakened to its responsibilities. Woman justly claims to exercise her best judgments upon the ordinary matters of life, and surely none are more important than these which are now pressing upon her attention—that of marriage and the INTRODUCTION. proper education of lier children. This volume is offered as an assistance in the ordinary walks of life, and with the hope that, with the blessing of Divine Providence, it may fill a want long apparent, and conduce to the future health and happiness of the American people. Kew Yoke, 237 East 13th St., October, 1871. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. Preliminary Observations ..... 5 Parental Love and Care for Offspring . . 6 Importance of Physical Development ... 7 Health and Happiness of Children ... 8 CHAPTER I. CHAPTER I. The Highest Type of Physical Excellence . . 16 Types of Physical Beauty ..... 19 Exercise and Work Mingled . . . . 21 Organization of the Body .... 23 111 Health a Folly—lnfluence of “ Isms ” . . 25 Improvements in Medicines .... 31 General Care for Health ..... S3 Prerequisites for Health ..... 36 CHAPTER 11. Our Physical Heritage . . , . . 38 The Mind’s Influence in Procreation ... 41 Formation of Character ..... 42 Hereditary Transmissions ..... 43 Marriage—Whom shall we Marry ? , , . 45 When shall we Marry? ..... 47 Condition of Parents .... t 53 Mind Influencing the Unborn , , , , 55 CHAPTER 111. Maternity ....... 57 The Mother’s Needs ...... 61 Physical Demands of the Mother ... 63 Province of Medicine . . . • . 64 A serious Thought for Mothers .... 65 CONTENTS CHAPTER IV. The Proper Nutriment for Children ... 67 The Petted Babb . . . . . . 69 Early Government of Children .... 70 Facts the Mother should Understand ... 73 Disease in the Teeth ..... 79 Regimen eor Children . . . . . 83 Candy Eating ....... 84 The Children’s Table . , . , . . 89 CHAPTER Y. CHAPTER V. Children’s Clothing ...... 91 Baby’s Dress . . . . , . . 93 Low Necked Dresses ...... 95 Corsets and Hoops ...... 97 Shoes and Stockings, etc., etc. .... 90 CHAPTER YI. CHAPTER YI. Personal Habits ...... 100 Secretions of the Skin ..... 101 Cleanliness of the Teeth ..... 103 Importance oe Proper Habits .... 104 Children’s Beds . . . . , . 105 Secret Enervating Habits ..... 190 CHAPTER VII. ’ The Grand Changing Periods of Life . . .113 Great Watchfulness and Care Required . . 113 Manly Aspirations and Characteristics . . 113 Marked Periods in the Female Sex . . .114 Confidential Discourse between Parent and Child 117 Great Physical Changes ..... 118 Ailments peculiar to the Sex .... 120 The Impending Moral Change .... 123 The Influence and Duties of the Mother . . 125 CHAPTER VIII. CHAPTER VIII. Reciprocal Influence of Mind and Body . . 126 The Mind a Source of Disease .... 127. Subject Illustrated ... . , , , 125 What Constitutes a Doctor .... 129 Inefficacy of Medicines in Many Complaints . 130 Education of Children . . . . .131 CHAPTER IX. CHAPTER IX. Training of Mind and Body , . . 133 Mental Capacity and Natural Abilities . . 134 Public Schools and School Books . . .139 Proper School Hygiene and Ventilation . . 140 Over Study,—Serious Results Therefrom . . 141 CONTENTS Responsibilities and Duties of a Teacher T , 143 CHAPTER X. The Marking System . .... 144 Respect to Teachers . . . . . 146 Studies should be Made Interesting . , . 147 The Two Natures of a Child .... 152 Claims of the Body and Mind .... 154 Amusements and Recreations .... 161 CHAPTER XI. CHAPTER XL p Manly Exercises and Out-Door Sports . . . 166 Sports and Exercises for Girls .... 169 Injurious Effects from Skating .... 170 Gymnastic Exercises ...... 173 Pleasant Thoughts Beneficial to Health . . 177 What shall Children Read? .... 179 CHAPTER XII. The Era op General Reading .... 181 Importance oe Cultivating the Habit , . . 183 A True Source of Pleasure .... 185 CHAPTER XIII. Home Amusements ...... 186 Music—Games—Card Playing .... 188 Home should be Made Attractive . . .191 Dancing—lts Good and Objectionable Features . 199 Selection of Companions ..... 202 Laws of Social Life—A Mother’s Duties . . 204 Private Entertainments . . . . . 205 Habits of the Young. ..... 208 CHAPTER XIV. ‘ Personal Cleanliness ..... 209 Care of the Teeth and of the Hair . . . 212 Use of Tobacco ...... 215 Spirituous and Vinous Drinks .... 217 Morbid Habits of Mind ..... 220 Dreams op Youth ...... 223 The Accidents op Childhood and Treatment . . 226 CHAPTER XV. CHAPTER XV. Blows on the Head—Water in the Ear . . 230 Injuries to the Eyes—Freezing the Ears . . 232 Cuts from a Sharp Instrument .... 233 Injuries from Gunpowder ..... 235 Broken Bones—lnjuries to the Head , . . 340 Drowning 343 Burns and Scalds . . . . , , 245 XIV CONTENTS CHAPTER XVI. Contagious Diseases of the Skin .... 252 Small Pox—lts Description .... 255 Measles—Symptoms, &c. ..... 260 Scarlet Fever, Scarlitina, &c. .... 263 Dyptheria—Treatment, &c. .... 273 How Contagious Diseases are spread . . . 275 CHAPTER XVII. CHAPTER XVII. Enemies to Good Looks ..... 277 Pimples, Freckles ...... 278 Solar Lenticular Ephelis ..... 280 Useful Recipes . . . . , . . 282 Warts—Skin Deformities—Remedies ... 284 Summer Complaint ...... 286 CHAPTER XVIII. CHAPTER XVIII. How Caused—lts Treatment .... 288 Water on the Brain—Symptoms .... 290 Remote and Proximate Causes .... 292 Purulent Ophthalmia ..... 294 Blindness ....... 295 Whooping Cough and Treatment . . .297 CHAPTER XIX. Convulsions of Children and Causes . . .301 Different Forms of Convulsions .... 803 Symptoms and Treatment ..... 806 Teething, Cutping the Gums .... 307 CHAPTER XX CHAPTER XX Croup—lts Symptoms and Treatment . . .309 White Swelling—lts Treatment .... 314 Great Advance in Medical Knowledge and Surgical Skill . . . • • . • . 317 Mumps—Symptoms and Treatment , , . 319 Sleep—lts Uses and Abuses .... 821 CHAPTER XXI. Especially Requisite for the Young . . , 823 When Shall We Sleep? ..... 327 Where Shall We Sleep? . , , . 339 . What Shall We Sleep on? , , . .330 Sleeplessness From Disease , , 333 What Shall be Done for it ? , , ,337 CHAPTER I. NATURE THE TYPE—LIFE INTELLIGENTLY GUIDED SHOULD TEND TOWARD THAT TYPE. ITwould seem almost unnecessary to tell an intelligent people that health is summum horncm, the brightest jewel which physical man possesses. I was somewhat loth to endeavor to add a spark to an enthusiasm for health, which would seem so perfectly tangible as to out- weigh, in the consideration of most men, the perfect gold of moral well-being. But in looking about me, I came to the conclusion that so far from esteeming health more than morality, both seemed matters of comparative inconsequence with the more glittering virtues of wealth and ambition. Beauty I find in high demand, yet I find men and women trying to attain it after the manner of certain arch- itects of low degree—by the application of stucco work to uncouth structures and flimsy frames, which the mercy of God alone has so far preserved from the just wrath of the elements. And yet this thing—which I find of so little repute, that delicacy is now imputed to all for morality, religion, and beauty—is really more essential to the well-being of the race than morality, or religion, or genius, or ambition, for it is the keystone to the whole social edifice; and without it, all your religion, morality, ambition, &c., Ac., become subject immediately to the sway of dyspepsia, and ulti- OUR CHILDREN. 16 mately to tliat of a stronger race, who may graft upon ns whatever thing in morals and religion they would. National poor health must of necessity produce national death—and the death of all things involved in national life. Cleanliness is next to godliness—hut cleanliness is only one essential to health —what health is next to, I leave as a conundrum for any Sybilline interpretation. But it is not my purpose to write of national decay, but to attempt in this volume to show the individual man and woman, what is the highest type of physical excellence and how to attain it—although I am fully convinced that few of you have ever arrived at a realization of perfect health, and that most of you are too lazy or too indifferent to attain unto it—yet I cannot pay you the poor compliment of pre- suming that your whole nature has become so impregnated with foul humors, as that the desire after health should seem injurious, or its attainment, bodily translation, or rather disembodiment, a process which ignorance has led you to contemplate with terror. Man, the type of the Divinity, falls entirely short, as a rule, of the ideal; while all else in nature animate or inanimate, as a rule conforms to the idea of excellence and beauty, as implanted in the breast. That this is so is con- firmed by a seeming objection, to wit: That while in our conceptions of man, there is an ideal perfection in our thoughts on nature, we concede perfect fitness and beauty, and in our attempts to manufacture an ideal, fall invariably into absurdities—magnificent ones to be sure, and some- times glorified by religious elevation—but still absurdities. The jewelled gates of Paradise, and her golden streets and crystal river, are faint types of those gates which stand now white—now dun—now iris-hued, flashing with colors name- less, ever changing, inimitable round the high heaven or MAN A CREATURE OF CIRCUMSTANCE. 17 which now softly open,perchance to let the King of Glory in, or fly horizon-ward or melt into the blue profound—the jewels and gold of the Apocalypse are mean before the flashing of the midnight heavens, and the crystal river is hut glass indeed in the bright waves of the galaxy—the paradise of man’s so called inspired imagination, is a dim reflection of that glory which surrounds us by night and by day. We, never having seen perfection in man are content to imagine it, while in nature having it always before us we invariably demonstrate our incapacity to make, or control a universe by arrangements which would result in a general chaos. Or it may be, that man being the express image of a perfect God, his gropings after the ideal are ever deflected from the perfect type by virtue of the divinity that is within him. As it is man’s glory snd strength to aspire, so per- fection works its own ruin, in that nothing is left for aspiration. As it is man’s glory to seek this perfection, so it is our purpose, in the. succeeding chapters, to help to the attain- ment of a component of it—the physical. And while we shall seek for physical excellence, it will be found that as a corollary, mental and spiritual perfection follow close in its wake. It has become more and more certain, as science has progressed, that man is a creature of circumstances; that he is responsible for the highest excellence compatible with his surroundings, it needs no discussion of the per- plexing theories of volition to understand. But that the standard of excellence, physical and moral, is in direct ratio with external nature, has been demonstrated by the experience of ages and by the pen of philosophers. So that if we would direct man to attain excellence, we can only show him a standard of it, possible of attainment, compatible with the surroundings in which Providence has placed him. 18 OUR CHILDREN. He would be mad indeed, who should hope that the inhabitant of tropical Africa might attain the physical per- fection of Hercules, or the intellectual vigor of Alcibiades or Csesar. Yet doubt not, some supple hunter of Ashantee furnishes as noble a model to his compatriots, as did the noblest Greek or Homan of them all, to the ancient heroes and sages. It is for us then to take our model, and to select it with reference to our own capacities and the adjuncts with which nature has blessed us. Many a time, reader, you have witnessed specimens of manly, or womanly beauty and grace; you have instinctively compared the one with Hercules, and the other with Yenus. Here then, are your types, and they are not the dead types of a buried race, but living to your appreciation as truly as they did to that of the Greek, As they had no exis- tence for the Greek, save in the imagination and in the marble, so—saving your nineteenth century practically— doth your imagination picture the hero, and the goddess, and the earven stone; verify it, and the man and woman before you in a measure approximate to your ideal. Herein are you and the Greek alike, but the after action is different; the Greek repairs to the gymnasium, you to the pie and condiments; the Greek to the bath and strigil, but you, my sweet maiden, too often to powder and paint; while the Greek (I blame him) would far too often rid himself of a puny infant in a reprehensible fashion, you consider that Providence, in giving you a diseased child, has blessed you with an infant prodigy, and perhaps the subject of a Sunday School story. Yon do right, only in so far as you try to expel this pro- digiousness, or rather monstrosity, by exercise and good air and association with rough and vigorous boys. You con- sider a God-like form, as a gift of Providence and give TYPES OF PHYSICAL BEA UTY. 19 thanks. But you rarely take the trouble, if the natal mechanism has failed to do you full justice, to be as near like him as is possible, you, who were intended to be his express image. Herein the man whom you complacently call heathen, was instinctively, by virtue of no sibyllinic oracle your superior in piety. You, are under the scriptural injunction. He, was under none save the still promptings of the God in him, which impelled him to the contempla- tion and the imitation, so far as in him lay, of the supremest beauty and strength. Actually it has been, and for aught I know, is, part and parcel of the faith of some of you, to mar that body through ignorance of its best condition, while you are mentally and morally incompetent to appre- hend its fullness and excellence or properly to practice the teachings of any system. Now, is there any good reason why a physical culture, and consequent perfection similar to that of the Greeks should not take root in America ? And first, let us look at the actual facts to which I have alluded. And speaking of the Greeks, you are aware that the word Greek stands for many tribes, whose characteristics were much more distinct and diversified than, for instance, those of the various states of these United States. But the representative types of the Greek are further from perfection, in that they express extremes in morals and indeed in physique—l mean of course Sparta and Athens. In Sparta, physique was everything, subordinating intellect, moi’ality, and loyalty even. In Athens, it was a means to an end. In Sparta, the contemplation of, and satisfaction in personal beauty, in its highest developement, supplanted all aspiration after an ideal perfection, embracing physical beauty, as intensified and glorified by nobility of soul and high intellect. In Athens, physical perfection was sought not only as a means to the military success and glory of 20 OUR CHILDREN. the Commonwealth, but as an essential to the lasting glory of the state, and to conquests which should remain secure and valuable, after the minds that completed them had sought the companionship of the immortals, and the sound bodies had returned to dust. Now the characteristics of the Greek mind, as of the Greek civilization, were harmony and simplicity. To be at one with Nature, to be in harmony with one’s being, to conform the inward with the outward perfection, was the aim and ideal of Hellenic nature. The symmetry of Apollo, and the symmetry of the lonic pillar were but different forms of that physical harmony, which was itself but the “ outward and visible form, of that inward and spiritual grace,” whose rare sense of proportion modulated the chorus, established the dramatic unities, measured the hexameter, marshalled the phalanx, and traced the circles and triangles of Euclid “ with flawless demonstration.” The gymnasium was erected side by side with the theatre, the agora and the porch. The conditions of life were simple. The people were bare-headed and lived in the air. Their'' wines were pure, their climate even, their cities small. “ Fine old leisure ” sat by the fountains in the public squares, and work alternated healthfully with play. The theoric fund was a sanitary agent. The tobacco, the air-tight stoves, the unintermitting toil, the in-door habits, the feverish rush of life, the thousand demands on nerve-power and vitality, which our crowded century makes, were aloof from the calm flow of the classic existence. It is now the problem—how to spare time from our occupations to develope our bodies, or even our souls symmetrically. It takes time to be an athlete, and time is money. The way in which Dio Lewis would have us spend our day, leaves out of the account the peremptory calls of bus- EXERCISE AND WORK MINGLED. 21 iness. The bath, the dumb-bell, the walk, or row, or other daily “ constitutional ” exercise, are religiously kept up for a fortnight, till stress of business or change of place, grad- ually breaks in upon om bravest resolution, and the rising biceps ebbs to its ancient mark, and the chest grows narrow, and the shoulders round over the enthralling desk. A distinguished professor in one of our colleges, reserved one hour a day for exercise. He was persuaded to give up this hour temporarily, to the preparation of a work, for which his publishers made him tempting offers. That hour made the difference between life and death. So with short sighted economy, we go on increasing the pressure till the brain cracks, or the lungs give way, or we are hope- lessly dyspeptic. Use no stimulants says Hygiene. But how else shall we repair our shattered nerves ? In a thorough, natural, and primitive state, we can imagine that a pipe of Virginia would simply nauseate our pure and uncorrupted senses. “ Think of spoiling the fine elixir of the morning by a cup of coffee,” said Thoreau, and so may men say who live like him “ close to the bone.” But for ns, the laboring classes, whether of cities, or of farms, we live an artificial life, and need artificial appliances to make it tolerable. If our pursuits are too engrossing to allow us to live by rule, we must fill the gaps by the best means that we have; some- thing we need to repair the ravages, which the ideal, the Utopean, the perfectly healthful, but impossible existence would not have made. Here steps in the science of Hygiene. This is the province of modern medicine, to teach us how we may best apply the rules of health to, large populations, living a hurried and laborious life, in a highly artificial state of society. Medicine is not all remedial. Perhaps its highest func- 22 OUR CHILDREN. tion is to regulate rather than to cure. In the rudest times there was a rough sort of surgery, and a scanty but perhaps adequate pharmacopoeia of simples, but doubtless the sole rules of hygiene observed, were to avoid poisons and follow the dictates of nature. But now that our life conforms so little to nature, and now when medicine is emerging from the domains of Empiricism, and taking rank among the exacts sciences, we may look for its crowning triumphs, in those laws of good living, strict but yet practicable, which it shall cause to be engraved on the pillars of the market, and to be proclaimed as with golden trumpets, that all may see and hear and practice for themselves. The science of Hygiene as perfected in the schools of medicine, while it has opened up the vegetable and mineral world, and rendered amenable to the behests of the science many subtle essences and potent solutions; while it has analyzed the components of the body, indirectly applied as a remedy, and practically confirmed the practice with the the- ory, with results sometimes flattering, sometimes futile; has also established the fact, that all the remedies of the laboratory, are but accessories to the more important curatives which float in the air, and develope mysteriously within the body in obedience to the laws of being, before neglected. As in a fracture of a limb, the crutch is merely the abettor to the gradual renewal, and an assistant in the necessary use of the part, so in diseases, do medicines hold but a place secondary to the rules of good living. This body so exquisitely organized, is also strongly made. It is not a frail tenement of the soul, subject to mysteri- ous and unavoidable forces in nature, that work its weal or woe, ad libitum. Its keeping is in a great measure in our own hands, as also is its restoration to perfection, if shattered by abuse and neglect, provided the foundation be not ruined. Some one has called it a crime to be sick. ILL HEALTH A FOLLY. 23 Complaints against onr miserable bodies, are at least ques- tionable, coming from those, whose money and leisure, and daily avocation have been directed to its destruction. He who wrould condemn as a fool, one, who should thrust a crow-bar into the machinery of an engine, and attribute the result to a fault of the machinery, has no excuse for the condition of his miserable body, which after years of abuse, he has succeeded in making a nuisance to himself and his neighbors. He who would condemn as foolish, the engineer who allowed unalleviated friction, to generate a white heat in the joints of his engine, considers it hard that the tem- per of his body and its parts, should fail when subjected to unremitting toil. It is time, that the wretched carelessness of the body, begotten of medieval notions of the virtue, that lies in trials and vigils and crucifications of the flesh, should give place to the practice of those far less barbarous heathen, who strive for the sana mens in corpore sano, and such is rapidly becoming the accepted belief. The “ pale abstemious student,” has given place to the “ muscular Christian ” in our Universities, and the valedic- torian wdiile equally learned, is less consumptive than in the times of our Puritan Ancestors, who were wont to speak of their bodies contemptuously, as “crusts’’and “ shells ” forgetting in whose image they were fashioned. But we of this generation go beyond Mollusks and “ think nobly of the body.” Our women have begun to recognize the truth, that it is more beautiful to be healthy, than to be interesting, and as one of the cleverest has wittily said apropos of the “ sweetness in womans decay ”—“ that a woman ought to be as much ashamed to be dyspeptic, as to be drankand as the people conform themselves to more healthful, and sensible ways of life, to ventilation, and exercise, and well cooked food, the physician’s task lies more and more in generalizing the laws of health, in point- OUR CHILDREN. ing out and locating the harm, which inevitably flows from particular transgressions of those laws, and in showing the helplessness of remedial medicine, to do more than alleviate the righteous visitations of Nature, for such transgressions. As the possibilities and limitations of medical skill have become thus defined, its ancient pretentions have vanished with the dream of the elixir and the panacea, and have given place to more candid and rational promises of what it can effect for man. It employs drugs less, and nature more. Instead of wasting its energies in fruitless specula- tions, as to the nature of the vital principle, or in searches after a universal specific, it applies itself more intelligently, if less ambitiously, to the perfection of practical surgery? and the improvement of special appliances. It has invented the stethoscope, discovered the virtue of chloroform as an anaesthetic, and carried obstetrics to an exact science. It pursues its ends, with simplicity and openness, discarding that mystery, which is the characteristic of quackery, in all pursuits alike, and substituting the language of every day life, for the barbarous jargon, which disgraced its ancient lore, and made the nobler art of healing, no better than a black art. With a view, to spreading a knowledge of its plain and beneficent principles, among that community which it seeks to bless, it has established able and popular journals of health, as well as more technical organs for discussion, among its own professors, and has even obtained afoot-hold in the literary magazines and periodicals of the day, where its contributions, are among the most profitable and readable in the table of contents. Many of the abuses of the olden practice, have been rectified from outside, and at first hostile schools. The followers of Hahnemann and other Reform- ers and Theorists, at first bitterly denounced, by the regular practitioners, have succeeded in modifying the practice of INFLUENCE OF “ ISMSU 25 tlie latter, by tlie agitation of doctrines, containing with much of error, some grains of valuable, and greatly needed truths. No one we presume, will deny, that whatever may be thought of the truth of the fundamental maxim, similia similibus curantur, the profession is more largely indebted than they are as yet willing to allow, to the Homeopathists, for the reform in the old system of excessive drugging. In medicine, as in other departments of learning, the true and broad philosopher, will not hesitate to exercise a wise election, borrowing from every new so-called school, what- ever of useful and genuine it has to offer, and rejecting whatever is spurious. The phenomena of animal magnetism, abused by vulgar charlatans, to trifling or harmful purposes, the earnest explorer after truth, will approach with a mind cautious, but open to conviction, prepared to wrest from the darkest arena of Nature, the precious secrets of healing, which may there be found, hidden like diamonds among obscure rubbish. In like manner, the Hydropathic treatment, the Swedish movement cure, the Grape cure, etc. are useful in bringing into prominence—a one-sided, and pretentious prominence tho’ it be—some neglected, or undeveloped sanitary force, in the great repository of Nature. Dio Lewis may be called a quack, but he does a valuable service to the public health, in calling attention, to need of more exercise to prevent physical degeneracy, in an anxious and money getting race. Dr, Graham was undoubtedly a fanatic, but he aimed some heavy blows at dyspepsia. Such men, if not true reformers, are at least agitators, and lead people to think of their own health and to care for it. Even an experiment which fails, is of use. It reduces the field for future errors. In this new Country, the physiologists say, a national term perament or constitution is forming, whose conditions of OUR CHILDREN. health are different in onr dry and nervous climate, from the same conditions in the “ rainy isles,” where the physi- cal type of our Fathers was formed. The mission of American medicine, will be the study of the new American man—his new diseases, modified nervous, muscular and respiratory systems, peculiar strength and peculiar weak, nesses, and need. “Will the coming man drink wine?” is only one ot numerous questions, which American medicine must answer in reference to that mysterious creature of prophesy. Let us hope, that our physicians will display the same originality, and skill, in adapting their remedies, and regimens, to altered conditions in climate and ways of life, which has already placed American surgery foremost in the World ! The mention of Surgery, reminds us, that the more rapid strides -which that branch of medicine, and its kindred science of obstetrics have made of late years, ought not to discourage us, with the slower progress of other depart- ments of the healing art. The former, are strictly remedial —the relief given by them is immediate, and easily appre- ciable. The oculist, who removes a cataract, does a seem- ingly more wonderful, and certainly a more showy thing, than he, who, by a gradual and careful treatment of a patient’s entire system, diet, exercise, etc. restores little by little, the lost usefulness of an eye. Nevertheless, if prevention be indeed, better than cure, the discovery of a single rule of health, is a more truly beneficent work, than the most brilliant operation described in the books. The widest, and most practical service, which the doctors can do, is to tell us, how we may best live, whether we subsist on herbs and water in the woods, or dine out in the cities. And here, let us notice one error, as to the proper conduct of life—physically speaking—which pervades the writings of almost every non-professional writer who touches upon AN IMAGINATION ERA. the subject of health, just as political philosophers of the school called a priori, assume some original condition of society, some golden age, from which all others are more or less departures, so it is frequently taken for granted, that there has at some time been a normal condition of physical life, where a rude health was enjoyed by a simple and hardy race of men, from whom all modern societies are de- generate departures. Thus, it is assumed, that at some period in the history of the race, all men lay down at sunset and arose at sunrise, ate only the simplest food, drank only water, obeyed the dictates of some mysterious and infallibly wholesome “Na- ture,” and that such primitive regimen, was the one most calculated to insure vigorous health and great longevity. The traditions of every people, preserve the memory or the myth of such a period. The Patriarchs lived centuries of life. “ There were giants on earth in those days.” The habits of animals, are used as a measure of the departure of modern ways of life, from that standard which is assumed to be the original, normal, natural rule of living among men. “To rise with the lark, and with the lark to bed,’’“Adam’s ale,” and other proverbs, and popular ex- pressions, indicate the constant reference to some ideal normal state, when men lived closer to nature, and drew their habits from the beasts and birds. It is needless to point out to those conversant with the facts, the unfounded character of these assumptions. The rule of health among lower orders of life, is not the rule of health with us. The higher and more complicated our organization, the greater our powers and our longevity. Neither should we live the life of savages, or primitive men. Statistics show, that longevity increases with civili- zation, instead of decreasing. The Saxon is a healthier man and capable of greater endurance than the Aztec. 28 OUR CHILDREN. Because the sun sets at five in the winter Solstice, shall we burn no lamps? Because the lions drink water, shall we forswear our claret ? A drop of nicotine, Mr. Barton tells us, will kill a dog, shall the smoker therefore renounce his pipe of Virginia? The truth is, that the analogy so constantly insisted on between beasts or savages, and men of a more delicate, more cultivated and far nobler organization, is misleading. If the needs of the former are simple, their diseases fewer, so are their powers less varied, their recuperative resources more meagre, and their whole tone less truly healthy than our own. The digger Indian feeds on roots and drinks water, but the beef-eating and beer-drinking Englishman, out-grows and out-lives him, in despite of Dr. Graham and the agra- arians. By this, I do not mean to defend those clearly unnatural, and artificial modes of existence, to which a highly wrought state of society often tempts—especially in great cities—• absinthe and opium ; the turning of night into day; to live on one’s nerves, instead of on his muscles and tissues; too much of life’s eau de vie and not enough of its milk ; too little of the ruminant and vegetable existence, which builds up great bodies, and too much of the nervous energy, which impels them ; these things will soon wear out a race as it has the Parisians. In our late war, the troops most endur- ing of marches, and the hardships of campaigns were the City regiments. But we must have the tonic material of the country back of us as a reservoir. All that I would claim by these observations is, that we must not treat ourselves as if living in caves, and feed- ing on raw meat and ground nuts, nor be always re-seeking the lost vigor of an imagined ancestry of Siegfrieds, but find out what regulations are most sanitary for enlightened THE PAST, FA THE PRESENT. 29 beings, who live in houses of several stories, warmed by- furnaces and stoves; who eat three meals a day with those forks, which though made subsequently to fingers, as the proverb tells us, are perhaps as natural to us, puppets of civilization, as the latter. Indeed, it is more than probable that modem living, artificial as it is, is better adapted to our physical need, than the simpler methods of our ancestors. The Bard and the Romancistmay extol the annals of past generations, but research reveals the fact, that the present race-is in the main, superior to those gone before. If we look with fond retrospect upon the rough, hearty, good old times, upon the yule log and the chimney place, the warm hospitality, the chivalrous gallantries, of gold and lace-adorned cavaliers depicted on fans, and idealized by the poets and extolled by our grandmothers; upon the sturdy piety, as well as the whole souled conviality; we must not lose sight of the im- perfect ventilation, the too promiscuous assemblage of clean and unclean beneath the hospitable roof, the low ceilings, the want of cleanliness, the hospitality which too often smacked of debauchery, the rampant quackery which prac- ticed the “ kill or cure ” system, and sought remedies, not for their proven efficiency, but for their known nastiness; the piety which formed saints in fanatics, the gluttony which satisfied itself, with vast amounts rather than with rare dainties; we must not lose sight of these I say, before we condemn the age in which we live, as rendering good living impracticable, by reason of conditions altered for the worse. Ours is a time, when old wife’s tales and panaceas have given place to science. Are we valetudinarians ? It is not in my opinion a bad sign, for it argues that the laws of health are beginning to present themselves, as relative to all the conditions of mental, and physical, and moral exis- 30 OUR CHILDREN. tence. "We know the prevalence of intemperance ; but ask some old gentleman, who loves to re-enact his past, in im- agination, to recount the valorous feats in eating and drink- ing he witnessed, perhaps around, and upon, and under his father’s mahogany, in the old mansion down in Pearl Street. Think of the license which exempted not from suspicions the most shameful, the highest circles in society. Do we lament the negligence of street commissioners ? I doubt not there live those who remember our streets as the wal- lowing places of swine, and general receptacle for garbage. Of luxuries we have many, but it is a question if time has not hidden many a gross one, and revealed many less hurtful. Peacock’s tongues perhaps represented, a more far-fetched sumptuousness than pate de foies gras. The dining, powdering, late hours, and deep potations of the last century were more dissipated, than our own opera goings and dram drinking. Few people, even among the habitues of our gilded “ sample rooms,” and bagnios, nowadays live in deliberate disregard of the more obvious laws of health, to the same extent, as was done in the court circles of George the Fourth’s period. The improvement in common sense and simplicity, in the cut of our clothes, and the fashion of our landscape gardening, pervades even our extravagances and dissipations as well. In many ways, we live more health- fully and rationally than our “sturdy ancestors.” Our ventilation arrangements are better, we let in more sun- light on our dwellings, and cook our food better. Our wines are less heavily brandied, and our liquors, on the whole, are purer, despite the cry of adulteration, and the statistics of health commissioners. Medicine has exploded numberless abominations of the nurses, an ignorant race of tyrants, who abused sick men in the early part of the present century, who governed IMPROVEMENTS IN MEDICINES. 31 tlieir treatment by traditionary superstitions, rather than by any well-defined principles or medical knowledge, and of whom Sairy Gamp is hardly a caricature. Patients are now no longer deprived of water when suffering from fever, no longer starved when convalescing, no longer plunged in cold water for sprains, and cupped to death wdien fainting for want of blood. But the “ currents and counter currents in medical sci- ence,” are constantly shifting. As old diseases disappear, or lose their horrors, new and unheard of maladies succeed. It is scarcely credible to this generation, that small pox was once such a terrible and fatal scourge, so entirely has inoculation stripped it of its prevalent power. On the other hand, the typhoid and Bright’s disease are modern scourges, of which our ancestors could not foretoken. How mere a name is leprosy! But the yellow fever and the cholera, have still a fearful sound to men of this decade, even though it is found, that it is but another name for tilth. Old nostrums have lost their efficacy, and fresh drugs have developed unsuspected virtues. Families of poisonous plants have become potent agents of healing, in the hands of a bold and revolutionary school; many injuries once esteemed fatal, modern surgery makes light of. Pha- raoh no longer heals the grief of a wound, but in place of Pharaoh, the young Egyptians fill the hospitals with scalpels of a less antique model. The king’s-evil is no more cured by a touch of the royal hand, and lodine and lunar caustic supply the place of an invocation. In all tendencies, there is great encouragement that the laws of health, which for ages since the foundation of the Christian civilization, have been scandalously violated, are receiving their merited estimation. But these goodly in- novations, are in great measure counteracted by new and peculiar vices. The too painful carefulness for health, OUR CHILDREN. often begets a mistaken idea of the influence of nature. The fear of a cold, impels to an unwise confinement, and the dread of wet feet to abstinence from all exercise in wet weather. So too, the inference of the monotheists,—if I may use the word, as applicable to our modern believers in the virtue of one panacea—often tends to a blindness of the fact, that certain laws are applicable to certain conditions. The efficacy of the cold bath is undoubted, under certain conditions of temperament, yet that, which in one case may stimulate, in another, may shatter. The use of a simple and spare diet, if we may believe these reformers, is the one desideratum, the golden rule in matters sanitary. Yet, in many cases it will be discovered, that the opposite is the real need, and the stimulation of depressed energies the only hope. Even in the matter of exercise, there is some- times danger of excess, as I have too often observed in my own professional experience. In fine, the emancipation of the generation from the servitude of past systems, and its casting off of evil habits, while it has begotten an inde- pendence, has also begotten with it, an indiscriminate, at the same time arrogant, trust in specific systems. “What’s good for one, is good for all,” is a proverb, with some of our would-be reformers, nor have I any doubt that the spread of physiological knowledge, the production of greatly preponderating good, has brought with it a dan- gerous self-conceit. From the observance of general positive laws, to the application of specifics, is a long and dangerous step. The medicine chest, while, as I observed, argues a knowledge of medicinal virtues, must in many cases, argue besides, an ill-advised application, and an unskillful tampering with the system, at times, when rest is the only requisite. The medicine chest in private use, is too apt to smack of the liberal herb decoctions, with which village wise-acres dose their hapless disciples. GENERAL CARE FOR HEALTH. 33 In medicine, as in morals and politics, it is wise to strive after that happy medium, which recognizing a possibility of good in all things, yields to none an unquestionable allegiance; and as the above opinion is perhaps applicable, more specifically to our wrangling medical systems, and schools, than to their respective followers; to the latter, I would say, that it is perhaps better to yield partial alle- giance to inclinations and tendencies, if not obviously injurious, than to positive prescriptions and probabilities resulting from wide generalizations, and in many cases inapplicable to specific temperaments. The one general need is, that in the pursuit after health, as in the strife for godliness, we should follow those principles, which our consciences and the good results accruing from their ob- servance ratify. That we should avoid the obvious evil, and cling to the obvious good. Platitudinarian advice to be sure, but tangible and practical enough to every man, who is suffi- ciently honest to recognize and confess the fact, that in matters sanitary as in morals, the slips, are not so much attributable to ignorance as to willful blindness, as witness the readiness with which the ailing can generally trace their condition back to physical sin. Not alone dyspeptics and valetudinarians, but all careful men make a study of their own bodies, learn by observation what they need, and regulate their diet and other usages accordingly. We should all be more or less, in the habit of watching ourselves, and should generally know, as well as our physicians could tell, what is good, and what is bad for us. We know to what indiscretion, we may refer yes- terday’s colic, or this morning’s headache. The public health is also the object of wise care. The sanitary regulations of cities, the hospitals of every descrip- tion, the severe penalties for the adulteration of food, the OUR CHILDREN. vigilance committees, and the redoubled vigilance of quar- antines and commissions, in times when cholera and other infection is dreaded, all show the increasing thoughtfulness concerning health. It is a hopeful sign too, to mark the annually growing crowds of tourists, who leave our heated cities in the summer, to bathe in the surf of Newport, to rough-it in the Adirondacks, or foot-it through the White Mountains, to drink the sulphur or chalybeate waters of our mineral springs, or to rusticate in the quieter, purer air of our country villages. The fact, that we are at last taking time enough, in which to attend to our physical "well-being, argues well for us as a nation. The goitres and cretins of the beautiful Swiss valleys, show us the ravages which confined air, and bad water have made in a naturally fine people. The degeneration of the Aztec tribe, produced perhaps by ex- cessive intermarriage, shows us a once graceful and hand- some race, reduced to stunted and grinning savages, from a disregard of natural laws. Travelers in the Polar regions tell us, that the Esquimaux are gradually becoming extinct, owing largely to their uncleanly habits, the excessive heat of their huts, and the oleaginous food which the climate renders necessary. All those facts warn us, that races, careless of the rules of health, may rapidly degenerate, or even disappear, as the Indians are doing. Therefore it is that we hail this national awakening to the importance of physical culture, and the signs of it which I have mentioned. One of the signs of modem progress, is the increasing and intelligent interest taken in the subject of health. Where some years ago, the majority of men were entirely dependent upon their doctor, incapable of prescribing for themselves, in their simplest ailments, and utterly ignorant of the uses and nature of the most ordinary remedies; few PRE-REQUISITES OF HEALTH. 35 families are now without their medicine chests, and the symptoms and peculiarities of the various forms of disease, with their respective modes of treatment, are understood and discussed among all classes of educated men. The more unrecognizable properties of such drugs as opium, camphor, quinine, chloroform, rhubarb, ipecac, iodine, aconite, bella-donna are familiar to many housekeepers. The various functions performed by different kinds of food, in building up the components of the human system, are better understood by the laic mind than formerly. What food contains starch, and what phosphorus, and what part each plays, in the repair of tissues, is no longer a secret of the dentists. Physiology is taught in our free schools, and in lyceum lectures, and illustrated by cuts and man- ikins. Such crude and mechanical conceptions of the origin of pain, as once led old women to speak of a colic, as the “ twisting of the ling bones,” would be laughed at nowa- days by the most unprofessional. We venture to say, that the general process of circulation, digestion, aud respiration, are almost universally understood. So are the general structure of the skeleton, the function of the liver, the kidneys, the skin, the veins, arteries, and capillaries. The laws and first requisites of health, are very generally known, and Herbert Spencer’s Primary Guide in Education,—the teaching the manner, in which life and health are directly preserved—has been spontaneously reached by an enquiring community. Every one now comprehends, that ventilation, moderate exercise, regular hours, wholsome food, and cleanliness, are the pre-requisites of health. “ Our fathers,” said the Abbot Alexander mournfully, “ never washed their faces, but we frequent the public baths.”* *Patres nostri nunquara facies suas lavabant—nos autera lavacra publica balneaque frequentamus. Moschus, Pratum Sjpirituale. Moschus, Pratum Sjpirituale. 36 OUR CHILDREN. To lay down, and enumerate at this point, rales for guid- ance, as to diet, exercise, bathing, amount of sleep, venti- lation, medicine, etc., would be foreign to the purposes of this introduction, which is designed to be general, and not particular, to be less a lecture on hygiene, than a prefatory chapter asserting the province of modem physic, and the proper methods in which the subject of physical health, should be approached, by the readers of treatises like the following. To expect that the perusal of one, or many books, however exhaustive and correct, will be sufficient to furnish us with a practical rule of life, is as unreasonable as to suppose that the study of chemistry, or geology, may be mastered by a study of text-books, without the necessity of putting on the laboratory apron, or personally examining the rocks, and strata. Every man must be a law to himself. He must discern by observation, what regimen injures, and what benefits him, an d must direct his habits accordingly. The medical profession, in untechnical books like the present, simply present to an intelligent public, the general results of their author’s experience. It is for the public to co-operate with the doctors, in adapting their habits to national standards. There never has been in history a people, with larger opportunities for building up a fine national physique, than we Americans enjoy. Our climate, if changeable, is tem- perate and bracing. The enervating heats of the south, do not stop our vigor, nor the plagues of the east, affect the air of our well-scavengered, well-watered cities. The mountains and the forests, vast reservoirs of health and strength, are behind us. From them we may annually recruit our exhausted energies, and like Antaeus, redouble our strength, at every fresh contact with our worthy mother Earth. We have no starving population, in this land of grain, AMERICAN EXCELLENCE OF FORM. 37 high-paid labor, and no man need suffer for lack of winter coal and clothing. There is always the west waiting to draw otf, through the mighty sluices of our continental railway lines the superabundance of poverty, which in Europe stagnates into cess-pools of abomination—the Seven Dials, and St. Germains—which breed moral and physical pestilence, below the surface of these brilliant capitals. We have the blood of strong races in our veins, and the traditions of a simple life, from our Puritan Fathers. Al- ready our superior height of frame, our independent car- riage, and the nervous vitality, that looks through the eyes and breathes in the nostrils, show the improvements of the American man; already the grace, and spiritual beauty of the American woman, have distinguished our people in Europe. We have too, a public mind, singularly active and en- quiring, interested in the subject of health, and capable of national investigation for itself. It is noticeable, how eagerly the paragraphs, having relation to some hygiene fact of general importance, are copied and read in our news- papers, be it only a nostrum for the ague, or an account of the quick convalescence of an invalid lady, upon the re- moval of the green paper hangings from the walls of her sick room. We are told that there is gradually developing in this country, a national type of form and feature, essentially different from that of pur Saxon fathers. With all our advantages of climate and education, it behooves us to see that the coming man, whether he be tall or short, blonde or brunette, “ muscular Christian, or nervous Pagan,” shall be worthy in body, as in mind, of the stalwart ancestry, who felled the forest, fought the red savages, and made the ways smooth before the feet of politic, but let us hope, not less manly generations. CHAPTER 11. OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE. THE physical, mental, and possibly moral nature of an individual, is the result of elements existing long before his birth, his generation even. It depends upon circum" stances, over some of which, neither he, nor his parents, nor his ancestors, however far removed, had the slightest con- trol. He inherits certain characteristics, from both his father and his mother; they before him, partook of the peculiar nature of their immediate progenitors; who in their turn had the characteristics of their family, their na- tion, their race; and these peculiar traits, were again modi- fied by climate, occupation, and condition. One would think, that with such varied influences, that there would be less resemblance than there is, between man and man, so diverse and often discordant are the natures blended in each. Yet, marked as are the distinc- tions of individuals, and races, and people, their points of resemblance are far more numerous. No African looks so little like an African as to be taken for a Moor or a Cau- casian, nor does any man look so little human, as to be taken for a wild animal. Races of men, breeds of stock, are alike created by the inter-breeding of the same family, within itself*; no new elements being introduced, there is a necessary repetition of the leading features of the original parents, which, with every renewed birth, becomes strengthened and more marked. BEX OF CHILDREN AT WILL. 39 These statements are centuries old, and every day proves the assertion. Peculiar races of dogs, and sheep, and rabbits and pigeons, are created at will, by attention being made to the “ crossing” of the stock; dogs are marked with spots in exact locations, and rabbits are bred with short ears or long, pink eyes or brown. But it is only natural marks, that can be perpetuated in this manner. Although the spots on a terrier dog, may be produced in a pup yet to be born, and hornless kine ensured, yet no art can produce from two white dogs, of white race, any spots, by marking either or both, in the desired locality with colored pigment; and no race of dogs with cut ears, or horses with bobbed tails, can be produced, although certain breeds of dogs have been thus mutilated for years and generations, and horses likewise. In the same manner, no maimed veteran, ever had a child with but one leg, although many successive generations of individuals, have been born with six fingers and thumbs, on one or both hands. [Natural congenital, physical characteristics, are matters of hereditary transmissions, while deformities like a hunch- back from disease, a maimed limb from accident, or a deaf- ness from scarlet fever, are not in any degree transmissable, by generation. Certain characteristics of the immediate parents, at the time of procreation, are not literally transmitted, but have a marked and recognizable effect upon the offspring. Thus, a child begotten in weakness of either parent, inherits a weakly general condition; of drunken parents, an alleged unrestrainable proclivity to intemperance (this theme is enlarged upon in my late work “ Conjugal Sins ”); and if in a fit of temper, to a morbid and ferocious ugliness of character, markedly transmitted. So evident is this effect of the mind, and the physical condition of the body over 40 OUR CHILDREN. the products of generation, that the sex of the children is capable of being determined by the spirit of the parents. Thus, it has been noted, that a large proportion of the chil- dren born of truly patriotic parents, during our war of the revolution, and during the revolution of France, were male, in answer to the interior longings of the parents, that new sons might be born to them to sustain the grand and glorious cause of freedom, to repulse the invaders, and bring consequent peace, plenty, and an advance in human rights. On the contrary, those nerveless, pusillanimous pa- rents, guided by no higher aim than their own selfish desires, swayed more by fear than honor, constantly hoping that to them, would be given no children capable of fighting the battles for their country, freedom, and right; these were subsequent parents to female children in a large degree. Other similar instances, of the transmission of parental impressions to the children in embryo, are more commonly seen. Some twenty years ago, the whole community about us, was excited by the presence of Jenny Lind, who was singing throughout the country. Cunningly framed articles in the papers, had heralded her coming to America; the pulpit had been induced to enter its powerful influence in her behalf; she was visited by judges and divines and dis- tinguished persons of every class, her charitable concerts were numerous, productive, and unprecedented—in short every art of puffery, advertisement, and publicity was exhausted to enhance her fame and create a furore in her behalf. It was successful; her name rang over the continent; people of means made long journeys to see and hear the wonderful creature, gifted with such rare beauty, extraor- dinary musical (as well as moral and religious) nature, and educated to the highest pitch of perfection. The world was wild with enthusiasm. She was the first thought on rising, the last on retiring to rest. THE MIND'S INFL PENCE IN PROCREA TION, 4 J The result is marked in the history of the nation. No such impulse was ever given to the musical art in any land; music became elevated to a line art. It was taught hence- forth in the public schools, pianos became the ordinary furniture of the poorest houses, and musicians who, before that era, were under a ban, considered as belonging to an inferior rank of the people, classed among tumblers and gymnasts and dancers, suddenly emerged from their ob- scurity, and entered into society, and a social equality, reg- ulated in public and private appreciation by their general worth. But what is of especial interest in our present considera- tion is, the effect it had upon the unborn, those in their passage from generation to life, and development, portrayed in the individual instances which have come to special notice. I will mention but a single example as a type of many similar. Mrs. S , was a woman of high refinement, aesthetic ap- preciation, great general and remarkable musical taste, and withal possessing considerable vocal culture ; her husband was likewise endowed, with a great taste for music. These two were assiduous attendants upon the Jenny Lind con- certs, missing scarcely one of them. Naturally, their thoughts and conversation were much upon them, of the programme, of the coming entertainment, of the character of the last, of procuring the songs she had sung, of their trying them together. Then the location of the seats, the price at which the tickets were sold, the crowd at the door, the rush for seats, the danger from the crowd, both to herself and the child struggling beneath her heart. This lasted for weeks and months, in anticipa- tion and realization. After the last concert had concluded, to which she, knowing the close proximity to the time of her delivery, yet attended, although with fear and trembling, OUR CHILDREN unconscious as she with her first child was, as to its commence- ment and general symptoms. She retired to rest. The next night, she was taken with the pains of labor, and in due time was happily delivered of a promising daughter. Living as Mrs. S had been, for so long time in the midst of the musical mission, one might expect some result, if ever, upon the child they enveloped. From an early period the girl showed great appreciation for music; at eighteen months, sang with the utmost accuracy of time and intona- tion, a favorite popular song of those days “ Old folks at Home.” I can even now in memory, hear that infantile voice warbling that sweet air, and cannot but be astonished at its rare sweetness and musical intelligence. At the present day, almost a score of years have passed away, and she has developed this precocious natural taste, and now her musical capacity is something extraordinary, and the gift is the most marked one in her nature. This history would fail of its full instructive lesson, did I not add, that a second daughter born with no such unus- ual accessories, possesses a musical capacity; rather a recep- tivity and a liking for, than development—such as might be reasonably expected from parents of such musical taste. Her salient qualities lie in far different aesthetic fields. FORMATION OF CHARACTER. The character of our children in their moral, intellectual and physical attributes, depends therefore, if what we have already said is correct, upon these general premises. First, the hereditary peculiar family (and that embraces national characteristics) traits. Secondly, the result of the crossing of the elements of father and mother, the clash when they are antagonistic, the homologous interfusion, when they are identical or similar. HEREDITARY TRANSMISSIONS. 43 Thirdly, tlie peculiar condition of eacli and both parents, both physically and mentally, at the exact moment of their generation. In regard to the first of these divisions, we have little to say. The text upon which our discourse is to be founded reads, “ visiting the iniquity of the fathers, upon the children unto the third and and fourth generation,” and it is one of the earliest statements of hereditary tendencies. This in- clination may be strengthened or thwarted, wholly or par- tially, in the future generation, by care taken in the marriage selection. We see the fact daily exemplified, in the change made in the lower animals by the stock raiser. Into a herd of cows of common breed, he introduces a choice Durham bull. In five years time, he has sent all his old cows to the slaughter, and in their stead, he has an equivalent that are half Durham. In the lapse of another semi-decade, by a similar breeding, his stock is three-quarters Durham. Literally, it is true that lie will never have pure Durham stock, as evidenced by an occasional calf being seen, that resembles in no respects her immediate progenitors, but whose peculiarities date back to the original common breed from which it is so many generations removed. This is practically “ the iniquity of the fathers.” And this too, is the observable result of the inefiacable sin of adultery, one which independent of all moral considerations cannot be wiped out. It has introduced a heterogeneous element into the family, one that is not understood by the family in their internal communions, one that is marked to strangers, by its outside physical characteristics. This divergence was so marked, that in the olden time, when nobles recognized their illegitimate children, and not un- frequently nourished and educated them with their natural children, the bastard was noted as being discontented, OUR CHILDREN’. cross-grained, intriguing, always at enmity witli liis half- brothers and sisters and blood relations. The result of marriage therefore, is the attempted recon- ciliation of the elements of two different individuals, and two distinct family tendencies, and possibly of two or more national characteristics. If the same care was employed in raising children, as is exercised in raising sheep or pigs, then we might see a far different product. But marriages are dictated and entered into for money, for family ambition, for beauty, very rarely indeed, with much regard to the physical condition of pro- spective descendants. Marriage is one of the inevitable accidents of life; like the measles, few escape it, and a few take it twice. Yet, common and universal as it is, and dating from the earliest antiquity, it is strangely enough governed not only by no laws, but also it would seem as if there were no general principles guiding the parties interested, all seemingly left to chance, or to an imaginary necessity called love. MAREIAGE. In the Old World, marriage has long been a business partnership, the parents of the couple, balancing one against another, where family, position, talent, beauty, money, all entered the scale, as make-weights, but where none, except the latter, had a fixed value. In the earlier days of the Yew World, no such valuations were allowed place in this Union, but a mutual liking— call it love if you please—which sprang up between the parties after a long and intimate acquaintanceship, was the foundation of the marriage. If any other element was permitted to enter, it was that of capability, or, as called in homely phrase, smartness. This is, and should be, the real foundation for a happy union. MARRIAGES FROM LOVE. 45 Sucli unions are the results of time; they depend upon knowledge of the person, and are matters of judgment, biased indeed, possibly blinded by the fancy, but time and opportunity enter largely into the matter. It being conceded that time is a necessary element, and that love is therefore of slow growth, it results that there is room for discretion and advisability, and some reference to after results ; to the entire blending of the two individ- uals into one aim, or that “ the twain shall become one flesh to the physical and mental character of the children, that shall result from the union. One sees many pretty faces, and graceful figures, and pleasant manners during life, and it depends upon himself whether he shall pursue this acquaintance, shall put himself in the way to have his interest excited, or whether he shall withdraw, and thus put away the chance of his affections becoming touched. A man may marry from love, and yet marry guided solely by reason, To a proper man, any woman has the faculty to inspire him with the most ardent passion. If wanting in physical charms, which the most quickly subdue, there are female graces far more attractive than simple beauty. Indeed, some men are so gross in their nature, that the capacities of a good cook will be more potent, and win their coarse affections far more surely, than all the claims of person, or the refinements of art. WHOM SHALL WE MAKKY ? That is, whom shall we allow ourselves to love, since this is thus entirely within our control ? Evidently some one who fills the necessity of our regu- lated fancy. Fancy limits the height, the complexion, the color of the hair, the eyes, the length and shape of the nose, and the mouth. Fancy, combined -with a degree of judg- ment, demands a certain amount of natural capacity or OUR CHILDREN. mentality, the degree of intellectual education, the accom- plishments and development of taste and refinement. These vary in degree, and should correspond with the position of the seeker in like respects. Judgment rules alone in matteis where health is con- cerned, and relates, not so much to the immediate parties concerned, as to the well-being of the future prospective creations, that are to result from this union. Few persons, desire that their children shall resemble them in every respect, they ought to be taller or shorter, plumper or slimmer, their hair should be of some other color, they should never have freckles, “ nor any one of them, if they had twenty, be called Sam, or Betsy.” Here, indeed, simple fancy may rule, but simple judgment says one must not marry disease or deformity, of an hereditary character. In past days the law, which in its severity destroyed deformed and sickly children at birth, prohibited the mar- riage of the weak, and those having diseases that were of a blood character, and capable of transmission. The law but satisfies the general human judgment. One should not allow himself to be attracted, by the bright eyes of beauty, and to permit himself afterward to be irresistably wrarmed into love, when epilepsy or consumption, or scrof- ula, or many other diseases, lie dormant in the system. I think if, in response to the query made by the priest in the English Church, officiating at a marriage, “ whether any one knows any just cause, why this couple shall not be joined in holy wedlock ?” any one should answer, that there was hereditary disease on one, or both sides, that a conscientious priest would stop the further celebration of the rite. I cannot conceive of a worse selfishness—to say the least—than the willingness to create offspring cursed thus, with incurable disease of body or mind, or both. MARRIAGE OF COUSINS. But now comes a case, where the church does refuse its sanctions, by the intermarriage of relations, first cousins and nearer. The question has two aspects, one moral, the other physical. Of the former aspect, I have nothing to say, the question being one of conscience solely. Those that are attached to any church, are bound by its decrees, which are to be accepted, and not discussed, by them. As to the physical effects resulting from inter-breeding, the same laws hold good respecting the animal man, as all other animals. “ Breeding in and in,” has made all the fine stock of the world, and this cannot be carried too far, so long as no disease creeps in; for the same cause that per- petuates excellences, may as easily perpetuate defects. If apoplexy is a family disease, unquestionably the children of cousins would most certainly inherit it. If, on the other hand, a long and vigorous ancestry had invariably died of old age, the chances of the children of a grandchild to live to advanced age, would be far better, than if the son had married into a family, whose ancestry died young. The question of intermarriage of cousins, would unques- tionably long ago have been given up, had it depended upon physical argument, unsustained by the moral support obtained from supposed Biblical prohibition, and the ques- tion would be answered by the same reasoning that we apply to any case; if there is no real apparent cause, no imaginable one should stand in the way. Bor interesting data upon this subject and ingenious theorizations, I refer the curious physiological reader, to an excellent and recent work—“A Physician’s Problems.” The question is then forced upon us, WHEN SHALL WE MAEEY? Solomon, who told us that “ there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven * * * a time for 48 OUR CHILDREN. embracing, and a time to refrain from embracing,” unfor- tunately did not tell us exactly when that time was. As to the question already discussed, “ Whom shall we marry ?” there are two aspects under which it may be viewed—one relates to the exigencies of society, and the other to the necessities of the body, and incidental to this, and as a cor- ollary, the effects upon the children which may result from the union. The great thinkers of the world are divided upon the objects of marriage. The Mormons are bold in their asser- tions, that the whole aim of their union, is the procreation of the children, and the keeping up of the race. Less sensual thinkers, consider this to be comparatively inci- dental, but the truer aim to be sought, is the development of the higher man, and an advance towards a higher life. But as both agree, as they must, that the physical aim is an important one, we will waive any consideration of the more transcendental view, and look, at this time, upon the necessities of the animal nature, what it requires, at the results, and what is demanded for their best well-being. When shall we marry f if answered from a simple phy- sical point of view, is, when the elements from which a new creation is to be effected, are in the best possible con- dition. The husbandman, who hopes for a fine crop, does not use his refuse, gnarly, valueless seed, which, however, might germinate and grow, nor does he take the immature corn, which an earlier frost than usual has left unripe, but, on the contrary, carefully selects the very best seed as the hope of the coming crop, and every successive year finds his grain better than before. This careful selection has raised the common grass into lordly grain, and, as an in- stance to the contrary, we see the deteriorating effects upon the human races, by a look at some of the nations of Eu- rope, where constant and prolonged wars, which took the MARRIA GE LA WB. 49 young and stalwart men as soldiers, and left only tlie effeminate, the aged, sickly, and crippled at home to marry and propagate the race. The result, in some of these countries where war was very nigh perpetual, was to leave the people at the end of a century, puny in size, weak in body—and ill-formed to the last degree—and this, too, not- withstanding that one-half the elements employed—viz., the women—were not deteriorated by the sacrifices of war. We should marry then, physically viewing the question, when the elements are in their prime. Women are capable of reproduction at twelve to fourteen in this country, and men receive the elements of reproduction, at from fourteen to sixteen years of age. But this is immature fruit. These are but children, still growing, still incomplete, and yet in the gristle. The elements of vigor, which should enter into the germs of new life, are needed for the growth, solidification, and stamina of these putative parents. Such parents we occasionally see, and they sometimes, marrying young, raise large families, and attain to an old age ; but this is owing rather to an inherited vigorous con- stitution than to their own capacities : for, were this system kept up for a prolonged period, the results would be any- thing but satisfactory. This we see in the Orient, where marriages are ordinarily celebrated among children as soon as physically possible. They become old at thirty-five, haggard and decrepid at fifty, and few attain to the senility and absolute decreptitude of sixty years. But many seem to think, because physically capable of consummating the marriage act, perhaps because evidence of ardent passion are present, that therefore nature is plainly showing that there is a necessity for marriage. With an equal show of reasoning, we might urge that because an immature youth, is capable of carrying heavy burdens, of 3 50 OUR CHILDREN. sustaining the fatigues of a march, a bivouac, or labor in mines or collieries, or the ambition to do something manly, honorable, or profitable, that, therefore, he should be put to it ? Why, even a farmer knows better respecting his stock. He would not work his growing colts and steers, for he knows that they can be relied upon only for a dash, ■which soon uses them up. The general, wants solid men, not gristly boys, for the campaign. The whole energies of every living thing, is concentrated in the elements of reproduction. The vitality of the huge oak, is spent in the elaboration of an acorn. Take a season of drought, when the parching heat dries up everything, and not a green thing is visible. One by one the leaves of the wheat stalk have dwindled, and dried up, and fallen away, first, the lowest, and so on in succession, till finally, there is no sign of life remaining in the yellow and sere stalk ; but, dried and withered as it is, it still lives, and the industrious root pushes still deeper its fibres, seeking lor new juices to send through this arid conduit, and all to support the grain safely growing, and developing, and maturing, in its golden head; and when the last drop is sucked, and the final element is added, the spent nature no longer struggles, but still holding aloft its perfected stalk, after having accomplished the great end of its life, having fulfilled, to the best of its ability, under trying cir- cumstances, its duty to its Creator, it is contented to be classed among the stubble, and to pass unnoticed away. And this is but a type of human life. The same opera- tion under Nature’s laws, goes on in the higher sphere of human existence. The development of the seed, is the recognized great aim of a mother’s life. Her whole phy- sical nature stands devoted to it. The laws of ordinary life are suspended, to accommodate themselves to this divine end. The growing girl ceases in her development, HOLINESS OF MATERNITY. 51 till the quickened child is delivered, and not till then, does this unripe mother again begin to grow. Even deadly disease is held in abeyance, and the con- sumptive mother finds her every symptom palliated, that her entire physical energies may be given towards perfect- ing her unborn babe. Once this end is accomplished, and a plump and apparently vigorous child is born into the world, then the ghastly officer from the court of death reappears, and makes short work with a frame exhausted to the utmost, by the drain of the previous nine months’ demand. Thus it may be seen that maternity demands the best energies of the most robust condition. How holy is the duty imposed upon woman! If there is considered to be an idea of awe, connected with the ship that bore the ashes of the dead H apoleon from St.. Helena, to the Paris of his love ; if there be a sanctity connected with the burial place of kings, and common men, and pau- pers—there, where we are all alike—surely there is a holi- ness connected with maternity. The germs of immortality are struggling beneath that mother’s breast, and the wdiole powers of nature are quickened, and developed, and ex- hausted, to perfect this grandest of works—a labor wherein man and divinity work together—one which, oft repeated as it is, is still a constant miracle : one, that calls down a constant blessing from heaven. To this wrork, wdiere God does apart, man surely should give his best efforts—no immature, defective offering—but the concentrated powers of his perfected nature. MATURITY. At what age can man and woman be said to be mature ? The plateau, on the extreme summit of the mountain peak, is necessarily small. Man may be said to approximate to physical perfection, ere he arrives at this empyrean height OUR CHILDREN\ of excellence. After lie lias emerged from tlie bogs and thickets of boyhood, and lias ascended to the almost level glacis, where a gentle slope upward conducts to maturity. The gristle should not only be bone, but the ossification should be complete, the marrow firm, and the whole animal solidified. The same relative correspondence exists in the man and the woman, as in the boy and the girl. Twenty to twen- ty-six in the woman, and and twenty-six to thirty in the man, has developed body and mind of both. If the char- acter is disregarded, and the mental development not considered, a couple of years may be deducted from these figures. I am aware that at these numbers some of my readers will join issue. They will tell me that even St. Paul said it was better to marry than burn, and surely youth will burn long before these ages are reached. Certainly; but St. Paul did not say that it did any hurt, to get pretty hot—l don’t propose any spontaneous combustion. There is no more danger of that from fourteen to twenty-eight, than from fourteen to twenty. But the exigencies of society and social life, and the demands of the nineteenth century, and—my friend, I do not control chignons or trails, nor modern improvements, nor brown stone fronts, I simply try to show what marriage intends to accomplish, and practically, “ when shall you marry,” will be your business, wdierein I shall not be consulted. Prom what has been said already, the actual condition of the parents in every respect, is a matter of the utmost im- portance, if we desire to introduce into the world a healthy, intellectual, moral, and vigorous offspring. CONDITION OF PARENTS. Ko stock raiser, desirous of perpetuating a valuable strain GENERATION OF CHILDREN. 53 in liis stock, would permit sexual relations to take place, when either sire or darn were reduced below their average condition by overwork, by short feed, or feebleness from the result of an accident or disease. The farmer pays his money, that his mare may be served by a celebrated stal- lion. He calculates that from a mare like his, if a Messen- ger, or other fast stock, a colt from the celebrated Ham- bletonian, is worth five hundred dollars when a month old. Ho you think he will pay one hundred dollars, for a colt from an exhausted horse, just getting up from a bad founder or inflamation of the lungs ? And yet this very man has so little understood, the real theory of the matter, and so imperfectly is it impressed upon his mind, that he will not hesitate himself to generate a son or a daughter, when he is exhausted by a long journey, fretted by carking care, or his wife nervous and worn out, by waiting upon the sick at home, by anxieties, and perhaps grieving at the death of one, that she had nursed from birth to an early death. We cannot believe that he thinks less of a child, than of a colt, yet it would look so, if we should judge from his acts. If we could trace back the history of these puny children, the “ runts ” as they are unkindly styled in families, the scrofulous, weakly, ex-sanguine, nervous, prematurely old, early dying children, to the time of their conception, we should find that the great majority of them, dated their initial origin, to a day of languor and disturbance of either body or mind, or both; a time when the prospect of failure was imminent, when harrassed by previous habits, disagree- ment with a partner, defalcation of a clerk, an illness which confined one in the midst of the busy season at home, when the oldest son or the loved daughter had done some wrong, compromised themselves or their family ; when some family misunderstanding existed, when the master of the house 54 OUR CHILDREN. had come home much later than usual, and a “ little the worse ” for his evening’s entertainment, (see for examples Physiological Essays by Robert Bird, M.D., London, Trub- ner & C 0.,) and twenty years more or less afterward, yon complain of certain strange idiosyncrasies, in your child, and say “ there were no such tendencies in your family,” It is vain and profitless to reason, that these matters are physiological, chemical, or physical. We can admit they assist to a certain degree, but we know how mind dominates over matter, and can recognize the fact, [without being able to prove how, that the mental emotions can, and do materi. ally affect the ultimate molecules, secreted in the copulative act] that the mental characteristics are imparted to the germs of a new being, but when this addition is made, we cannot now, and perhaps never can say. There are those, who pretend that idiocy is the result of the more or less complete absence of intellect, of one or both parents, from drunkenness, disease, or some similar cause at the time of the genesaic act. It is unimportant in this connection, and for the present purpose, to know everything in detail. We have enough already to teach, in the importance of the perfect health of both parents, who aim at reproduction, and that within cer- tain limitations, we may so govern our passions as to avoid any danger of such undesirable results. The laws and limitations of human fecundation, I have in “ Conjugal Sins ” fully explained, and it is undesirable to recapitulate here. It is our own fault if we have mar- ried unhealthily; it is in a far greater degree, our own fault if we do not as a result, create children physically our equals. Children have been known to be thrown into fatal con- vulsions, by nursing the breast of a mother while in a phrenzy of anger. Is it then unreasonable to believe that MINT) INFLUENCING THE UNBORN. 55 the physical condition, and mental emotion of the mother during the nine months of gestation, must have a material influence upon the constitution and mental attributes of a creature, which lies close under her heart ? For a time this child, is part and parcel of herself, every nutriment comes from her veins, she gives it being, and can it be doubted that she gives it physical character, men- tal stamina, and nervous energy ? Corn is corn, whether planted and grown in the heats of Florida, amid the snows of Greenland, or on its loved soil of our western prairies; yet how different its development! It needs chemistry and microscopy almost, to prove its identity. If then, the actual condition of mother Earth, has so marked an effect upon one of her most favored children, can it be doubted, that the human mother’s situation, as far as it may have reference to her happiness and comfort, shall materially affect her offspring ? Toil, privation, disease, mental anxiety, on the part of the child-bearing woman, must have a marked influence on the unborn child. If one can believe that the shock of meeting a deformed person, a monkey, a hideous, ghastly spectacle, shall permanently disfigure a child; if it can be believed that the ungratified longing for a cherry, or a blackberry, shall have power, to mark an unborn child, with a recognizable image of the object desired, can we refuse to believe, that the loathing felt at seeing a drunken husband, come reeling homeward, and to a place at her side, shall affect the mind of the infant within her ? When we see that the disgrace of a near friend, the crime of a relative, the shame at a country’s want of patriotism, will send the blush to the mother’s cheek, and leave her sick at heart, can we doubt that such thoughts of the mother, shall lend a reflective and sombre cast of thought, to the nature of the developing child ? 56 OUR CHILDREN. To what extent, the future character of the unborn hahe, is dependent upon the mind and moral character of the mother, we may not be able to determine. Sure it is that there is an attending influence. (The facts and speculations on this point, by my valued and now deceased friend John O’Reilly M.D. of Kew York, are pertinent to this consider- ation.) We can therefore, in recognition, do no less than to surround the mother with such delights and joys as are within our power. And by this, Ido not mean that the selfish imaginations, the so called “ longings ” for inappro- priate ,and fanciful, and costly luxuries, should be gratified at any cost of time, health or money. These, are all the exactions of a greedy woman, playing a part, and are not worthy of a serious consideration. But the real comforts of a wife should be considered. She should be as much as possible freed from anxieties, her irritable, nervous condi- tion, should be recognized; the vagaries of a disturbed stomach, should be attended to when reasonably considerate; and she should be surrounded by careful attention and the warmest sympathy. Above all, she should be induced to look at her condition, as one of the highest duties of her being, and a natural healthy process. She should be strengthened and encour- aged, to look at her duties and condition, as under the direct ordinance of the Creator of all things, and thus see a sublimity in maternity, of which she had never before dreamt. CHAPTER 111. MATERNITY. THE great apparent aim and object of the life of all nature, seems to be the perpetuation of its species. The seed of even the minutest plant is borne through the air, and falls into some chink or cranny, and however iso- lated from its kind, or barren and inappropriate the soil, it strives to the utmost to get root, and blossom, and fructify, —then to die. The Datura Stramonium is a beautiful example of this. Capable of being exalted into a shrub overreaching a man’s head, with wide-spreading branches and broad plumes, with its thorn-apples, or seed-pods, as large as a man’s clenched fist, yet under less propitious circumstances, it dwindles, and if its surroundings are en- tirely adverse, it diminishes until its properties are dwarfed into insignificance, its whole size scarce exceeding an inch or two in altitude, and its tiny branches putting forth diminutive leaflets ; still in all its poverty and humbleness, it forgets not the great duty given to it by its Creator, and on its lowly but honest part, blooms out its dessicated flowers, gathers its strength to fructify one tiny seed, full however of vitality and vigor, and capable, under refresh- ing influences, of developing into the full stature of its God-given capacity. Look at a humble insect, the common spider, whose ex- ample of perseverance stimulated the Bruce to new exertion, and saved a nation from shame, and which may serve again to teach a recreant world its duty. See this ignoble spider 3* 58 OUR CHILDREN". sitting upon its ball of eggs. Harass this insect, generally so fearful, so ready to fly at the wind’s jarring, and she Is immovable; take a stick and destroy the frail net around her, and though her laboriously-constructed home may be swept away, she yet remains hanging by a solitary thread, watching her incipient offspring. It is only with absolute death staring her in the face, and a violent separation from her holy charge, that she essays to break the bond implanted by Divinity, in her nobler than human heart. Go into the wild wood, and the green fields. The birds of the air affect a tameness and a feebleness they do not feel, and flutter in your path in the attempt, by inducing pursuit of themselves, to draw you away from their nest concealed near by; and in our own bam-yard the timid fowl grow brave before advancing steps, and fly at us with rustling wings, as we approach their inchoate nest, or their chirping brood. Moved by the divine instinct of reproduction, the savage beast seeks its mate, shrinking not before any distance, lofty mountains, or plains, or wide-spread rivers, and the dam, forgetful of all else than her high prerogative, searches for the most quiet solitudes to find a lair for her young; no dan- ger daunts her then; and the lioness puts to shame the prowess of the hero, in defence of her litters. The huge hippopotamus, makes her unwieldy bulk a shield for her feeble offspring, from the arrows of the huntsman. The ponderous sperm whale, takes her calf under her fin, and dives with it far below the blue wave, to escape the dread lance of the harpooner. The walrus rips open with her savage tusks, the boat containing the destroyer of her loved little one. Ho grizzly watch-dog is so fierce, no bull with glaring eyeball so formidable, no cat even, whose velvet foot conceals a sharp claw, is so wrathful as the mother of either species, who thinks that some danger threatens her offspring. THE GRANDEUR OF MATERNITY. 59 How is it with the human mother, weighed in the bal- ance ? How does lordly man compare with the brute ? There was a most touching pathos, in the words which fell from the lips of a woman-speaker, at a late ~WOman’s nights’ Convention. After a plea for the equality of pay- ment for either sex for equal work, in which she said that this would do very much to take away the sin, and prevent the shame of 20,000 women of this city, living lives that could not be described, she said, with a tone I shall not forget: “There is something holy in maternity!” Ho matter under what circumstances we find it—like the Da- tura Stramonium in rich garden soil, or in the sterile sands of the desert! I felt then, as her soft, sweet voice enun- ciated this truth—I have felt it often before, without pos- sessing a consciousness of this thrilling truth—however abject may be the mother, however low and degraded may have been her life, however ignorant her mind, or low her birth, or despised her race, when I recall her sufferings, when I think of the sainted mother to whose agonies I owe my own existence, my heart echoes back Mrs. Kerr’s thril- ling words: “ There is something holy in maternity!” Yet the unfortunate, ignorant, simple, loving, betrayed girl, is ejected from her father’s house, from the home of her rarely, indeed, thank God! from the affection of her brothers and sisters, and friends. Mrs. Kerr says that the ballot for women, i. e., equality with man in po- litical rights, will remedy this. Pray God it may ! Yet the fashionist of the day forgets the laws of love, religion, and the joys of maternity, and by every hellish art seeks to prevent and subvert the laws of nature, of life, and of love. For the sake of dress, and fashion, and ease, they do—God forbid me from saying what they do ! And the great city of Hew York, with its charities, and almsgivings, and reliefs, has none of these for the betrayed, 60 OUR CHILDREN. no solace from greater grief than most men can sntfer. The deceived girl, outcast and despised, has no place of rest, hut by a leap from the ferry-boat, a jump from the dock, a pan of charcoal, the poisonous draught, or—a life which Mrs. Kerr says 20,000 women live, in the city of Kew York—is it not worse than death ? "When women do vote, may they vote their sex a Ketreat! There is so little magnanimity in man, without whose con- currence, to say the least, such horrors would be impossible, that they virtuously shrink from endowing an asylum for the offspring of their own guilt. Would that Mrs. Kerr’s voice might ring in every ear, until a Foundling Hospital shall be established here, and her words be engraven over its portals, “There is something holy in Maternity.” Thus much for the eesthetical, and if it please you so to consider, the political and spiritual side of matrimony. There is also a prosaic, worldly, and mere physical view to be taken of it. Simple bread and butter, holds a large place in the thoughts of the world. We cannot if wTe would, ignore this prospect, and the questions are forced upon us daily, “ how shall we live ? what shall we do, that shall conduce best, to our own well-being, and for the future health and happiness of that new being, that shall in time to come, be dearer to us than ourselves ? our own flesh and blood; child of our affection; our hope, comfort, joy; the object which alone shall stand, between us and our willing- ness to seek the rest of the grave, and beyond it, the bliss of heaven?” Yes, we feel anxious even now, when this is but a pros- pect of the future, we are anxious to know, what we shall do for its physical well-being. THE MOTHER'S NEEDS. 61 Kow, this child is but a part of yourself, and draws all its nutriment and strength from your veins. It is reason- able then to consider, your own well-being of the greatest importance. In every way, endeavor to keep yourself in the best physical condition. Those rules of life which have been your guide, and in fact, have kept you well heretofore, must still be your guide. Your condition is not an unnat- ural one, calling for new laws, new habits, and this should be fully recognized. The exercise you have taken, you can still take, no matter how persistent it was—yet if excessive, perhaps then, with a little more moderation. The food that was healthy and customary, may still be continued without alteration, only if too meagre or sparse, it may be improved in quality, and increased in quantity, as a new creature has to be grown and nourished. In case of any accident or misfortune attending the child, there will always be ever present, those wise persons, who know everything; if you have exercised and attended to your usual occupation, they will say “you have stirred about too much, you have been too activeif, on the con- trary, you have been indisposed to exertion, have been sedentary and inactive, they are ready with their reasons, “ you have not moved about enough, you have been too quiet,” You should remember, from the first to the last, pregnancy, from its inception to its close, is not a disease, but a natural healthy action, ordained, regulated, and di- rected, by a Divine Creator. It is no season for excess, but one for proper attention to all the ordinary rules of general health, modified as they are, by peculiar idiosyn- cracies. The condition however, creates some new feelings, some increased and unusual wants. The sympathies of the or- gans, lead the stomach to sympathize with the new action, 62 OUR CHILDREN. going on in tlie womb. There are peculiar appetites, dis- gusts and desires. These should be regarded, as we should regard the same kind of feelings when nauseated or stimu- lated, as might be, by the peculiar position in which we are placed, in making a sea voyage and the qualms or appetite of an excited stomach, should be attended to in one case, as in the other. No sensible woman, will allow herself to be miserable and unhappy, at supposed ungratified “ longings,” while, when any fancied article of diet, that might be coveted for a moment, if practicable, should be sought for, and taken. The same is true, respecting any freaks of the mind. Cer- tain impulsive and strong feeling women, take freaks of feeling respecting individuals, great likes and equally strong antipathies to individuals. These feelings they are, —if sensible—careful to restrain, perhaps not knowing the general fact, that with delivery, these morbid fancies will pass away. When I was a student myself, and a resident physician at a public institution, and dwelling with the warden, his wife took a freak of dislike to me, and refused to help me at the table, or even to pass my plate, and this antipathy continued for several months, during which time, we ex- changed never a word, possibly not even the ordinary civil- ities of social life. At the end of the time, without any more reason than for their coming on, she suddenly changed her habits, became courteous and conversational as always before, and even made personal overtures to me, for pro- fessional attendance in her coming labor, and never after- wards had any such vagaries. The prospective mother then, should not materially alter her habits of life, on account of the natural change in her condition. Any such alteration would probably have a far more injurious effect upon her health, than continuance in PHYSICAL DEMANDS OF THE MOTHER. 63 a not immoderate degree in her usual occupation, habits of exercise, food, etc. If however, there be any ill health, or chronic disease, or general weakness, she had better seek for professional advice, in order to know how to conduct herself in the new state of things. If she has any disease of the lungs, or heart, or kidneys, or of any organ, she should learn how to act, so as not to stimulate this organ, by taking on any new action, or to quell it, if it should evince too great a sympa- thy with the womb, or its state of unwonted activity. If the health is delicate, the body may not be strong enough to provide for itself and the new creation, or if the stomach be weak, it may not, without help, assimilate a sufficiency of aliment for the growing necessity. The med- ical attendant should then advise such elements of phospho- rus and lime and iron as are materially needed, for the bone and stamina of the future generation, material that shall give the constituent elements of the bone, brain, nerves, and flesh of the system. In this respect, the physical necessity of the parturient mother, and the unborn child, are too apt to be neglected. Women do not often enough consult their medical adviser, or are willing to receive those elements, which otherwise they must with no little effort of the system, collect and store up, from the perhaps scanty elements found in their food. In advanced life, we frequently see this want of material for forming the natural parts. We see such deficiencies in higher forms of life, but as exemplifying this point most clearly, we note it markedly in the domestic fowl, which, when deprived of the natural material of lime necessary for the formation of the egg-shell, Anally lays the egg with only a soft and pliable skin over it. If she is fed with the material, the after eggs have no such deficiency, but have shells hard and white, as is normal. 64 OUR CHILDREN. Can it be doubted, that if it were possible to attempt to hatch this soft egg, that there would be found to be a simi- lar deficiency, in the chick within, and perhaps a like absence of the material requisite, for the formation of the bone and nerves necessary for its existence ? It is the province of medicine, not only to cure diseases, but to prevent them, and our care will enable a mother to bring forth children, not wanting in any of the necessities for sustaining a vigorous life. Delicate children, such as we often see them from birth, are perhaps too often the result of inadvertence, caprice, or gross neglect. Some- times indeed, their physical debility is due to the unsuc- cessful efforts, made by foolish mothers to prevent becoming pregnant, and far more frequently, from the failure of the efforts made to get rid of them, in the early period of foetal life. Who can doubt, that the quantity of powerful medi- cine, acting directly upon the womb, or the violent but resultless operations made to produce abortions, followed by more or less local irritation, hemorrhage, leucorrhoea, physical and nervous exhaustion, and mental anxieties— who can doubt that these must have a very great effect upon the vigor, vitality, and constitution of the child, that that has withstood such attempts against its existence. Far more dreadful than anything else to a mother, it must be, to see a weakly, sickly child, having so many holds on her affections, yet pining into an early grave, and to think that this is owing to her own direct instrumentality. Far worse that a Borgia murderess, self-reproved, must be her daily punishment, at the sight of this result of her own sinful acts! And yet, this is one of the common customs of the times. The proportion of women at the present day, who in some unnatural, violent way, are striving to avoid the necessities of their nature, seems to be at least nine tenths of the entire number. A SERIOUS THOUGHT FOR MOTHERS. 65 The sparrow, that builds its nest in the eaves of the house, the sea-gull, which makes its wild aerie by the side of the ever restless ocean, seems to entertain no doubt that Provi- dence will provide for the food of the young she is to pro- duce, but she “ who is made but little lower than the angels ” refuses this same trust. She lazily shirks the position that shall develop her whole nature, that shall gild a virtuous life with brightest gold, and as a true mother, raise her to a pinnacle of glory, that man can never attain, creating herself an object of the sublimest adoration, to be hence- forth respected by all mankind, and an object of reverence and worship, by her own children, next to her God ! I would fain impress the fact upon the minds of the women of the world, that the temper in which children are generated, the spirit in which they are for nine months carried within the womb, most markedly and seriously affect their natures, their intelligence, their moral characters, in the same manner, as I have already stated that their phy- sical stamina wras dependent, and a direct, most assured consequent, upon the physical condition of the parent. How often do we hear mothers say of their children, “ I don’t know who he, or she, takes after; there is no one in ray family, that has such traits.” Ho! the child is the offspring, and marked by the devilish spirit, that filled your bosom for so long a period, in its initial being. Long before it could move, or show any signs of vitality, it was met with regret, and sorrow, and perhaps, with disgust and curses. You tried by every means that you could, without damage to your own health, to destroy it. You sought for fatigue, and unwonted exertions to disembarass yourself of this undesired burden ; you seem to forget, that “ as the twig is bent, so is the tree inclined.” I am aware, that I have already partially stated these same views in another connection, but at the present day, 66 OUR CHILDREN-. they cannot be too often, or too forcibly repeated. I would that with trumpet power, I might so speak, as to touch every woman’s heart, and head; that I might convince her reason, probe her conscience, and compel her to a future course of rectitude. It follows then, as a resume of the chapter, that it is the bounden duty of both husband and wife, to enter upon the duties of married life, with a zealous aim to perform them to the utmost, with a sacred zeal. That, as the holy duty of the creator of a new being, embued with intelligence, and endowed with a spirit, capable of immortality, is in their hands, that they should see well to it, that they enter upon the work, with perfect organism in the flesh, of health with the mind, and both unitedly attuned to the holy work, and that to it, they shall lend their every energy. Upon such a work, God will surely lend his sanction, and having thus, put your own shoulder to the wheel, you can conscientiously and hopingly call for his divine blessing. CHAPTEE IY. THE PROPER NUTRIMENT FOR CHILDREN. UYLIKE the young of all animals, the baby is utterly and entirely incapable of doing the slightest service for itself. The young chicken is scarce emerged from the shell, before it is picking up some nutriment, which by in- stinct, it knows will conduce to its health and sustinence. The pup and the kitten toddle about on their weak legs, and blind though they be, by the light of instinct, are yet enabled to find the udder of its dam, and to get the flowing teat into its greedy mouth. How feeble in comparison, is the new-born babe! Far less than walk, it cannot hold up its head, for its neck seems a bulrush, from -which it bobs about in helpless unrest. Its eyes indeed are open, but it gazes into obscurity, and not a gleam of intelligence is evinced in any action, of its own volition. Indeed, whether or not, it posseses the faculty of hearing, or vision, or any of the senses is indeterminable, for some weeks time after birth. So far from being able to find its nutriment, it must be put to the breast, and the nipple actually inserted be- tween its senseless gums. Were any thing else than this done, the child would unquestionably starve, so absolutely wanting is it in any capacity for action, or signs of knowl- edge. The child then, has no opportunity for exercising any desire for any kind of food, and is compelled to take, and swallow anything, that its parents or nurse may wisely, or foolishly, be desirous of giving it. 68 OUR CHILDREN\ Kor has the child any development of the organ of taste. True, it may recognize anything cold or hot, for it can feel, and if burnt with fiery fluid, or chilled by a frozen liquid, it will evince these sensations. But any bland, and non-ir- ritatory drink, it will, till several weeks old, take, and rec- ognize no difference between water, milk, and castor oil, if of the same temperature. Advantage is taken of this absence of taste, in the young babe, to its benefit and its injury, for in its simplicity, it will swallow the multitudi- nous concoctions of fretty and over nice nurses, or the nauseous castor oil, and other medicaments, which are pre- scribed for it by the physician. And this is the future lord of the Universe! The orig- inal development of the world itself from nothing, was a fitting ante-type of this daily repeated new creation. As the child has neither power nor sensual taste, so too, it is equally deficient in other faculties. Those eyes, which apparently gaze upon one’s face, with such an intelligent look, are entirely void of observation. If by chance, the light of heaven enters within those beaming orbs, and if the optic mirror, reflects the form of the doting parent ca- ressing it, no responsive thought comes from the sensorium: the beautiful babe, so instinct with apparent life and intel- ligence, is practically little better than a waxen doll. Slow- ly indeed, are the laggard senses crowded to their powers of observation, and more tardy still, does reason take its seat within that dome of thought, as gradually, as the crystal grains of the diamond are deposited in the hidden recesses of the rocky caverns, but as surely as its polygonal prisms are slowly built up, is the human intellect developed and perfected. We cannot see its processes, nor stimulate its growth; we can but watch and wait. What however we may learn, and noting remember, to our own and its benefit, is the palpable fact, that for months EARLY GOVERNMENT OF CHILDREN. 69 after its birth, the child knows nothing, appreciates nothing, reasons upon nothing, of its own volition. All that it learns, is what we teach it, and in some things, it is an apt scholar, and it behooves us to attend to the facts, that we may insensibly present to it. Perhaps the first gleam of intelligence it may show, is respecting the food it takes, and the method by which it receives this nourishment. The nurse may have fed it with sweetened milk, and with a spoon. Instinct taught it before, to suck upon anything put into its mouth. The calf, equally well, and with no higher knowledge, will suck the finger, or its dam’s teat. But if the child has found that it has but to open its mouth, and the milk is poured into it, and it has naught to do but to swallow, it will refuse the labor of tedious sucking, and will cry and fret, because the firm nipple and the turgid breast, require an effort, before they will unload their treasures. Yery soon too, the child discovers that it has but to cry, to be taken up, petted, nursed, done something with. Alas for the tender-hearted mother, who has taught her babe so soon this lesson! Thenceforth, there is no rest for her. Alike by day and by night, in season and out of season, she is a slave to the whims and volitions of this most tyr- ranical of rulers—the petted babe. The true method is, to recognize the fact, that the child has no knowledge, judgment, or reason. It seems absurd, to seriously put this statement, into the dignity of print; but it is one of the most important facts in practical life, for on the actions which shall result therefrom, depend not only the well-being of the babe, the future of the child, perhaps the ultimate character of the grown man, and most assuredly the happiness of the parents, and perhaps the future thought, whether or not children are the curses of life, and, as a corollary, that any means are justifiable to prevent their conception, their development, and birth. 70 OUR CHILDREN.\ The mother will not he a slave to the child, the father will not have his nights harassed, after the fatigue of his day’s toils, if the lesson is early learnt, that the child has no other intelligence, than that we give to it, by our fool- ishness or our pride. To recapitulate. The child has one instinct at birth, viz: to suck, to suck always, to suck ever. It has one other faculty—to cry; to cry when it wants to suck, to cry when it don’t want to suck, to cry when it is sleepy, to cry when it awakes, to cry when it is disturbed in any manner. The first reasoning it makes is, that if it cries, it is nursed. It soon discovers that it likes to nurse, and then it cries constantly. The fault is not the child’s, it is the parents’. The first knowledge that the young mother should possess is, that children require to he nursed, not oftener them once every two hours. I make this as a primitive assertion, and perhaps it would be better for me to leave it thus, as a Catholic dogma, based on scientific infallibility. Medical edicts, have sometimes more effect when pro- pounded ex-cathedra, than when their reasoning is given. It requires a definite period, for any food to be digested in the stomach; it is then in the form of chyle, passed into the duodenum, and large intestines, to be assimilated, taken up, and otherwise disposed of, by the animal economy. The first operation, after the stomach of the child is filled with milk, is for the natural rennet or pepsine of the stom- ach, to curdle the milk, that is, to separate the liquid por- tion from the solid. The liquid portion is mainly water, and this is speedily absorbed, secreted by the kidneys, and much of it is passed off from the system, the remainder being exhaled by the lungs, by the inward perspiration, etc. The remaining curd, the sugar, the salts, are attacked by the gastric juice, and after a period are decomposed, changed to the chyle, impure blood, pure blood, etc. etc., going MANNER OF DIGESTION. 71 through the routine of supporting life and constitution, to the growth and general development of the being. This operation is not one of a moment’s work. Indeed, the two hours’ time spoken of, is fully occupied by this alembical duty. If new material is put into the stomach, while the first batch is in process of transmutation, the whole ope- ration is disturbed. If it is added to, in any great quantity, some of the contents of the stomach must be pushed out, to make way for the new addition, and in this manner, the duodenum is prematurely filled with a mass of material, part, of half-digested food, and part, of the crude new addi- tion. The result is, as might be expected. The imperfectly digested food, is unfit for assimilation, and remains a bur- then and a disturbance in the bowels, till with extra exer- tion of the irritated organs, it is passed along by griping contractions, decomposing as it goes, and creating wind, and acidifying and irritating, and thus disturbing the child, who expresses its pain and griefs in the only manner it knows, viz., by its cries. The mother, hearing its moan, in her ignorance gives it more of the breast; the child, in its ignorance, does the only other thing it knows besides crying—it sucks. With every draw, the trouble is renewed—now says the mother, “ the baby surely has the stomach ache.” Catnip tea is next resorted to, and the over-loaded stomach is still fur- ther distended, and some soothing syrup or other narcotic is finally called for, and the stupefied babe, finds in a con- sequent prolonged sleep, an opportunity for the quiet digestion or excretion of the offending substances. The next day finds it worn with digestion, debilitated by this improper usage—it can but cry; you know the rou- tine—and thus the mother has her time constantly employed with a “ cross baby,” the result of her own incorrect actions; —and the child! this is ready for cholera infantum, at any OUR CHILDREN. time when the temperature rises to 80°, or a sudden change in the atmosphere developes disease. The second knowledge for the mother is, that children do not require to he nursed more than once in the night. This is a lesson to be taught early. To properly teach the lesson, the child should not be permitted to sleep by the side of the mother, but from birth, should be placed in a crib or cradle. There is no worse slavery for the mother, than to have the babe lying at the breast and nursing, at short intervals during the night. The habit once com- menced, is extremely hard to break, and when the child is large, the drain upon the mother is very exhausting, and is really a cause of death to many mothers. Also for rea- sons already given, the constant sucking is deleterious for the child. If other reasons are necessary, the danger to the child, from being smothered under the bed-clothes; the injury it receives from breathing the vitiated air, if not smothered actually; the liability it runs, to being overlaid, are addi- tional inducements for placing the child by itself, convenient to the bed of the mother. Third knowledge. There is no better food for a child, than that ordained by a wise Providence. Until the pres- ence of teeth evinces, that nature is capable of receiving a change of food, the breast is amply capable of sustaining nature, and supplying every demand for life and growth. If the supply is adequate, there is no need of any, but un- fortunately at the present day, many mothers with all desire, have not sufficient milk for a child, and require help from extraneous sources, and occasionally there are twins, thus making a double lacteal demand. Undoubtedly the best, but the most costly, often very annoying, and some- times impossible succedaneum, is a wet nurse, ca va sans dire. 'ADVICE GRATIS. 73 Scarcely a day passes, but I am addressed very nearly as follows, with some slight variations, according to the means of the individual: “ Doctor, what shall I give my baby to eat ? I find he wants more than I can give him, and I have so many things recommended to me—grits, prepared barley, corn starch, Liebig’s imitation milk, and dozens of others. Some say I had better get a goat, and keep her in my back-yard. Father wants me to keep a cow in his stable, so that we can have one cow’s milk. I really wish you would give me some advice, and so settle the question.” Yes, Mrs. . You ask me a very sim- ple question, and, of course, as you meet me by chance, you don’t expect me to go home and charge your husband with a ten-dollar fee for advice ? But you want my opin- ion, and will act upon it, and so you shift the whole re- sponsibility of the matter on to me, which means that if anything occurs unfortunate—if the baby gets a diarrhoea, or summer complaint while teething, or a fit, or gets thin, or has a “ milk crust ” on its darling head, “ the dear little tootsy-pootsy ”—that you will be “ down on me,” for Mrs. Grundy said it was all owing to—or to—or something else which the doctor advised. Well, I am used to taking the responsibility of “little responsibilities,” and, at my age, I am not going to com- mence to shirk, and as you don’t think it would be quite handsome for me to go home—after standing here on the corner, and talking with you for half an hour—and “ charge it,” I won’t: but let me suggest to you: My birthday is July 31st; if you should chance to remember your old doctor, and send him a case of “ Consular Seal,” or “ Lac d’Or,” I’ll bet he wouldn’t send it back, or be any slower getting to your house, the next time you get an idea that the darling is going to have the measles, even if his dinner gets spoiled. OUR CHILDREN. God intended that babies should drink milk till they bad teeth to eat something else, and sense enough to chew their food. Of course, that don’t mean four teeth, and a capacity for tearing off a “ hunk ” of meat and swallowing it whole. But you are not quite the mother, that was intended to nourish a child. You are a city-bred lady; you are too delicate to walk even, to say nothing of work- ing in the open air, whereby alone, health comes, that can be transmitted to following generations. Well, it can’t be helped now, and we must find a substitute the best we can. The cow, is the best possible. Why? Because the character of her milk, is more nearly that of the food that nature intended a child to take, till it was a year or eigh- teen months old, than anything else that we can obtain— if the cow is healthy, and fed on proper food. Her milk is a little less sweet, and has a little more cheese material than yours; so if you will add half water, and sweeten with cane-sugar, you have about the same as nature intended. But if you get city-milk, or “ swill-milk,” you get a differ- ent article—one that contains less sugar, and twice as much curd, as is natural. But this is not all, although it is about all that chemistry shows us. When I made the first scientific examinations ever made of swill-milk (see my original report made to the New York Academy of Medicine, in 1848), it was dis- covered, that there wTas a peculiar characteristic about it—■ the globules which, in healthy milk, should float freely in the watery portion, in the swill-milk were seen, under the microscope, to stick together, with a tenacity that prevented their being separated. The result, practically, was that there was formed a curd in the child’s stomach, so tenacious that it wTas not easily digested by the child, and either passed away as a foreign body, undigested, giving rise to diarrhoeas, DON'T GET A GOAT. 75 convulsions, and tlie whole train of infantile diseases, or was digested with great difficulty. The milk was found to “ keep ” much longer than ordinary milk without sour- ing, and it kept much too long, after being in the stomach of the delicate child before it was digested. How many parents, fearful of all this, of which they have heard so much, and seen so mauy illustrations in Frank Leslies Illustrated Paper in the past day, are so afraid of milk, that they try everything that grocers and apothecaries want to sell. It is true that children may worry through a diet of grits and barleys, but even if they do, these articles do not contain a sufficiency of the elements from which to make bones and teeth. One great reason of the poor teeth of the rising generation, is the poor material of which they are constructed. The Israelites brick-making without straw, was nothing to making teeth without the lime, phos- phorus, etc., of which they are composed. Don’t be talked into feeding children with any Liebig’s chemical food for babies, or prepared barley or arrow-root. The real nutriment of most of these, or, at least, that nutriment which a little babe can take up and assimilate, comes mainly from the milk and sugar with which they are di- rected to be mixed. Arrow-root and corn-starch made with water alone, will starve your child in a week’s time, unless it has other food. Don’t get a goat; they are dirty creatures, and coarse feeders. They prefer brown paper, as it comes, from the grocer, to the best hay, and they will eat it covered with grease, whiting, iron rust, mud, printing-ink; and I even knew one goat killed by eating a brown paper, with its contents, which chanced to be arsenic for killing rats. More than that, the milk, at the best, is too curdy for any delicate child, although a very hearty one, of some months old, may get along with it. 76 OUR CHILDREN. Don’t try a city cow, kept in a stable, tied by the neck, and supposed to be “exercised daily by our John.” Just see how faithfully John attends to matters directly under your eye, and imagine how he exercises that “ darned old cow,” as he styles her. If you doubt, go to the stable and just look at her once—when John don’t know that you are coming—look at the bed and her hoofs. If there is a swindle in the city, it is what is called “one-cow’s milk.” Go look at her ! You are willing to spend all day traveling between Lord & Taylor’s and Stewart’s, but you never looked at your “ one cow,” or found out how many got “ one-cow’s milk ” from her, what she had to eat, and how near the.Croton ran to the cow-house! Now, my dear reader, good milk' can be obtained in New York, upon which you may feed a baby with perfect safety, and I can vouch for its purity in every particular, for I have drank it daily for ten years. I have been to the places whence it comes, solely to see that there were no beer-swill factories in the vicinity, and I personally know the principal men, who have the charge of the busi- ness. The Rockland County Milk Association, 111 Sev- enth Avenue, and 71 Fourth Avenue, New York, and No. 12 Nassau Street, Brooklyn, furnish pure natural milk. Connected with them, is the Canfield’s Condensed Milk Company, who make condensed milk, which is better for coffee, and in the heat of summer, more sure of not being sour, and is nothing but pure milk boiled down, and the cream is not skimmed off before condensing, as some of the companies have done, particularly for army contracts, for you know “ anything was good enough for the army.” Now, if your baby has a very weak digestion, and if the curds pass through unchanged—white and hard—let the milk stand before using, and, after the curd has settled, and the cream risen, pour off the top for the baby’s use. If that BABY FOOD. 77 don’t obviate tlie trouble, feed with cream and water and sugar for a few days. Children are rarely constipated when their food does not agree with tnem, so there will rarely be any call for medicine, and, above all, none for mercurials, in any form, which doctors were formerly very fond of giving, upon Hoyle’s whist rule, that, “ When you don’t know what to lead, play trumps. If the eructations are sour, a little soda may be put into the milk, or a powder of the carbonate of bismuth and pepsine, each two grains for a child six months, or three grains, if about nine months or over, three times a day, put into a teaspoonful of its food, will be found very useful, and cannot possibly be of any disadvantage, in any state of the system. If the child is doing well, as it gets stronger or older, give him a big piece of hard, juicy beef, and let him pull away at it, and daub himself all over—there is plenty of soap—it will both amuse him, and the juices will be advantageous. Give him a tablespoonful of the running juices of roast beef or mutton from the dish; or beat up the white of an egg to a stiff froth, and add a cup of milk with a little sugar; half in the forenoon, and half in the afternoon; if weakly, with a half teaspoonful of pure brandy with each. Drop the yolk into some boiling water, and feed it to him with a little salt. I know, my dear young mother, that you feel very kindly to me for all this advice, but don’t testify it as did a French lady, who showed her gratitude, on my leaving Paris, where I studied medicine in 1844. She gave me a pencil, on the sealed-head of which, she had caused to be engraved “D. G.” I inquired what the letters meant. The reply was: “ They are your initials!— Doctor Gardner.” People who live in the country, and more especially those, who sell milk, butter, or cheese, recognize great difference in the milk of their different cows. Butter- OUR CHILDREN. makers want Alderney’s, cows that give a smaller quantity of milk, very rich with cream. Milk-sellers want large yielding cows, no matter how watery and blue. What we want for a growing child, is the creamy fluid, yellow and “ buttery ” to the sight, or as it is sometimes phrased, “with the color of the daisies—(milk weed?)—upon it,” albeit it is very much to be hoped, that the critter hasn’t touched one of them. other parting remark on this subject. Every mother of any experience recognizes, that when nursing an infant, if by chance she become pregnant again, that there is immediate diminution in the quantity of her milk; most commonly too, her first suspicion of the fact, is derived from noticing that the nursling is disturbed, that it vomits frequently, perhaps has an accompanying looseness of the bowels, is fretful and uncomfortable, evidently does not thrive; in fact, sometimes markedly deteriorates, “poor thing,” she says, “ it is his teeth a-working on him,”—and for a time, she thinks so, until finally comes a suspicion, soon changed to a certainty, that “ she is caught again.” The mother thus notes this depravation of her own milk, but no one has till now, drawn attention to the fact, that the cow’s milk substituted, is almost always equally dete- teriorated. The cow has not been delivered of the calf, for more than two or three months, before she is again preg- nant with another, “ to come in ” in the following spring. She has henceforth to supply the coming calf, with material for its growth in utero, and also to furnish the milk which is to sustain your child. If one wishes to observe the effect, he need only to look at ordinary milk, and then at that which is drawn from a “ farrow ” cow, one of which, is apt to be kept by the far- mer, to furnish his winter’s milk. The latter is small in quantity, rarely more than three to five quarts a day, thick FARROW COW'S MILK. 79 in consistency, rich in cream, and so strong and rank in flavor, as to be disagreeable to many, and quite unpalatable as a beverage. This however, contains all the nitrogenous elements which are required for the bone and brain of the growing child; city people cannot procure such milk, and are compelled to resort to chemical equivalents as substi- tutes, and the phosphates of iron, soda, and lime, are used for bony material, and cod liver oil, etc., for the fat and muscle. DISEASE IN THE TEETH, It is perhaps in no small degree, owing to this want of the essential chemical material in the milk, upon which children are raised, that we find so much disease in the teeth of the young of the present day. We find many children, whose first teeth are all black, decayed, crumbled away, long before the second set have started into being. We see children of two and three years of age, crying with the tooth-ache, and we find the dentists engaged, either in extracting (horrible for adults, and worse, if possible, for poor little babes, whose sorrows come all too soon), or bet- ter still, in stopping with temporary fillings of gutta-percha, cement, or tin, the premature cavities in the first teeth. We find too, the second set coming out from their deep recesses, in the alveola processes, where no food could lodge and corrode, where no diseased secretions from the mouth or stomach, could reach—we find these teeth, ushered into being, specked, decayed, imperfectly organized, and sometimes but half covered with enamel, and these teeth too tender, and illy protected, to bear even the seed of ripe fruit, sensitive to the sweet of sugar, to the slightest heat or cold; valueless for ornament, and almost useless for mastication. Some have ascribed these imperfections to the effects of 80 OUR CHILDREN. medicine, taken in earlier childhood, to mercury, which has acted upon the teeth ; but the instances are noted, where no corrosive medicine, or mercurial treatment has been adopted, and the conviction is forced upon us, that the cause is the want of proper material, in the ordinary food of the child—that the phosphates of the milk, have gone to the development of the calf within the cow, that has given this imperfect milk ; that the nitrogenous portion of the flour, which has formed the white and beautiful looking bread, upon which the child has been fed, has been bolted and sifted from the ground wheat, till the flour which is left, and upon which our bread is made, has little more in it, than simple starch, a substance in itself, utterly incapable of sustaining life, far less to grow, develop, and energize, and create bone and nerve for a new creature. Such was not the state of things in past days. Our grand-parents lived on coarsely ground flour,- and corn black with the unbolted husks, rich in phosphates, ammo- niates, and they had no dentists, and never knew what a tooth-brush was. The Aboriginal Indians crushed their corn between two stones, roasted it in the ashes of the camp-fire, and went to their graves, with a mouth full of sound teeth, as evinced by their remains, found in the large burial mounds of our West. Contrast the teeth of the negro population of the South, who live on corn-dodgers, and fare made from hard ground meal, or unbolted flour from the mills, with the same peo- ple, under the malign influences of civilization. The northern negro, too fond of imitating the vices of his betters, but in this respect, compelled to adopt their im- proper food, lives on the bolted flour of the bakery, eats the sugar and molasses, with its better principles bleached out of it—his teeth, once the shining glory of his race, synonomous with ivory, for their whiteness, “ are no better A PARAMOUNT NEED. 81 than white folks’.” They too, prematurely decay, and are lost, and for the same reason. Is there any deduction for these undoubted, uncontro- vertible statements ? Are these facts to be only interesting, scientific statements, illustrating physical degeneration, or is there a moral and an instructive lesson to be deduced therefrom ? Are the future parents of this country, to go on in wrong-doing, apparently with the grand aim of their lives, to develop dentists from tooth-drawing barbers, and to pour the wealth of the land into their laps ? The real lesson to be expected from this and other simi- lar facts, is to recognize children as children, finding them proper food—milk and bread—as infants ; next, to keep them as children, until they have passed the growing, de- veloping age, till they have acquired habits and tastes formed by our knowledge. To this end, it is especially incumbent upon parents, more particularly the richer, lux- urious living classes, especially the city resident, with his late hours, his pampered, more unnatural food, to Tceejp a nursery and a children’s table, with food appropriate to their portion as developing creatures, unformed, immature, whose constitutions are to be made and strengthened by every care, and to last for a prolonged life. You would hoot at a house-builder, who would pile up his marble edifice, and atttempt to store it with goods, regardless whether the lowest range of stone was placed upon a solid rock, or a fleetirg quick-sand; but you pro- ceed to develop a man, and fill him with high ideas, and lofty thoughts, regardless whether the primary element of health and strength are present, upon which to found all! A children’s nursery; a children’s table, is the crying necessity of American life. It is found nowhere through- out our land, but the babe in arms, is taken to the table with its parents, before it has teeth, or learns to wield a 4* 82 OUR CHILDREN. spoon and a fork, and while yet it is a nurseling, it eats almost indiscriminately from off the family board. Five- year old children, at a six o’clock dinner, eating meat, veg- etables, corn, tomatoes, melons, coffee and tea, and per- haps a sip from his father’s glass of wine or whisky!! It is unnecessary to attempt any argument upon such ex- isting state of things. The reason of every one—none the less of those, who are guilty of these gross sins, against the ordinary laws of life and health—will admit its impro- priety, and the only excuse that they can urge is the love they bear for their petted “ little men.” Did they hate them with fierce hatred, and strive by all lawful means, to get rid of them by exposure to cholera infantum, and kin- dred ailments, they could take no quicker, or more effica- cious means. Did they wish to destroy their constitutions, rack with future dyspepsias and anomalous ills, they could set about it in no better manner. You would like to have me furnish you, with a regimen for your children? How is that possible? How can we make a set formula, a dietary which must be interfered with in a thousand ways by the necessities of individual family life, by the place where you live, the food that it is possible to obtain there? Ho, I can but give you general ideas, and you must use your own brains, to adopt general principles to your special case. “ But is it good to give children meat ?” and “ how old must they be to take it ?” and ain’t tomatoes, and black- berries, and fruit generally healthy ?” you certainly wouldn’t object to molasses, or bread and sugar for lunch ? and don’t you let children eat candy at all ?” How my dear ladies, take breath I implore you. Com- mon sense is all that is required, to answer all these que- ries. I give you the common sense replies—no especial lore, no ex cathedra dogmas. CHILDRENS FOOD. 83 We are given teeth like the horse and ox, like the dog and wolf; we share this variety with the hog and bear ; we are intended to eat all varieties of food—flesh, like the car- nivorous beasts; grasses and grains and vegetables, like the graminivorous. The child should eat meat, when it has sharp incisor teeth to cut it with, and grains and fruit, when the grinders are furnished to comminute and pulverize it. When the child is about fourteen months old, its front teeth commence to be seen. Up to this period, as already said, the mother’s milk is the proper and only food, or its equivalent in cow’s milk. The same is true of your pup and your kitten. If before they have teeth, they eat much meat, they sicken, get fits, and frequently die. The suck- ling calf does not attempt to eat grass or hay, but may be trained to eat meal and water. When the teeth appear, give it a little mutton broth, or beef tea, if necessary, or a bit of roast beef or beef steak, to mumble and suck. When the grinders are well forward, give it potatoes, and bread and butter, and healthy ripe fruit, like baked sweet apples, or a raw apple early in the day, a peach or two, grapes, if they will cast away the skins and seeds. To allow these to be swallowed, is to invite a convulsion, and disturbance of the stomach and bowels. Berries are healthy, but for young children, the seeds of blackberries are almost sure to cause some bowel disturb- ance, if eaten in any quantity. The same is true of toma- toes ; peaches are healthy, and so too are dates. Preserves, on the contrary, are very indigestible, and even when cooked, are very laxative to most. No fruit is desirable, after the noon is passed, but young children should not be permitted to eat it, except at breakfast, and at or before a noon dinner. Molasses, and sugar, are proper articles of food, and may be eaten at meals with safety and utility. Children under puberty, should not drink tea or coflee, 84 OUR CHILDREN. more than spirits or wine. They are luxuries only, to those accustomed to them; they are nervous stimulants, which children have no occasion for. If taken strong, they are markedly predjudicial to the general health. Tea, if taken strong, and upon an empty stomach, will make even one accustomed to it, nauseated. If however, you think it desirable to give your children some warm, healthy drink, get barley malt at any brewery; roast, and grind it like ordinary coffee, and make an infusion in the same manner. This is a very pleasant beverage, very palatable for children, with milk and sugar, strengthening, nutritious, and without any objectionable results. Chocolate and shells are also unobjectionable, as children’s morning drink. CANDY-EATEXG. Every little while, the public mind is excited, respecting the alleged unhealthiness of some of the ordinary articles of food. Last year, it was the trichinea in meats, especially in pork, and so seriously did this question affect the con- sumption of the latter, that for a time, the price was mark- edly lowered. At another period, the ills arising from swill-milk agitate the community. These excitements are of tempory duration, and, as the bosom of a placid lake, ruffled by school-boys’ pebbles, soon becomes smooth, so these excitations soon pass away, and matters resume their ordinary course. To day, the interest is centered upon candies, and the old question, so oft mooted, is again brought up and discussed, relative to the healthiness of candies generally. There is in this, as in most other similar questions, a common-sense view, alike distant from either extreme, and this I will endeavor to point out. Sugar is one of the most valuable alimentary principles in the food of man, among which we may enumerate albu- IS CANDY WHOLESOME? 85 men, gelatine, fat, starch., gum, etc. Now, while these elements enter, in various combinations, into all our food, and in this form are most nutritious, each contributing its proportion toward the general support of the body, each one alone is, generally speaking, incapable of continuing life for any prolonged period. Experiments upon dogs evince this fact. Sugar is found in almost every form of our food, and is thus one of the most important of the nu- tritious elements. Those, therefore, who assert that candy- eating is injurious, must do so from some additional reason. Candy is simply flavored sugar. If it is improperly made, adulterated, or rendered poisonous by coloring mat- ter, the charge should not be made against candy, but against false or fraudulent candy. If dishonest makers add terra alba—a white aluminous earth of no value—or plaster or clay, to cheapen its cost, or if they color it with poison- ous pigments to obtain a cheap brilliancy, it is no argument against pure candies. These frauds are daily committed, and so serious are the results, that many children are yearly killed, by the direct action of the arsenic and verdi- gris, used in this foul manufacture. The argument is, then, against buying candies from unprincipled, and generally from unknown makers. But is pure candy wholesome ? Most certainly it is. I do not say that you should keep your child’s pocket filled with sugar-plums; neither should they have them filled with peanuts, or raisins, or figs—all of which are, like sugar-candy, healthy, and proper to be eaten at proper times, and in proper quantities. As I have repeatedly said in other places, respecting the use of vinous and spiritous drinks, everything on the earth was intended for the use of man, whose duty is to use, and not abuse, these varied gifts of God. Sugar is undeniably a proper article of food, both in its natural union with other articles of food, or separated by the cunning of man. 86 OUR CHILDREN. Candy should not be habitually eaten at irregular times, so as to destroy the healthy appetite for food, but it may appear with advantage at the dessert, and may advantage- ously form part of the ordinary meal. In this manner it will be found more healthful, less expensive, and far more agreeable, than the pies and puddings generally seen on the family table. From my youth, I have been in the habit of seeing a pound of candy serve as a substitute for the tarts, so generally seen as the after-dinner bonne louche. It is incorrectly alleged, that sugar is injurious to the teeth, and some erroneous statements have been made that a simple syrup will dissolve a tooth placed in it. There is no truth in these statements. The facts are simply these: sugar dissolved in water, and heated, soon turns acid, and this acid may injure the teeth. Again, sugar eaten to such excess as to disturb the digestion, will, as well as many other forms of nutriment, produce acid saliva, which acts injuriously upon the teeth. Indeed, it is the fact that while teeth are affected by the food lodging between them, and acidifying and acting on the teeth, far more are de- stroyed by the acrid secretions from the glands, which furnish the saliva lubricating the mouth, the result of acidity of the stomach, from dispeptic difficulties. This fact is obvious, from observing teeth which are decayed before they are fully grown, and even sometimes before they cut through the gum, and are visible to the eye. Candies are among the luxuries of the civilized world, and we should eat them as food when we desire, not, as is too often the case, between meals. We should recognize the fact that sugar quickly ferments, and carefully rinse the mouth free from all remains. Finally, we should exercise especial care in eating sugar- plums, which are very apt to be made of flour, plaster or terra alba, with a covering of sugar externally. These THE CHILDREN'S TABLE. 87 adulterations are easily recognized, for if a piece of the candy is dissolved in the water, these insoluble ingredients fall to the bottom. We should avoid all candies of high colors, especially bright greens, which, when very bright and handsome, are invariably colored with deleterious substances. When you buy candy yourself, go to Halliard’s, Kid- ley’s, or to Hodgkin’s old store in Greenwich street, near Conrtlandt, now kept by Smith, or any other that you hnow makes pure candies. I made very careful scientific examinations of these manufactories, more than ten years ago, going over the establishments carefully, and prying into the coloring materials and flavors used by them, and can therefore assuredly state, the absolute purity of the goods produced by these makers. The reports I then made, were published in the medical journals of the day in this city, in connection with other hygienic investigations, and it was at the time of a similar public excitement, respecting the deleterious character of certain new flavors of banana, nectarine, and the like, made by certain com- pounds of fusel oil. The truth is now, as it was then, that certain unprinjq pled men will adopt any means, to undersell their cor ijpfe- titors. If a few individuals are made severely sick, score of delicate children are killed, it is of little conse- quence to them, provided the trade is secured. It igqa safe rule to look with suspicion upon everything that is offered unusually cheap. If it is jewelry, it is apt to be stolen property; if fur, it is moth-eaten; if lace, it is rotten ; if poultry, it is kept too long; if it is coal, it is short weight; if it is candy, it is of a deleterious com- pound. AT THE TABLE. It is reported of some kind of Squeer’s like boarding- 88 OUR CHILDREN. school master, when meat was a rarer article of food and more costly than now, that he was accustomed to have some cheap kind of pudding, as the first course of his dinner; also, that he was accustomed to encourage his boys to eating heartily of this first course, by promising that those that eat the most of the pudding, should be rewarded by having the most meat. In consequence, all the boys strove so earnestly for the coveted prize, that there was very little room left for the second course, when it finally came on. If we could in some such way, induce children to eating healthy, and simple food, we should benefit them materially. A too great variety, is very undesirable at any one meal. Have different food each day if convenient, for variety is agreeable, and food that is relished, digests better and nourishes better, than if disagreeable and eaten with grumbling and complaint. The children’s meals should be simple, unspiced, and the quantity each eats, should be under the limitation of his healthy appetite, and not the result of his palate being tickled, by a succession of courses and delicacies. Make it a rule, that if a child has no appetite for simple food of good quality, that he is sick, ahd should be dieted, or physicked (the former best) and fak tiempted by luxuries and tid-bits. in large quantities, are not desirable, not advisa- ble with children living on milk, but in small quantities they are not deleterious, taken with other food—that is so far as the vinegar goes. In many conditions of the system, vinegar is almost imperatively demanded, and is a neces- sary article of diet, in the army and on shipboard, by those who do not drink the acid wines, where the elements which the system requires are abundantly found. Stim- ulating sauces, catsups, and condiments, are never desirable. They are excusable, and perhaps necessary, for the worn- HABITS AT TABLE. 89 out stomachs of sensualists and gourmands, but should be positivelyprohibited to all children. Especially should care be taken with young children, to form their habits of eating. Some children suck their food, pressing it with the tongue against the roof of the mouth, and finally swallowing it unmasticated in large pieces. They should be taught, when first allowed to eat solid food, to comminute it finely before swallowing. Food thus masticated, allows thegastricjuice to attack it on a much larger surface, to mix through it, and thus to digest it speedily. If it remains too long in the heat of the stomach undigested, it sours, produces eructations, and pain, disturbing the faculties, so as to interfere with the studies by day, or the rest by night, and soon produces more or less disease. What is called “ table manners,” is not all outside show, but are very generally based upon correct physiological principles. The laws of decorum, dissuade one from rapidity in eating and drinking. Some persons gulp down a plate of soup, or a cup of tea, when almost boiling hot. They have allowed themselves, to get into this dele- terious habit, for it is so, independent of this breach of decorum. Such habits of taking these liquids so hot, are injurious to their health, for the almost scalding fluid, produces marked injury to the digestive powers of the stomach, besides materially injuring the teeth, with which it comes in contact, at a temperature which would be found far too high in which to take a bath, or even to Avash the hands and face—parts of the body more accus- tomed to such burning applications. Dyspepsias, and even cancers of the stomach, are ascribed to this constant abuse and over stimulation of this organ. I cannot close this chapter without alluding to another too frequent custom at the table, which should be avoided. 90 OUR CHILDREN. It is very generally a habit commenced in youth, and continued with many injurious effects, far into life, perhaps indeed, even after the injury resulting from it, is perceived and acknowledged; for the habits of childhood once formed, are very apt to cling to us through life. It is the habit of excessive drinking, to which I refer. There is a limitation to tea and coffee drinking, and even to milk drinking, but an excessive water drinker has no limita- tion but his capacity. Besides his one or two cups of tea, or coffee and his glass of milk, he tops off with a goblet, or two, or three of cold water. This flood of fluid, fills him up to a most uncomfortable fullness; it unnecessarily taxes the secretory organs to throw it out of the system, disor- dering the kidneys by this over-work. Furthermore, it so dilutes the gastric juice, that the organs of digestion become seriously impared, and the result is often a most aggravated dyspepsia. This excessive drinking, sometimes is caused by eating too much salt, with the meals. The overdose of salt is rarely excessive. It is the principle material composing the gastric juice, and perhaps can do little injury, even in very large quantities, but it is certain- ly quite unnecessary for the health, and the habit of over eating it, should be checked and its use controlled. Eating and drinking between meals, is to be avoided as much as possible. The stomach requires rest, like every other organ, and the perpetual munching of cakes, and crackers and candies, and nuts, and fruits, is unques- tionably very injurious, a tampering with the healthy appetite, for nutritious food at regular periods. The remarks already made upon the constant nursing of chil. dren, is pertinent in this connection. EXCESSIVE DRINKING AT MEALS. CHAPTER Y. children’s clothing. A CHILD is no sooner born into the world, than the necessity for keeping it warm, originates the enquiry, how it shall be clothed. Mothers usually prepare in anticipation a basket, containing such clothing as the fash- ion of the day deems necessary, adorned with such lace, ribbons, &c., as the station of the family demand, and the inevitable pin-ball with the pins, duly pricked into the sentence of WELCOME LITTLE STRANGER. With this.ball, there is an interest to the physician attending, and this comes from the hope that there are some pins two or three inches long, with which he may properly secure the mother’s bandage. Such a basket should contain a couple of flannel banda- ges, from four to six inches in width, and eighteen inches in length, and on one end, three tapes, each double and about ten inches in length, with which to secure the end without requiring any pins. It should also contain, two to six squares, a short flannel petticoat, a second, some three feet long, and opened in front its entire length ; a linen cambric shirt, a night gown and a day dress, a pair of socks, a powder box and puff ball, a pair of scissors, sharp and without points, a roll of soft old linen, a bit of flannel for a wash rag, also a minute comb, and brush. I have little to say about this clothing, except that if it is not summer, the dresses should be made high in the OUR CHILDREN. neck and with long sleeves. Yanity may make a mother desirous of showing her baby’s little fat neck, and mottled soft arms, but the risk of inflammation of the lungs, and other diseases, is too imminent for me any more to advise open dress. There is not so much real danger from pins, as there is annoyance, and from the uncertainty, or to the cause of the sometimes prolonged crying of a child. Is it hungry ? lias it a colic ? Is it the pricking of a pin ? We proceed to eliminate. It cannot be that the child is cross, for be it expressly understood (young mother, for whom this paragraph is particularly intended) that children are never cross, without reason or motive. If the child has plenty of good food, no illness, no pain, it is pleasant and happy—if sometimes sleepy. Crossness is an affliction of the mind, and a nursing baby has not yet arrived at such a pitch of intel- ligence, as to recognize any misfortune that could possibly attend it. Recognize this as a continual fact, that what is called crossness, is discomfort. If the dress is not secured by pins, the possible origin of the lamentations is set aside. The only advantage of pins, is the rapidity with which they can be adjusted. Dresses tied with tapes, are apt to be loose and awry. Far the better plan is, to sew them on with long basting stitches, and thus combine the essential elements of a neat, rapid, and safe manner of dressing. It will appear somewhat awkward at first, but is handily done after a little experi- ence. My own children, had never a pin in their infantile garments. There remains therefore, a logical necessity, that the child is crying from some internal disarrangement, and nine times out of ten, a little catnip, anise, or similar car- minative tea, is all that is required to dislodge some obstruc- tion, or disperse a gathering flatus. BABTS DRESS. 93 As the child becomes able to creep about, the necessity of shortening its long protecting skirts is imperative, while the necessity that the child’s limbs should be kept warm ,is as strong as ever. It is like throwing dust against the wind, to attempt to go against the blind decrees of fashion, yet the Laws of Health demand, that a child’s arms, neck and legs, should be kept covered from the cold and wind. A vigorous child can eat enough food to keep himself warm, but every farmer knows that he can keep his cows, on half the feed, when protected, and safely housed from the winter’s blast, and although the saving of food with the farmer is everything, and this economy in nursing children is nothing, yet, it is an important matter, if the food of the child should be wasted in simply keeping it from perishing with cold, rather than its being utilized in forming bone, gathering flesh, and creating in it, a stamina and a constitution, that shall show its benefits by prolong- ation of life and vigor, when the four-score years and ten, man’s allotted term of earthly duration, shall have been attained. Flannel is an essential article of dress, at least so far as a flannel band or under-shirt is concerned, until after the complete teething of the child is gone through with. It is perhaps, allowable to remove it from healthy children, during such intense, and prolonged, summer heats, as we have had in summers past, but if removed temporarily, it must be supplimented by increased vigilance on the part of the mother, lest some of the sudden changes of temper- ature, find her child too exposed to its chilling influences. The only real objection to flannel low cut waists for children, is their liability to the very disagreeable annoy- ance of jprickly heat, which is very frequent among active, freely perspiring children. If this is present, it will be OUR CHILDREN'. much mitigated by keeping the skin cool, by frequent bathings and by gently wiping the body over with a solu- tion of ordinary saleratus, (not soda) of the strength of a table-spoonful of this salt, in a quart of cold water. After the teething is entirely completed, the child may be dressed i-n any manner deemed most appropriate for the season, but guided by the general principles which govern all dress. Dress has two ends in view. The first is that, which is alleged to have animated the first pair in the garden, the covering of the person from observation. However prob- lematical this alleged origin of clothing may be, there is no question, but it is now, one of the guiding instincts mod- ifying and fashioning it. Innocence is typified as naked, and in conformity with this idea, the innocent little child is too apt to be imperfectly clad. Protection against the inclemency of the weather, the more possible origin of habiliments, seems in constant strife with the former. Mothers seem far too much imbued with the ideas of the former, than a just perception of the demands of the latter. The fickleness of the weather in our temperate latitudes, the extreme changes of temperature, which not unfre- quently occur, in the twenty-four hours of a single day, renders it necessary to dress thoughtless, unforeseeing chil- dren, rather too warmly than the contrary; for while it might be perfectly safe for an adult, within reach of warmer attire, to be clothed in gauze and linen, it behooves a careful parent to dress children in garments made of such material as shall allow them, with more impunity to exercise with great severity, and then, even when hot and perspiring, to sit down anywhere upon the cold ground, exposed to draughts and windy currents. We know that children will do this, and we must dress them accordingly; WHY BLESS IN FLANNEL ? 95 especially tlie chest and extremities must be kept guarded. The effect of a sudden cooling of the heated body, which checks the perspiration rapidly, is to arrest the cur- rent of blood which has been flowing towards the surface, and to direct it internally, and this produces those sudden congestions of the various internal organs, so commonly seen in the changeable seasons of the year. Wetting the feet, or a severe drenching from a thunder shower, or fall- ing into a brook, is rarely productive of material injury to the health, when followed by continued exercise; but on the contrary, a slight dampening even, when riding in a vehicle, or when one sits, as at church or elsewhere, until chilled, is almost always followed by disease of more or less severity. It is against this sudden cooling of the body, that we clothe children with woolen, or give them flannel waists to guard their vitals. Adults are supposed to know bet- ter, than to thus allow themselves to be blown upon by wind, or wetted by rain, &c., or if wetted, it is supposed that they will be wise enough to walk rapidly home, rather than to cool, and to catch cold by riding. Still, they do not know enough to run home from the heated lecture- room, or theatre, on a winter’s night, but almost invaria- bly get cold, by their lazily riding home after it is over. LOW NECKED DKESSES. The low-necked dresses of girls, even in summer-time, are open to still another objection. They require to be made with unusual accuracy, in order to have them keep their proper place, for if too loose, they so slip down as to keep one shoulder, or the other, perpetually sticking out, which is both awkward and unseemly, but it induces a habit of twitching which is apt to be persistent. If too tight, they injuriously compress the shoulders, and are very apt 96 OUR CHILDREN. to cause a stoop, which is not only permanently disfiguring, but compresses the lungs, and alters the shape of the chest to the manifest detriment of the health. Few children per- sistently wear such cut dresses, without such like physical ill-results. Sufficient care is not taken in the fitting of children’s dress,and more especially at that period of their life, when the pubescent changes take place. The growing bust of girls requires accommodation, so that it may have room for full development. How often do we see the effects of this neglect, on the breast of the young mother, where, owing to this want of care, the pressure of the clothes has so been allowed to fall upon the nipple, that it has been bur- ied in the gland, and can scarcely be seized by the child, until by various resorts, it is laboriously drawn out to its natural position. Undoubtedly, many of the gathered breasts of young mothers, are due to the obliteration of the milk ducts, a direct result of the pressure of the tight waists, and improperly placed seams in the dresses, at this developing age. The same injurious result, comes from the bones of illy fitting corsets, which often produces lumps in the breasts of the mature, and more probably create absorption in the less physiologically active organs of the immature girl. While speaking of COESETS. A subject upon which volumes have been written, I might here briefly mention my own ideas respecting them. Their great injury lies in their abuse. Properly made, and properly worn, they are simply close-fitting, local gar- ments, warm and not injurious. But in the first place, they are very rarely properly fitted, although there is to-day great improvement over those of a few years ago, in their manufacture and the accuracy of their adjustment, to the CORSETS FOR CHILDREN. 97 female form. Secondly, they give too great discretionary power, to the ignorant young wearer, or the foolish, vain, regardless older girl. They will tighten them in the aim to make their figure slim, and stylish, till they press upon organs, to their manifest detriment. I shall not attempt to go into an argument for, or against them here, but this much is true, that if they may be ju- diciously worn, under the eye of a careful, sensible, observ- ing mother, they are never necessary, for health. They never advantageously “ keep a girl up,” even if they may “ make her dresses set smoothly.” Girls should get health and stamina to keep them up, and should put iron inside of themselves, not outside, for this purpose. But if mothers will put any form of corset on their chil- dren for “ trigness,” let them be contented with “ Spanish waists’,” which are more like a Venus girdle than a corset. Few girls require more than this, as they have neither full and pendulous bosoms to keep up, or abdominal fat to keep down, and if they have, they should remember that it must go somewhere, and there is little gain to looks, if great injury to health, by the attempt to forcibly drive it here and there. The Spanish waist cannot be brought too tightly together —say an inch or two larger than a corset-maker’s measure, and little injury will be done by it. To say the least, it makes no greater pressure than the boned, laced waist of the ordinary dress, which is practically a corset. HOOPS have been a benefit to children. They have diminished the weight of skirts upon the hips, have given full play to the limbs, they are cool around the hips and back, where formerly there was intense heat, and consequent disease, and as a whole, their introduction and general use has been of great benefit. 98 OUR CHILDREN. Another important portion of dress, should not he passed by unnoticed. There is unquestionably, too little attention paid to fitting the shoes of children, and the foundation of life- long trouble, is the result of this neglect. Formerly, shoes were very generally “ custom made,” and each foot meas- ured and fitted. To-day, the best shoes in the market are made by the thousand by machinery, hundreds of miles away. The retailer but selects a shoe from a dozen or two— the contents of a box that he has himself bought—and it fits more or less well. If your foot is of the general run of feet, not higher in the instep, or longer or broader than ordinary, you do very well: but if there is anything pecu- liar, you are unfortunate. SHOES AND STOCKINGS Your child is absolutely unable to tell, whether or not a shoe will fit her, and the seller don’t care, if it is but paid for. If it is too long, it presses injuriously on the nails, distorts them, presses them into the flesh; if too loose, by its play, it galls the feet; if too tight, it creates corns and bunions, and when these are once formed, it is very difficult to ever entirely banish them. Children are very provoking in regard to shoes. If you select an unusually nice, and expensive pair of boots for your son in a fit of good humor, in twenty-four hours afterward, he has slidden down hill with them, and worn the entire heel off, or he has gone “ belly-bumpers,” and taken the tops of the toes off, or he has trampled out a bonfire, or burned them at the stove,—all is, they are gone. In a spirit of vexation, you buy a cheap pair of cowhides, with pegs and leather strings. This is revenge, and the fruits of it will remain in the form of corns, or bunions forever, speaking of you, long after you are in the family tomb. I have myself similar reminiscences. Parents should personally witness the fitting of shoes CHILDREN'S STOCKINGS. 99 for tlieir children. The modern “high-heels,” so press the foot into the toe of the shoe, that there should be suffi- cient length insured, and plenty of space about the toes, to admit of full play, and proper expansion, in walking. The tightness requisite to hold them firmly to the foot, should come from an easy graduated fit over the ankle. If the pressure be too great upon the instep, inflammation of the extremities of the small bones of the foot will ensue, formative matter will be thrown upon the surface, and the result will be a protuberance lasting and disfiguring the foot for life. The first time that a new shoe is worn, should be only for a very short time. A long walk, or a prolonged stand- ing on the feet, should never be undertaken in new shoes; nor should new shoes, or boots, be worn two days in suc- cession, but rest be given to the feet, by a pair pressing in other places, or by the old, and well-fitted, even if shabby. Stockings should not be worn, if by shrinking, or mend- ing, or the growing of the foot, they have become too short, or tight across the toes. Most of the soft corns are produced thus, and a mother should carefully watch this in her children, and see that no such persistent injury shall occur, for most of these troubles of the feet, date from very early youth. CHAPTER YL PERSONAL HABITS. "V’TT'ERE Ito fill this chapter, with a review of all the Y Y personal habits of children, and which afterward became the fixed manners of the matured adult, I should need to epitomize Chesterfield’s letters, condense Dr. Todd, Miss Edgeworth, Miss Martineau, and scores of other writers, who have written upon the manners and morals of the age. But my aim is narrowed down to those which affect the physical condition of the individual, and of these, many will suggest themselves to the reader, which I shall pass by unnoticed, sucli as sitting improperly, persistent snuffling, winking of the eye, distortions at regular intervals, biting of the nails, picking the flesh, &c. Some of these proceed from nervous disorders, some result in injuries to health, but as they are very apparent to the casual observer, and as they are more likely to be corrected from their disagreea- ble appearance, I shall make no further allusion to them. Personal Cleanliness, is but imperfectly regarded, even among the richest and best of families. Yery young children, while in the care of others, are very apt to be washed carefully and frequently enough, and even after that period has passed, the hands and face are not apt to be neglected, but their persons are, very commonly, if I should say foul—the word would scarcely be too strong. In the large cities, where bath-tubs are upon every floor, the neglect is not very great, but in less favored places, the use of a sponge and wash-bowl is less of a luxury, and has some drawbacks from being considered a perfect SECRETIONS OF THE SKIN. 101 pleasure, and it occupies time, is inconvenient—and tlie result is a personal neglect, evident to the olfactories of strangers. With some families, the secretions of the skin are rank and offensive, and too great care cannot be taken to so thoroughly and frequently cleanse the person, as to utterly banish any evidence of it, from being apparent to the senses. Especially is constant care required by those, who have offensive secretions from the feet. They must be carefully washed in cold water, night and morning, their stockings changed daily. Even this is sometimes quite ineffectual, and recourse must be had to some remedy. The following lotion is one that I have frequently pre- scribed with great benefit. I gave it first to a seamstress of such superiority, that we did not wish to part with her, but it seemed necessary, as no one could sit in the room with her, and as she walked through the house, a train of scent was left behind. A few applications entirely arrest- ed it, but at intervals for the following year, she was com- pelled to make use of it. TT> Oxyd. Rub. Plumbi, grs. XY. _Lt Solutio Plumbi Subacetatis, oz. I. Mix. Rubbing slowly in a mortar. After carefully washing and drying the feet, moisten between the toes and wherever the secretion takes place— once or twice a week is often enough for the application. Flannel shirts should not be worn longer than a week, unless in very cold weather when the secretions are in- terrupted, the time may be doubled. Especially it should be remembered, that they are not to be kept on during the night, but spread out, so as to be thoroughly aired by morning. Indeed, the clothing and covering of children at night, deserves more care than is generally given to it. Children 102 OUR CHILDREN. are very apt to be sent to bed, immediately after eating more or less hearty supper, and the food is very apt to produce some disagreeable sensations, which they manifest in sleep, by movements very much akin to those when awake—they kick round extensively, and so, naturally uncover themselves. Yery often indeed, they have too many coverings over them, and the transition from too many, to none at all, is too much for comfort or health. Their personal dress ought therefore to be so made, that they cannot be exposed, and both girls and boys when small, should have night garments like jacket and drawers, which will constantly cover them. A matter very much neglected is the secretion from the kidneys, It is utterly useless, and really cruel to rouse children from their slumbers, and flog them quite severely, as I have known it done, for wetting the bed in their sleep. The fault is not the child’s but the parents. For some unknown reason, whether the recumbent position, or the warmth of the bed, or the general relaxation of the system during sleep, I cannot say, but sure it is that the secretions of the kidneys are redoubled in amount, during the early hours of slumbering. It is nature that fills the bladder. If the poor tired child, is so sleepy, as not to be aroused by this pressure; if his uneasy feelings get mixed up with his dreams of pleasure, and in the midst of an imaginary ramble in the nut-groves, or in a game of ball, he is com- pelled to stop for a call of nature, and awakening he finds it was not all a dream—who is to blame, but the parent, who fills his little stomach with bread and milk, or tea and water, and stimulates the excretory organs, by apples or similar provoking food ? I protest against scolding and punishing children, as for a crime or a fault, when any blame, if any, rests with the parent. PERSONAL HABITS. 103 Cleanliness of the Teeth, is a most important matter. The injury to teeth by the food, by the stomach secretions are mainly effected in the long period of sleep. The best thing before going to bed, with washing the feet and hands, and saying the prayers—the purification of the soul —should be brushing the teeth, and rinsing the mouth. This need not be a prolonged matter, but a hasty, yet general cleansing away of all debris of the day’s food. The morning lavations, should include a very special brushing of the teeth, with soap or powder. Cutting the toe nails, demands an especial notice. In the good old times of past days, this was the finale of a Saturday night’s cleansing, but great injury was frequently caused, by the improper method used in training them. As they are rarely seen, ornament is not to be thought of. The finger nails should be cut so as to make a curved extremity, exactly opposed to the curved shape of the root, where it is inserted into the finger, but the toe nail, if cut in this manner, in consequence of the pressure of the shoe, will commence to be sore along the edge ; then the irrita- ted flesh will swell, and ride over the nail, and obscure it from sight or access. Soon, a very painful condition ensues, and then we have what is called an “ in-growing nail.” The nail continues to grow as it always did, but by constant digging-down, and trying to cut away the sharp edge that has been improperly made by the previous cuttings, we keep the sharp point ever pressing upon ever irritated flesh, and this, with the use of the foot and the pressure of the shoe, makes a really distressing affair. Now, if the toenail had been squarely cut across, no such trouble would have ever occurred, and now, if not touched for a few weeks, it will grow out, and will eventu- ally cure itself. The operation of cutting it out is horribly painful, and chloroform will not prevent a great 104 OUR CHILDREN. deal of after suffering, during the weeks necessary to heal it. Remember then the preventive, to out the nail square across, and not to round the corners with an eye for symmetry. The habit of paying attention to all the functions of the bodily economy, cannot be omitted with due regard to health. Children should be early taught the importance of daily visiting the water-closet, and if from any inability, the evacuations are not regular, and sufficiently copious, that they should draw their parents attention to the fact, and so by slight change in diet, or a simple laxative, that this source of so many ills may be rectified in season. IMPORT AN CE OF CERTAIN HABITS. Thus will headaches, haemorrhoids, leucorrhaeas, to say nothing of more serious congestions, and diseases be warded off. The importance of a regular hour for this purpose, is apparent to most. This habit of body finally becomes im- perative, and so strong is it, that not even urgent business, or the engrossing nature of any occupation, can prevent its being brought to mind. The habits during sleep are also important, and should be formed under the direction of the ever watchful mother. She should see that the child is in a proper posture, during the many hours spent in bed. The position should be such, as to give the greatest rest to the muscles, so that none of them should be kept upon the stretch, for if so, the child awakes in the morning but imperfectly rested. The child should lie on either side, with its limbs partially flexed—not upon its back, as this almost always interferes with the digestion, produces night-mare and discomfort. In this position, too, the muscles being thoroughly relaxed, the mouth falls open, and consequent snoring, and—as al- leged by some writers, with however, I think little foun- dation in fact—consequent disastrous effects, in which the lungs are more especially indicated. CHILDREN'S BEDS. 105 Children should not be allowed to form a habit of sleep- ing with the head raised high, with bolster and pillows. All that is required, is to have the head elevated by a sin- gle pillow, so as to be even with the shoulders. If the head is raised higher, the heart is given more work to do, to pump the blood to this additional height, and the conse- quence is, that it is thus deprived of the little relief that it is capable of receiving, for should this organ for one short minute cease its functions, death would be the necessary result. There is an enervating heat about feathers, that make them very undesirable for children, unless it be in very exposed climates, and during the winter season only. The very softness is not desirable, while the very excess of heat, conduces to frame of mind not desirable, engenders and ferments lascivious thoughts in the adolescent, and is other- wise very objectionable. A hair mattrass even with too warm clothing, has no such bodily effect, as the downy bed, that is so much better in poetry, than real life. If the rapidity, with which a hair mattrass radiates the heat from the body is objectionable in a cold winter’s room, this may be entirely obviated, by spreading a blanket under the lower sheet. A sponge bed is a most excellent one, being warmer than hair, and cooler than feathers, and as soft as may be desired. If possible, children should sleep alone, in the same room if desirable, but in a bed separate from any one else. There is a popular predjudice against a young person sleeping with an old one; the idea being that the elder abstracts somewhat of the vigor and vitality of the young. If there is any such power of absorption, it is not scientifically reg- ognized, but there other objections which are sufficient without this, to make it undesirable. But for the young to sleep together, those objections are of a weightier, and moral character. Evil communications 5* 106 OUR CHILDREN. which proverbially are corrupt, have here their fitting op- portunities. Children are fond of sleeping in one another’s company, and spending the night together, even when they live the next door to one another. It is a habit fraught with evil, and one “ knowing one ” will soon cor- rupt an entire community. Perhaps in no better connection than this, can I add a disagreeable, but neccessary word, which I trust parents will heed, ponder over, and that it may stimulate them to watch for any evidence of its presence in their children, that it may be utterly corrected ere too late. The neces- sary subject which must be hinted upon, in a work of this nature, is that of There is a “ free-masonry ” about sin, that is very re- markable. “ Birds of a feather flock together,” says the old adage, but this “feather” is not virtue, but vice. Whether it is, that sin is allied to unhappiness, and the above adage is but another expression of the phrase, that “misery likes company,” I cannot say, but sure it is, there is no fraternity like that, where the tie that binds the parties is an unholy one. SECRET VICE. The secret vice which saps the manners, mind, and mor- als of so many of our youth, is not in truth a secret one, in the full sense of the expression. It is not a habit self- induced, the result of a necessity of nature, as many would have us believe, and to which one is led by a power supe- rior to his judgment and his reason, viz: an uncontrollable natural want, whereby one is compelled to get rid of certain irritating secretions, appertaining to the nature of man. There is no truth in this statement. This sin is no more a necessity for a youth, than chewing tobacco is a necessity, or drinking spirits, or gambling, or any other similarly- acquired vice. IMPORTANT CONTEMPLATION. 107 The imagination of the boy, is seduced by the excitement of doing something wrong; by the mystery attached to the secrecy of the matter; by the idea of being engaged in something manly, something which marks an era between the past boyhood, and a coming manhood. It is an event to be chronicled in his memory with another great event of youthful life, the putting on the first breeches. By such influences as these, the young boy, long before the era of adolescence, is led to the practice of a secret enormity, simply from the attractiveness of doing something wrong, something that he ■would not have his parents, or his Sunday-school teacher, or his big brother know anything about. There is a natural prurience in the human mind, that loves to contemplate wickedness, and demons, and enormi- ties. This is one of them. The habit once formed, it is kept on in after life, as a sensuality—and then comes its dangers and physical disabilities. As suggested already, the animus is not from within. When the vice is commenced, nature is yet tranquil, no internal fires are raging, no imaginations stir the brain, no stimulus comes from the well-turned ankle, or the graceful form of one of the opposite gender. The youth is simply led into this wrong-doing, as he would be seduced into robbing a watermelon patch, or a peach orchard. Even these latter boyish feats, have not the stimulus of the appetite as a temptation, for the youth, overfed with these fruits at home, and with ample pocket-money wherewith to buy to his heart’s content, and his stomach’s repletion, is as ready for the “ lark,” as the hungriest and poorest lad among them all. And from this statement, comes the moral for the bene- fit of parents and guardians of youth—beware of idleness in your children, and bad company for them. Fill your 108 OUR CHILDREN. children’s mind with proper thoughts, so full that there shall be no room for bad ones to get in. Be a companion for your children, and thus efficiently prevent them from obtaining such associates as will corrupt their young minds, and sow the seeds of injuries, that shall last them through life. As it is impossible for them to become old, you must come down to their age and tastes, and by accustoming them to join you in your diversions, you will insensibly lead them into the loftier spheres of life, and higher plains of enjoyment. The evil effects of secret vice, or onanism, are two-fold, —viz., moral and physical. Self-pollution degrades the moral nature to a degree, that is scarcely explainable by any mental or physiological analysis. The youth in the frequent habit of self-abuse loses his self-respect. He can- not look you in the face; if by chance his eye actually catches your retiring look, his gaze falters, his eye drops to the ground, his face suffuses, and he has the appearance of one caught in some unworthy act, or serious crime. He seems to think that the person looking at him is aware of his unworthiness. This look has not the sheepishness which some boys show in the presence of young girls, but a look that has in it a self-reproach, quite foreign from the shame-facedness above alluded to. Such a boy is easily corrupted to any wrong deed. As in the East, the Eunuchs seem to be ever ready, as fit per- sons, to perform any act of cruelty or oppression, from a seeming unnatural absence of all moral principle, the victim of self abuse is also apparently open to any project of wrong-doing, and is a fitting instrument in the hands of the plotter and the designer. Physically, the Onanist is practically emasculated. He is weak in body, flabby in muscle, pallid in countenance, nervous, irritable, with hypochondria, and tendency to insanity and folly. SECRET ENERVATING HABITS. 109 It is a question, I am aware, whether masturbation is a cause or a consequence of insanity, some contending that the frightful extent to which it is carried on, can only pro- ceed from an unnatural desire of the brain, stimulating the baser passions; others consider that this utterly uncontroll- able frenzy, this unnatural appetite which will not be appeased, which defies bars and bolts, the rigors of a bread and water diet, the constraint of fetters and the straight jacket, the threats of punishment and its actual severe physical castigation, that such indulgence of itself will, of necessity, destroy the throne of reason, from the overthrow of all nervous power. One objection to the idea of its originating in severe disease of the nervous centres, is the fact that most of these cases marked by such exaggeration, are among males, although the disease is actually prevalent among females. In justice to the sex, it must be confessed, that notwith- standing the aspersions of many—and these are generally men of little opportunity for observation, and with a ten- dency to degrade every thing that is holy—the instances of this vice in females are comparatively very rare, and among these few exceptions, it is especially induced, by a sensuality unusual in the sex. This opinion is still found thus urged in a very recent work, “ Conjugal Sins,” and the article on this important subject, has met with great acceptance. Still, there is far too much among boarding- school misses, the indolent, and the upper strata of society. This is not the place to enlarge upon the symptoms, character, or treatment of the various forms of nervous disease, debilities, and general disturbance caused by the persistent indulgence to this vice. Ohsta Princijpiis, stop the beginnings, is all that can here be urged. The daily mail brings me numerous appeals for relief, from all parts of our country. If parents did but keep a more 110 OUR CHILDREN. watchful eye, over the hidden actions of their children, this would not be continued into advanced life, or until by their prolonged continuance they have actually affected the health of body or mind. More than this, the habit may easily be prevented when half formed, when the mind is vigorous, the will intact, and the conscience easily aroused. The parent on making this unwelcome discovery, and more especially on finding the health undermined, should make immediate application to a suitable medical man, one familiar with such complaints and their results, and immediately begin the work of reform. It is almost impossible, to give any curative advice for diseases so various, and such various grades of intensity. I can but give some approximative advice. When the habit cannot be broken up by force of will, we must endeavor to mitigate the disease, and thus restrain the created necessity till vigor be restored. The most recent remedy for this really awful complaint, is the Bromide of Potash, taken in ten grain doses two or three times a day. It acts mainly by allaying the nervous irritability, but must be taken carefully, if possible, with competent medical superinten- dence. With this must be given some ferruginous prepar- ations, to increase the general vigor, and to restore any wasted energy. A new agent has been found in chloral—fifteen grains of which at bed time, will have a tendency to restrain excitement and the unnatural flow, which often involuntar- ily escapes in those habituated to this habit, even after the actual performance has been arrested. In such cases, severe exercise is especially beneficial, such as will produce physical fatigue to overcome, and thus neutralize the nervous disability, such as a prolonged fishing excursion in a regular cod fisherman to the Banks of Newfoundland, or out stock raising in Colorado, which means a constant RELIEF ATTAINABLE. life in the saddle, amid stimulating air, new and exciting scenes and constant occupation. Improvement is very slow, but an entire arrest of the sin and perseverance in the path laid out, only will event- uate in a final perfect cure. CHAPTEE YII. THE GRAND CHANGING PERIODS OF LIFE. IN' former times, deduced from some of the doctrines of a mathematical nature, from the old philosopher Pythagoras, there was a general belief in climacteric divi- sions, or periods in the life of the race, when great changes took place in the nature and constitution. The word “ cli- macteric” means stages, and it was considered that the individual nature took a step forward at these periods. In accordance with this belief, the magical number of seven and its various multiples, were esteemed climacteric periods, while such importance was given to the age of sixty-three, that it was generally called the “ grand climac- teric.” At the present day, the faith in the number seven is well-nigh gone, and even the wondrous powers of an alleged “ seventh son, of a seventh son,” is vanished from public credulity. Still, there are periods in life when great changes take place in the human system, and these still retain the old title. The first of these may be considered that of teething, the second, that of puberty, the third, that of the cessation of the menses, and with it, the final depar- ture of the powers of generation in either sex. It is the second period, that of puberty, that at present demands our attention. The time of this climacteric period is marked by no mathematical numbering of years; it varies in different climates, in different races, and even in indi- viduals of the same stock and family, for the children of BEAUTY OF YOUTH. 113 the same parents differ very widely in their ages, at the date of this event. Puberty is to he recognized in two respects, the physical, and the moral. The being is changed. With the coming beard and roughened voice, come manly aspirations, and characteristics. With the rounded frame, and maiden blushes, come womanly tenderness, and imaginings of future happiness. The boy, ambitious to be “ manly,” seeks for every evidence which would characterize it, and the pos- session of which, he thinks would deceive the world as to his age. He affects slang in his language, willingly makes himself half dead, again and again, till he can smoke with impunity ;—for isn’t it “ manly ?” He talks learnedly of wines, and their bouquet, and not unfrequently drinks too deeply—partially from ignorance, and more frequently because it is “ manly.” This is the period when he fear- lessly will mount any unbroken or vicious horse, and gen- erally shrinks from no rash or foolish risk—for isn’t a disregard of danger “ manly ?” , Now is the time, when a father’s example, and a mother’s watchfulness are to be added to the previous years example and teachings, as to what are the true attri- butes of manliness. How delightful is this season of a young man’s life to an interested observer. The ingenous strivings after the right, the contempt of meanness, and his earnestly express- ed opinions—how different from the politic reticence of after years ? Above all things, a parent should strive to teach his child an utter contempt for all that is small, and every- thing mean. Wickedness and vice are preached against in the pulpit, and punished in the courts and prisons. Your son runs little danger from these—but how many are mean and contemptible, constantly doing some little, OUR CHILDREN. petty act which would break the heart of a proud parent to hear. I would far rather have a son of mine do some- thing actually wrong, positively vicious, than to have him possess one of these pitiful dispositions, which will permit him to do some despicable little, nasty meanness, which excites the disgust of every one. A wrong action may be repented of, and is pretty surely to get its due punishment: but to one that can do a mean action, no shame will ever come. He is far too callous for self-reproach, and no blush can tinge his cheek; he can hold up his head, and boast that he has never done anything criminal. I have Some pity for the former, but only contempt and loathing for the latter. Perhaps this style of argument will recall the reply of the Dauphin of France, when told of the sufferings of the poor of Paris, that they had no bread to eat; he said in rejoinder “ Why don’t they eat cake ?” The truth is, that a boy taught to avoid meanness, will necessarily shrink from a wrong, which is very apt to have meanness at the bottom, except those that spring from the impulsive workings of a high chivalric temper. He may swear, steal, lie and “sow all manner of wild oats,” and yet repentant and purified, he may in after years become a true man, and an estimable, Christian gentleman and patriot— but the seeds of shabby, despicable meanness, can no more be eradicated from the nature of one who has once nour- ished them, than Canada thistles can be rooted out of a miserable, Hew England scrub-oak farm. But it is in the opposite sex, that the period of change is most marked in both its physical and mental developments. The most obvious of all the changes is in the shape and contour of the form, and this should be recognized in the MARKED PERIODS IK THE FEMALE SEX. THE FORMATIVE ERA. 115 dress, else irreparable injuries may be veiy easily and un- consciously produced. Nature makes a most remarkable alteration in the shape of the girl in many particulars. Up to this time the growth has been in height mainly, but very suddenly, the child seems to be getting fatter. The bosoms which have been till now', undeveloped, grad- ually increase, and in from six to twelve months time, have assumed the fullness, hardness, and symmetry, which is so attractive and beautiful. The thoughtful mother will have noticed the growth, and will so adapt the dress that there may be perfect ease, and abundant room for the expansion of the gland, and especially she will see, that no bones in the corset, or dress, shall press injuriously upon them. Sometimes without the child’s perception of any uneasi- ness, the pressure has been such as to sink the nipple into the breast, or a bone will so gradually press upon some portion of the organ, as to make a deep depression, into which it is imbedded. The result is to cause slight in- flammatory action in the incipient milk ducts, diminishing their calibre, and sometimes entirely obliterating them. The ill results are not noticeable perhaps, until in after years these obstructions interfere writh lactation, and are the causes of broken breasts, and the wdiole train of evil con- sequences following on from this disastrous trouble. The expansion of the pelvis is not entirely due to the disposition of the muscle, but as a radical alteration in the shape of the pelvic bones in order to accommodate them to the responsible duties intended to devolve upon them. Seeing these changes going on in the physical nature— equally observable too in the moral, if carefully attended to ■—it is the duty of the mother, to instruct her daughter in regard to the coming-on of menstruation. She should be taught gradually to recognize her own nature, its intents 116 OUR CHILDREN. and purposes, and especially in regard to her personal habits. I have known most unfortunate results, from the sudden appearance of the “ regies” in children who had not had any premonition respecting it. Sometimes their terror at observing a sudden flow of blood has been ex- treme, and the results on the nervous system were very unfortunate. Sometimes thinking that some accident had occurred, they have done their constitutions great injury, not only by the shock to the system through the mental impressions, but from the unwise efforts ignorantly made, to check the flow by applications of ice, cold water, etc. At other times, instead of the rest and quietude, which should attend the ushering in of so important a function, the thoughtless child has indulged in a prolonged, fatiguing exercise, or even taken a seaside bath, which, suddenly checking an imperfectly established function, has produced the begin- ning of neuralgias, and local injuries, that have continued to harass her throughout life. The habits and fashions of the times, will dictate in this, as in everything else, the especial mode used for protection, but be this as it may be, the judgment of the parent should be present to dictate as to individual particulars, that com- fort and health be not interfered with. Too much restraint, and too great thickness of texture, should be avoided. A great part of women’s especial troubles, have owed their origin and causation, to the local over-heating of the body in the pelvic regions. This was especially observable as the result of the multitudinous skirts, and the immense “bus- tles ” of past fashion, and some approach to it is now threaten- ing in the tournure and Grecian bends of the present indecent dress of the fashionable world. True, the wealthy secure for the material to increase the desired amplitude, cool and light hair-cloths, and large-meshed stuffs, but economy NATURAL CURIOSITY DIRECTED. 117 sometimes causes strange make-shifts to be substituted, that may attain an approximative effect at a small pecuniary cost, but at a great expense of comfort and health. There is a great deal of false delicacy evinced by many parents, in their relations with their children, and they neglect to give them the information which they must get sooner or later, and which very often, they learn incorrectly from their associates, or by some experience being forced upon them in an unexpected manner, and in such a way, as to be productive of great injury to them, perhaps both physically and morally. In a previous chapter, I have referred to some of the injurious results of this reprehensible reticence of parents, under the head of Secret Yice. Parents should find an appropriate season for confidential discourse with their children, to correct such false impressions as they may have obtained of life, and its beginning, as well as its ending. As in the material world, there is nothing actually wrong or bad—there is no such thing as dirt, that which we so consider, being but “matter out of place”—so in the moral and intellectual world there is nothing that exists, which may not be properly thought of, and talked of, at a suitable time and place. The relationship of the sexes should be explained with such particularity, as shall be sufficient to put youth on their guard against any wrong-doing, and to satisfy the curiosity natural to the enquiring mind of the young. The physical change in the child is self-recognized, and with this change, has come new thoughts and sensations. There is an innate perception of the difference, one never before noted. It is felt, but not understood ; perhaps it cannot be fully explained, but it can be broached, and partially developed. At the present age, “ ignorance is not bliss,” nor does it 118 OUR CHILDREN,\ conduce to simplicity in deportment, nor modesty in reality. “ Knowledge is power,” and “to be forewarned is to be forearmed.” These trite sayings need to be considered in this connection, and may suggest ideas to parents, which are not easily expressed, but which it is exceedingly im- portant should be fully recognized. Add to the natural delicacy of the girl, the experienced teachings of the mother, and you have done much for both her moral and physical welfare. The first menstruation in the American girl, occurs at a somewhat earlier age, than in the girl of Northern Europe. With us, it happens from the twelfth to the fourteenth year of her age; still, if retarded beyond this period, unless there be some failure in the general strength and health, there need be no cause for uneasiness ; nor is it to be ex- pected, that from its outset it be continued with perfect regularity. Not unfrequently, several months elapse after- ward, before the second period appears, indeed, a year may pass away before the function becomes regular and method- ical. The child should be taught the necessity of great personal attention at these periods, that she should note the slightest deviation from the ordinary habitude, and mention it to her mother, or guardian, who in her turn, should not fail to refer to the family physician any notice- able peculiarities, that they may be obviated before any serious constitutional development has been effected. The imprudences and exposures of the young not un- frequently result in a sudden stoppage of the menstrual flow. This is an occurrence of the greatest importance. The sudden arrest of any discharge, such as the drying up of an old ulcer, is always an event of importance, and very liable to be followed—if not caused—by some serious impending disease. So too, the sudden stop of a menstrual flow, from any cause, is very apt to be exceedingly danger- RESULTS OF IGNORANCE. 119 ons. Sometimes it is the result of an incubating, eruptive disease, such as the measles or scarlet fever ; but even if, known to be coincident with a great exposure, to wret feet, or the like, still the fact of its existing is a reason for solicitude. In the simplest cases, it is accompanied almost invaria- bly, by persistent headache, and general discomfort for the whole of the succeeding month, very likely too, with coincident pain in the back, leucorrhoea and general malaise. In more severe cases, there is great immediate fever, a rush of blood to the head, or some internal organ, with great pain in the head. In other cases there may be bleeding from the nose. In more severe cases there is congestion of the brain with delirium, fever &c., some- times resulting in persistant coma. In still other cases, the blood goes to the lungs, and congestion is evidenced by the rupture of vessels, with more or less pulmonary hemorrhage. In all such cases, the first aim is to restore the normal functions. By warm drinks, hot mustard applications to the feet and extremities, something may be done before the necessary medical attendance can be obtained. It would be useless even to shadow out any line of treatment for cases like these, inasmuch as they are diseases requiring one entirely conversant with all female complaints, to fully recognize, to say nothing of understanding the very varied treatment called for by these protean diseases. One especially difficult and important point, is the diagnosis of the trouble—to make the differential diagno- sis between temporary mania and hysteria. The anxious sympathies of parents and friends, renders this still more difficult, and the more so, if the physician has not pre- viously known the patient and family. One essential is of the greatest importance in all such cases, absolute isolation of the sufferer, and perfect quiet. All friends should be absolutely denied access, and but a 120 OUR CHILDREN. single—or at the most two persons, should he in the room at the same time. If there be any conversation at all in the room, it should be cheerful, and in a sufficiently loud tone of voice, that it may be easily heard. There is nothing so detrimental in any sick-room, and especially where there is much nervous excitation, as whispering. If the patient is delirious, she always imagines that some plotting is going on agai-nst her welfare; if hysterical and nervous, that her condition is one of great danger which the friends are attempting to keep from her. If actually asleep, the unusual sibilance of a whisper, will much sooner awake a sick person, than the ordinary low tone of a con- versation. HYSTERIA. Is a very common female trouble, one productive of great annoyance and anxiety. It is a complaint intimate- ly allied to the sexual organs of females, and is rarely if ever seen without some local disease being present. It is the result of nervous exhaustion, which is sometimes de- pendant upon great physical debility, but connected with it, is invariably a local disease of the sexual organs proper. Any repetition of such nervous crises, should not be allowed to go disregarded, but the immediate attention of a skilled physician should be directed to alleviating it. It may be requisite to make some topical treatment, but usually a thorough and prolonged course of tonics will suffice to allay it, although rarely to entirely remove local disease, when the source of the nervous inability. Here is where a false delicacy is allowed too often, to stand in the way of a restoration to health, and perhaps even to the prolongation of life. The exhausting character of such attacks as these, added to the local disease, the excessive menstruation, and the accompanying leucorrhasas so debilitate the system, as to render it an easy victim to DANGERS FROM PROLONGED DEBILITY. 121 any hereditary consumption, that may be lying dormant in the system. ]STo persons with any latent cachexia, can with impunity allow themselves to be wasted by any malady, far less by one that exhausts the nervous energies, as well as the mere physical forces. The prolonged depravation of the system by continued renders a girl illy able to withstand the attacks of even a slight malady, and quickly succumbs to an amount of disease, which is trivial to another in more vigorous strength. LEUCOEEIKEA. One of the most potent remedies that I have found for this weakness, both to arrest its flow, to recuperate the wasted energies, and to restore the nervous forces is the following. I am compelled to put it in a dead language, as the greatest care is necessary in its preparation, as mis- takes sometime occur, from inadvertently enquiring for a very different medicine, with a quite similar name. That prescribed, is a large, chrystall ine salt of a lemon yellow color—while the one sometimes wrongly enquired for. is a dark blue chrystal. RPotassii Ferrocyanureti IV drachms. 01. Cinnamon! 11-2 ounces. Syrup Ziuzeberis 1-2 ounce. Mix. Thirty drops three times a-day. To be drank in a little water before eating. The sudden arrest of the courses will sometimes produce local inflammatory congestions of the womb, the ovaries and very generally, the inflamation will continue to spread, until the whole peritoneal lining of the abdomen and bow- els, becomes involved in the general disturbance. This is a matter of the utmost seriousness, not only on account of the severity of the local pain, but from the im- minent danger to life, which is therefly involved. 6 122 OUR CHILDREN. It would be worse than useless, to give the treatment for this complication, as no time should be lost in obtaining the most skillful advice possible. There is no time to be lost, for every hour’s delay materially advances this disease, till inflammation becomes disorganization. Absolute rest will be a necessity, but applications of water, laudanum, turpentine, stupes, or poultices may be applied before the desired medical aid may be summoned. One point to be borne in mind, in this relation, viz; the importance of keeping in remembrance, the fact, that the child has had inflammation of any of the organs. In after days, in connection with a desire to have children, the question may arise, why it is that the apparently healthy woman is sterile. It will materially simplify the case, if it be well understood, that at any early period in her woman’s life, she had a serious attack of inflamation of the uterine organs. It may be well here to suggest, that the parents of chil- dren should not trust to the uncertainties of memory, but make a written record of all diseases, with which the chiL dren of a family may be affected. Especially in a large family, it is desirable to know that Sarah and Delia had scarlet fever, but that Julia being away, was not exposed, and escaped. If at some future period this disease should be rife, this information may be of the utmost importance. It would seem as if such a matter must necessarily be re- membered, but I know that such, and even more important facts, in relation to the sickness of a family are very soon forgotten. Even the date of the birth of a child, or the death of the mother of a family—as important a person as she is—is often forgotten. Indeed, the importance of a keeping a record of the phy- sical condition of a family, is of the greatest importance. FAMILY DISEASES CATALOGUED. 123 Even in a pecuniary view, the value of such information is very great. If a person desires a life-insurance—and now- adays almost every body who has any one dependent upon him, or wishes to borrow money on his individual security, or to take an endowment policy, for his own benefit, finds insurance desirable—he then finds it very important to know the character of his family. Perhaps his mother died of consumption; was it a disease in the family, or only an accidental case ? The record will tell this. Indeed, it is astonishing how many men there are of high intelligence, who do not know how old they are ; of what diseases their parents died; who confound a serious, hereditary disease, with an accidental one, having no trait which can be transmissable. But the extraordinary change which puberty brings to the physical nature, would be but imperfectly considered, if no reference was made to the change in the mental and moral perceptions. The child, at almost a bound, jumps into adult life. This is markedly so in this country, and in many respects, it is a matter of regret. THE IMPENDING MOKAL CHANGE. From childish thoughts and occupations, the stride to the duties of mature life is immense. Boys of eighteen and twenty, who are in round jackets, and broad, white collars in England, and Europe, generally, are here deeply immersed in business, and often their own masters; and girls that there, are in the shadow of a cloister, employed in finishing their education, are here the belles of society, and arbiters of their own destiny. With this brief opportunity for the parents to exert their influence, and to sow the seed of habits of action, and thought, that shall so soon spring up, ripen, and are gathered into the garner, no time is to be lost. This is the more 124 OUR CHILDREN. important, as the comparatively unrestrained intercomse of the sexes, in public and private, gives so many opportu- nities for improper action, that through simple ignorance, much wrong may be done, and great ruin be the result. This jumping into life, this mental precocity, this sud- den strain upon the judgment, the passions, the imagina- tion without any reference to the bodily fatigue, are a great tax upon the constitution. Parental judgment can do much, to diminish this strain by discreet guidance, and gen- tle remonstrance against excess. INFLUENCE OF EXAMPLE But the most powerful, of all the agencies brought to bear upon the young mind, is the influence of example. Children insensibly copy the parents, and all that is need- ed for parents, is to inspire their offspring with due respect, to find themselves imitated in the greater part of their peculiarities. Thus, notwithstanding the marked impetuosity of you tip the increased favor and zealous interest taken by them at this new stage of their being, they are still insensibly check- ed, restrained, and governed, by the combined influences of their inherited characteristics,the power of example, the force of habit, and the inherent love for, and admiration of excel- lence, which in spite of creed and dogmas, I personally be. lieve is inherent in the nature of the human being. With puberty indeed, comes newness of life, the feeling of personal capacity, a dislike of restraint, and a willingness to incur responsibilities. The young sometimes do wrong, solely to show that they are their own masters, and can do as they please, even something which they were never permitted to do before, and perhaps would have been severely punished for doing. I have referred to this trait in another relation, and will not here enlarge upon it. In general, the sanguine character of youth is apt to see THE HIGHER DUTIES OF MATERNITY. 125 everything in most roseate aspects. We would be far from desiring to restrain the aspirations of youth, and force the young to watch the bright cloud, till it settles into the inevit- able leaden gray. Soon enough, the romance will pass away, and the stern realities of life face him on every side, but we would fain prolong this imaginative period. All the feelings, and passions, and impulses of the now pubescent being, should be developed, restrained, governed, not abrogated, destroyed, unrecognized. His enthusiasm should be directed to noble ends ; his thoughtful seriousness not permitted to brood itself into melancholy, but directed to elevated sources of inspiration. More especially should the girl, at this nascent period, be directed out of herself, out and away from the frivolities, and the littlenesses, which in spite of the talk of woman’s rights’ movements, and the supposed elevation of the sex, seems to be in reality, more than ever, the tendency of the woman of the world. They seem more than ever, given over to fashion, frivolity, the anxiety and labors of dress, and all fripperies of every class and nature. Let the mother strive to direct her daughter’s mind, to something higher, more enduring, and more truly beautiful than all the arts of the modiste can create for them—true refinement, and mental and moral elevation. These are reconcilable with every delicacy of mind, every grace of the most aesthetic life. Dress and adornment of every kind, are but heightened, and beauty rendered invincible by these additions. This is indeed gilding gold, this is truly painting the lily. This susceptible age, this turning point in nature, is also the age for impressions, and the turning point of the char- acter, and again I earnestly entreat every parent, not to neglect this brief and important period, in which so much may be effected. CHAPTEE YIII THE RECIPROCAL INFLUENCE OF MIND AND BODY. IK the consideration of the various ailments and affections, with which one’s children may be, from time to time subjected, the reciprocal influence of mind and body upon each other, should not be lost sight of, or disregarded. We note similar correspondences in adults, but they are not apt to be so thoroughly marked, as when manifested in immature life, and being more easily recognizable, their baneful effects can be more readily and surely obviated. The effect of mental excitement, as most frequently noted in connection with the excitement of school life, entering a new seminary, with the doubts and uncertainties of various descriptions, as a prejudice taken against a certain teacher, who is supposed to have taken this child in special dislike, and every slight reproof is thereby magnified, as the evidence of persecution; the pride touched, by finding themselves holding a position, inferior to the remainder of the class, by reason of some unaccustomed method of instruction, a different system of marking, or carelessness, or inaccuracy, permitted in a former school, but not admissible at the new one. Sometimes the mind is unduly excited by some relig- ious movement, which disturbs the mental equilibrium. The child magnifies her infantile peccadilloes, till they seem heinous sins, unworthy to be forgiven. Sometimes even at a very early age, the heart shows it- self alive to the tender passion, and hope, fear, or jealousy THE MIND A SOURCE OF DISEASE. 127 fills tlie thoughts with vain imaginings. Whatever may he the cause, the excited and over stimulated brain in its restless- ness, allows no portion of the organism to be an indifferent spectator, to the troubles which agitate it. There is no fatigue of body perceptible, there is no hunger or thirst, and little, or no food is taken. The body wastes, the stomach loses its tone and pallor, extreme .nervousness and general falling away, evince the constitutional disturbance arising from simple mental emotion. On the other hand, we find as marked mental disturb- ance, characterized by pains in the frontal region, distur- bance of vision, forgetfulness, an impossibility of fixing the mind upon any subject, and other infirmities and incapacities of a similar nature, all apparently pointing to some cerebral disturbance, where the seat of the whole difficulty lies in a torpor of the liver, in a debilitated condi- tion of the stomach, and digestive apparatus. These reciprocities should be recognized as early as possible. The parent should therefore be on guard when such kind of symptoms arise, and a little early anxiety, will perhaps, often be repaid by saving a child from prolonged illness, if not from a permanent disability, or a premature death. In such cases, one should consult a man of natural obser- vation, and quickness of intellect. “ Possession is said to be nine points of the law.” Just as truly it may be said, to recognize a disease in its exact nature is to more than half conquer it. I shall never forget a beautiful young girl, one whom I was called out of my bed to see, an hour or two after mid- night, a few day’s after Christmas 185—She was about 16 vears old, and had for quite a period been promised her first party on Christmas. She was alive with excitement for many days before. There were new dresses to be made, and hers was the first nice party silk, low necked, and all that, she had ever had. 128 OUR CHILDREN-. The party came off in due time, and long before the guests had ceased coming, she was compelled to leave them, and with a pressing head-ache and a high fever, to go to bed and send for the family physician. Unfortunately he was not a brilliant or a perspicacious man, and was con- tent to give her some trivial medicine, and without fully determining what was the trouble, to “ let things slide” and wait the progress of events. In this dubious way he dallied, till some few nights after, I was sent for as stated in the night, and merely because I lived handy. The case seemed serious to me, and I ventured to so express myself to the family, and giving such medicines as were temporarily needed to alleviate the pressing symptons, and telling them to draw their own physician’s attention to certain symptoms, I left. A similar attack occurred during the next day, and a third physician riding by in his carriage, was hastily called in. Like myself, he thought the case a grave one and so expressed himself, and the result was, a consultation was forced upon the attending “ old fogy.” The next night I was again summoned in great haste. A second consulta- tion was called the following day, but no interview was held with myself, or the physician who was so summarily taken from his carriage while passing the house. The disease was considered to be only hysterical, dependent upon suspended menses and the excitement aforesaid, and of little seriousness. On the morning of January Ist, we were all invited to the post-mortem examination, and then we saw that acute inflammation of the brain, and not any hysteria, was the serious disease that robbed fond parents of a most lovely daughter. ISTot a distinct symptom had been evident, but the manifestations of illness, the pain &c., were all re- ferable by the old family doctor, to the abdominal regions. GREAT DOCTORS. 129 I do not introduce this topic, or illustrate it by this case, with the aim of teaching parents, or anybody, any facts relative to the recognition or treatment of similar disturb- ances of the system. I merely as I have said, think it extremely desirable to have due care given to the obscure symptoms of children. The results of careful watching can be communicated to a careful physician, a man of quick parts, educated to keenly perceive, carefully weigh, and thoroughly analyze. A tin-sign and a night-bell, on the lintel of the door-post, don’t make a doctor. When I hear of some men having high reputation as physicians, I have a very poor opinion of the intelligence of the population of certain towns, and counties, where their field of practice lies. The greatness of a supposed great man, is to be measured by his sur- roundings. Mt. Tom, and Mt. Holyoke, which rise abrupt- ly from level plains, appear to be veritable mountains, but Mt. Washington, that scarcely rises higher than its surrounding presidential peaks, equals in thousands, the hundred feet of the former. An intelligent community, compels its physician to be intelligent. There is not the humbug in medicine that there formerly was; the world is too well instructed for gross quackery, to triumph long or widely. Information is too generally spread for pretension to go far, without corresponding ability. Huge doses of nauseous medicines, the arrogance of self conceit, can deceive only the ignorant, and those of little understanding. The limitations of dis- ease, has begun to be recognized by the profession and the commnnity alike, as well as the inability of medicines in many complaints, which were once supposed to have been cured, but which are now seen to have only got well, in accordance with their own natural tendencies. Some of my own greatest physical sufferings, and actual OUR CHILDREN. 130 dangers to my general health, in boyhood, arose from my being compelled to take upon an empty stomach every morning for many weeks, at one time Epsom salts, at another brimstone and molasses, to prevent my taking an epidemic scarlet fever or measles—and my doings was the habit of the times. I think no such customs are now prev- alent, The parents, who now so persistently “ doctor” their children, do it with infinitesimals, which answers them just as well, and really does nothing. Vwe la bagatelle ! CHAPTER IX. THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. IT is unquestionably true, that there is a great want of correct understanding in respect to the principles of ed- ucation, in reference to the instruction of the children of the present day. The children of the past were not so well trained as those before them, and thus it results, that we of the present generation, are not so well capable to develop the physique, the intelligence, or the morals of our children as we should be. We have too little faith in any of the established theories of the past times, and while we have? in our dissatisfaction, iconoclastically destroyed the ancient accepted ideas, we have failed to carve out any better substitutes. These transition states are terrible. A man rarely un- roofs his house, preparatory to some general renovation, but he gets caught in a sweeping gale, and is thoroughly saturated by some unprecedented storm of rain. This is markedly so in the training of children. But a little while ago, they were considered only as inert to be kneaded and moulded all into the same shape, by the same outward pressure. To-day, by some, each is consid- ered as a distinct creature to be studied, comprehended, and to have its individual course marked out for it, and in which it is to be compulsorily trained; by others, each child is to follow its own beat and inclination, to develop itself with little help from any around. Each of these va- rious theorists, exhibit their prize scholars developed under 132 OUR CHILDREN. these varied plans, and each claim the palm lor their espe. cial mode of training. How shall we educate our children ? The question is fraught with the deepest interest. The love of offspring is instinct in all animal life. In man only does this interest continue with life, and beyond the separation which death temporarily makes between the parent and the child. Man everywhere lives and dies for his children, but in no coun- try does he sacrifice so much to advance their position, to develop their minds, as in America. "While the ordinary mechanic and day laborer of Europe is contented to have his descendants inherit his farm or his workshop, to toil on as he has toiled, the American of every grade is unwil- ling that the coming generation shall not improve on the present. He regrets not, perhaps, his own deficiencies of education, but he aspires for something better for his heirs. Ho money is thought ill-spent, when lavished on their education. Unfortunately, he is not always so assiduous to educate the hearts of his children, who too often are ashamed to own their plain and honest parents to be their progenitors, much to their own blame and discredit as it may be. And here is the first point to be considered; an affection- ate respect for one’s parents is within every one’s power. It is in no manner dependent upon their intellectual or aesthetic education, natural capacity, or, perhaps, on their moral characters. Hothing can give us more pleasure, than to see the affection of some children that I have known, for their parents, seemingly with no grace, and disfigured by faults, and even vices. They could not forget that they owed their being to them—a debt that a life time of solicitude could not repay. These children had had the heart developed and educated. How this was done, cannot be told—it cannot be taught. It is a reflex TRAINING OF MIND AND BODY. 133 from the divinity within, stimulated and developed by a great preponderating influence from without. This is the true basis of children’s education, and most important of all. Physical education comes next. After the child is thus made worthy of life, he must try to develop its frame, its energies, its capacities. Without such a proper unfolding, and a healthy vigor, life has little value. How is this best accomplished ? The raiser of horses will tell you that a colt requires constant care. The farmer, however, thinks all he requires is to be turned out on some half barren mountains, or arid moor, during the summer, and to have the run of a bleak barn-yard, or unblanketed, to be in a rickety stable, fed on stubble and bare stalks. The horseman shields his stock from the wintry blast, and feeds him with grain as well as hay, to force his early years into their fullest development. But the same man, when he brings up his child, forgets his ideas of hygiene and development, and forces the growth of his child by feeding him on the strong meats of the table, ere his small teeth have fairly come, and cakes and candies are his common spoilers of appetite and diges- tion. For vanity and fashion, he sends him from the warm shelter of his heated house, with bare legs and arms, into the winds of a wintry day. As the colt gets older, he is sent for development and training, but he never speeds him, contented as he is, to learn him to walk, which albeit he is urged to do with his fullest capacity. But the boy is sent to school, and driven to the utmost, till his head bursts, and his energies give way, by this forcing in training. The brain is the least important development to be attempted by a parent, and yet the world generally considers it to be the most so, if judged by this practice. For what is the value of a fine 134 OUR CHILDREN.. intellectual development, without a basis of health and vigor to sustain it, and make it of practical ability ? And what is the value of a life, if it is not guided and rendered desirable by moral worth, and the treasures of the heart ? Fortunately this, the most valuable of all the ments, need not be confined to nurses, or tutors, or instruc- tors. The least cultivated and simple-minded man can both sow the seed, and watch its tardy development, and stimulate its earliest budding forth. Thus we may all ed- ucate our children in the highest duties of life, and thus perfected, in any event of life, and under any circumstances, they will “rise up and callus blessed.” Why should every man educate his son without regard to natural abilities for intellectual pursuits ? Why expect him to shine in the pulpit, or at the bar? Ho man would think to make a race-horse or a trotter of a common plug. Is it not the self-esteem of the man, or the vanity of the father, that sees such capacity in his child ? Has he such mental endowments, such a gift for language, such a taste for the beauties of style, that his son must inherit it neces- sarily? Mental capacity, of its peculiar character, is as much transmissable by the human being, as the bottom and speed of a Bashaw, or a Hambletonian. Parents should not expect to obtain from their children qualities that are not in the stock. Ho amount of college exercise will create gifts in a boy, any more than a prolonged training on a race-course will make a trotter of a plow-horse. True, you may spoil the temper of both, or break down both, by this ill-judged straining. This is not unfre- quently done with the boy or girl, though comparatively rarely with the colt; and this is because horse-training is better understood than child-development. The lesson to be learnt is, that children, as well as ani- mals, have their natural limitations, and no training can EXTREMES IN EDUCATION. 135 get them beyond their natural capacities. The apparent disbelief to the contrary arises from our national polit- ical character. Every one says that his son may be the future President of this glorious country, with which plausible fiction he makes himself happy, when to you and I, it is plainly evident, that although eligible, by no force of circumstances has the child an intellectual capacity capable of filling such a place. But in the vanity of the father’s mind, his son is entered for the course, and unfortunately his whole human life is tainted with this insane idea. The vaulting ambition is as productive of evil to the happiness and well-being of the future of a country, as is the stolid indifference which characterizes the people of the Old World. Our children are supposed to be “ too good” for the duties of the ordinary spheres of life. The close of their career too often shows them not good enough for anything. There are two extremes in education. One educates too little, and the other too much—too much for tho powers of the body. The first scholar in my class in college (Har- vard, 1842,) died in about a year after graduation, and of consumption, inherent in his system from hereditary sources. His mother should have given him a common- school education and made of him a farmer, an engineer a sailor—anything but a scholar. He studied himself into a premature grave. A scholar needs to be a boy of robust health—not the sickly one, too delicate to be put to work. Parents are too apt to say, “ My child is so many years old. It is time she went to school; ” when a true judg- ment would say, “ This child needs country air, a pony, and an abundance of plain food.” The Hindoo parent kills all the puny, delicate children, and sending a delicate child to school, or doing anything to direct the blood to the brain, is producing disease, if not death. 136 OUR CHILDREN. Does not the mother pray nighty for her sweet, bnt delicate child, and say “ Take anything else, but spare her life. ” Her health then is everything, Education is an after consideration. Yon may have dreampt of your son, being the first scholar in his class, and “ wag his head in the pulpit” or sit upon the bench. This dream seems to be an impossibility. Don’t strive to realize it, or the chances will be, that a premature grave will settle the matter. Your child may be an upright, affectionate, and intelligent son—be contented. The great aim of all teaching should be, not to give them a certain amount of information, but so much as to lead them to learn where to find the information they may desire, and how to get it out. Some children have remarkable memories, indeed, many children have the faculty of memory to a far greater degree than most adults. These commit long passages, and are esteemed highly by their teachers, but after years are too apt to show that they had a very slight comprehension of the subject, and that it soon flitted from the mind, over which it produced no more effect, than a temporary shadow upon the earth. If an idea enters the mind, and is entertained there, it remains as a part and parcel of it. The actor is compelled to repeat a new role each successive night. All that he does is to read it over once or twice, and it is committed to memory, and lasts in the mind till the night’s perform- ances are over; at the end of the week it has entirely vanished from his remembrance. But if an idea connected with it, has entered his understanding and touched his heart, that is henceforth his property. Frequently he cannot repeat the words, but the beauteous thought is assimilated to himself. Memory may thus he called a hind of dyspepsia, for if food is received, digested, and acts as a SCHOOL EDUCATION. 137 nutriment, we know little about it, but if crude and unconverted, it repeats, and’ is constantly reminding us by its persistance that it is yet present. The great aim of American education, and this in marked contradiction to the Jesuistical method—is to induce thought. Our children are to choose their rulers, their religious faith, their own path in life. They are not to receive any ideas from pope, or autocrat, or fashion, but submit all to the decision of their own judgment. The importance of school formulas, valuable as they are, is nothing to that higher knowledge which can be taught by the parent at home. The school education is but a scatfolding, thrown away when the building is erected. This is evidently so, for few adults remember the steps to knowledge which they took. The results are fixed in the mind indelibly. Our eye runs over the page of a newspaper, and gathers, in a comprehensive glance, all that is new in all this broad space, but the mind can hardly realize that this results from a. b.—ab—b. a.—ba, &c. Children are not expected to get much real knowledge at school, but only to learn how to get knowledge when it is desired in after life, as a carpenter’s apprentice learns howto use the tools of his trade; how to commence a piece of work, continue it, and finish to a perfect result. Parents need therefore have no anxieties respecting their children’s progress, even if they bring home no medals, provided that they are active-minded. School is not a race-course, but only a training ground; and in the contest of life, the purses belong to these who have not been forced but only directed, slightly stimulated and encouraged. School-books themselves are improperly made. They have short sentences, in a form to be easily committed, and the student is expected to answer by rote and the hearer to absolute memorizing the letter, in reply to ques- 138 OUR CHILDREN. tions, in small type, at the bottom of the page. These hooks are made not so much for the capacity of the scholar, as for the incapacity and laziness of the teacher. These are too often incapable, or too little interested to do ought else hut the simplest routine. They are not so much to be blamed, as those who expect to obtain a man who thinks himself qualified to teach others to think, for a sum scarce more than the most ordinary skilled labor. There is some change in the popular estimation of the position of a teacher, and what his character should be since my boyhood, but the community evidently does not have a sufficiently lofty idea of the position of a teacher, who really is one of the most important persons in so- ciety, He sometimes by his individual merit, wins his way to this reputation, but the people do not as a rule, properly estimate the individual, or the class. Going to school is unhealthy business. Even in the best schools in the community, there is not sufficient attention paid to the laws of hygiene. The school rooms are imperfectly constructed, the seats improperly made, the desks of wrong height. The aeration in very few schools is sufficient to properly change the air, which, with the improper temperature, makes it difficult for children to keep awake, or to command their full faculties. The unyielding fixed seats and desks, all of the same height for the tall and short, produce stooping, round shoulders, pigeon breasts, and many other diseases are ascribed to these causes alone. The public schools are the great propagators of disease. Small Pox, Measles, Scarlet Fever, Dyptheria, Mumps, Chicken Pox, and the Itch are constantly present in the schools of our large cities, and are through them, kept constantly prevalent in the commnnity. There is not a public school in this city, and the same is PROPER SCHOOL HYGIENE. 139 true elsewhere,—where beside the itch, all other vermin are not to be met with. I have personally known repeated instances, of both the itch insect and lice, to be present in the girl’s school of highest repute here. No matter how young and small the scholars, or the inclemency of the weather, severity of cold, or the sudden coming up of a shower, there is no one deputed to take a parent’s place, and see that the little ones are properly sheltered from its inclemency. The recesses are fearful exposures to scholars of all ages. Education is literally attained by peril to life, by exposure to foulness, pestilence, by incurring risk of disease, and deformity. The truth is, that the hygienic condition of all schools, should be properly regulated, and that a personal examina- tion of every school and every scholar, should be made at least, once a week. No scholar detained at home by sickness, should be al- lowed to return, without a certificate stating the disease with which it had been ill, and a certain length of time should be required for purification, after every attack of any contagious complaint. In this way, the fearful epidemics would be very greatly diminished, and some might be en- tirely eradicated. The Board of Health in every city and town, should, for this purpose, create a special office, and appoint to it a man of scientific attainments, and a live man, not a politician, with no heart in the work. In this way surely, those dis- gusting results of dirt and neglect, might be entirely done away with. The ventilation and temperature should be guided by the thermometer, and not by the variable sensations, or imaginary whims of some hypochondriac teacher.. The length of time required of juveniles to be spent in study, should be much reduced. Children are too often OUR CHILDREN sent to school by the parents, simply to get rid of them; hut no child under ten years of age, should stay more than two or three hours in this confinement, and that not consecutively. OYER STUDY. The usual hours of schools generally are not too long, but if so many studies are crowded into them, as in most city schools, requiring three or four hours additional study at home to master them, then too much is exacted, and this is very often seen in the pallid countenances of children, after having gone through the winter term. Over-study is the tendency of the times, or if not over-study, over confinement in the pretence of study. Most children have du- ties at home, lessons in music, dancing, or some, housework. Although this is a change of labor, it is not recreative, and all children need time for diversion, in their own way. The mental application of many children is quite incessant, and far beyond their powers. A growing child ought no more to have his brain taxed so persistantly, than his mus- cles. Indeed, there is more danger from disease of the brain from over-work, than distortions of the body, and rickets from over physical labor. Let parents but consider that the whole work of the entire human organism is done by the blood, in a manner corresponding to that by which all the wheels and machines in a factory, are carried on by the water contained above the dam; as the power wfith which the wheels are turned, and the mechanism developed, is more or less strong and effective, depends upon the pressure above ; in the same way, the vigor, elasticity, and energy of the mental machinery is augmented, or depressed, as the blood is strong and powerful. Look at your puny, white faced child, and see if the A PRACTICAL EXAMPLE. 141 blood wliieli courses through his veins, has apparently the vigor to move the wondrous instrumentality which creates knowledge, develops judgement, and eventuates in power! True, many bodily feeble, diseased and suffering, are capable of achieving great mental results, but this is because every energy of the system is directed to this end. The Prussians—while I am writing this—have taken every man from the field, the work shop and the loom, and thus directing every energy of an immense nation to one single end, have succeeded in accomplishing unheard-of results, and astonished not only themselves, but the entire world. But at what a cost of suffering, deprivation and future misery, who can tell ? The untilled fields, the ungathered harvests, the want of provision for the coming winter’s food, fuel, clothing, will necessarily, entail woes, scarce less upon the nation, than would have befallen them if conquered. This lesson is but an exhibit on an immense scale, of the more exhaustive process, which you are inaugurating in your child. Every energy of his body is spent in his books. Ambition stimulated to its utmost, feels the over- taxed brain. All the vitality is drawn from the body, to nourish this great intellectual force. Youth is stopped, all waste flesh is utilized, the nerves are strained to their utmost. But the reaction must come. The pendulum will swung back correspondingly. The excessive stimulation wull result in excessive exhaustion. The brain that has done so much will cease to act, and becomes incapable of any prolonged exertion; perhaps spasm and convulsion or complete inability will result as a consequence. ETor is the exhaustion one of nervous energy alone. The digestive apparatus wull sympathize, and alimentation will be difficult and incomplete. The muscular forces will 142 OUR CHILDREN. succumb with the general prostation, and if life is spared, it will be with difficulty, that an exhausted nature will resume her normal functions after a long period of almost complete torpor. And what is over-study ? It is not necessarily, or per- haps even very frequently, seen in the scholars who are the leaders of the class, for these are children of unusu- al powers, whose lessons are learned with little application, and great ease, and no moral or mental excitement. It is oftenest seen in those, whose energies are sharpened by ambition, either of their own, or of their parents, anxious to see their child shine. Those, with but ordinary abilities, vainly strive to equal and indeed, surpass their fellow-students in the race for superiority. Perhaps they are stimulated by poverty, and really seem to need the reputation that should accrue to them, from this hoped for distinction—which alas for them never comes, but instead, despair, a wilting away, and a paralysis of all their energies. Teachers who are interested in their pupils, will note this vain strife and will by a kind word, attempt to regu- late the ambition of those, who have none of the elements calculated for success in this direction ; they will endeavor to lessen this discouragement to their hopes, by showing them that worldy success has many paths, and that a failure to succeed in the academic course, only shows that their talents lie in another direction, that more active pursuits, or one requiring more judgment, would be better adapted to their peculiar tastes and mental discipline, and thus withdraw them, without their arriving at this disaster already depictured. CHAPTER X. THE TEACHER’S PART IN THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. THE teacher has great responsibilities upon him, if he is conscientious in the performance of his duties. Too often he thinks only of those brilliant scholars, whose success he hopes will add to his fame, and whose lessons will reflect credit upon the instructor. Often, the education of children is committed entirely to the discretion of the teacher. The parents are—by reason of their own neglected youth, of their distraction by the fashions of the world, by a dislike, or incapacity, or simple laziness and neglect of duty—neglectful of any responsibil- ity, and the child is merely sent with regularity to the school. The teacher, assiduous to do his whole duty with the children entrusted to him, will find the especial capacity, which each may have, and strive to develop it. Eew there are that are insensible to praise, and by a judicious use of this sovereign stimulant, he may so encourage the youth, as to develop powers of great brilliancy. A very objectional feature in many institutions of learn- ing, from primary schools up to the highest colleges, is to rank the scholars by some one especial study, proficiency in which, will place the scholar high, even if eminently deficient in other branches of equal importance. Arith- metic, or as soundingly styled, Mathematics, is the measure in some schools, and the child of a merchant perhaps, inheriting a special faculty in this direction, and further 144 OUR CHILDREN\ stimulated, by bearing during bis whole life, a paternal conversation, in which profits and calculations form a most conspicuous element, is brought into a superiority, by this method of “ marking” above the child of really superior mental calibre and intellectual attainments, whose mind has been little directed to figures and gains, but has soared into science and poetry and general aesthetics. The recitations in history and literature, and his composi- tions and dissertations plainly evinces this, yet he ranks below the former. Such distinctions are like those which we observe in a militia review, where the whole population are in arms, and where the gentleman, the scholar, and the men of thought, are temporarily ruled and commanded by the butcher, or the cobbler of the town, on account of his profound attainments as a tactician in military lore. Unfortunately, children do not see, or fully appreciate how shallow is this distinction, and how wrongly founded, and they are apt to be discouraged thereby. Figures are impossibilities to some minds, as language is to some, or spelling and grammar to another. How many great men of past days, that yet could never read or write! How many writers of great eminence, distinguished for depth and comprehension, and beauty of thought, and yet whose hand-writing is quite illegible. It would be full as •absurd to “ rank” these men with a merchant’s clerk, and place them below, by making the standard of excellence to be the grace, and beauty of penmanship. If one should gauge a barrel by its length, without reference to its circumfer- ence, and measure the capabilities of a piece of cloth to make a garment, by its length, neglecting the breadth, it would be no more absurd. The intellect should be meas- ured by its entirety and not by one single faculty. The teacher should discover the peculiar faculty of each child, and should develop it, instead of vainly attempting INDIVIDUALITY RECOGNIZED. 145 to get from the child, what his nature debars him from acquiring. Excellence in the results of mechanical arts is attained, not by making mechanics capable of perfecting and finishing work, but rather by dividing the work into portions, each one of which, is the especial work of a differ- ent workman. If the peculiar faculties of youth were thus recognized and encouraged, many neglected ones would be brought to an unexpected prominence, and carry away the palm from those now wrongly placed above them. The child too, that before so vainly labored in a study contrary to his genius, now in a natural track, advances with wonderful strides, and by a pleasant toil that gives no perceptible fatigue. And this is the main thing. The child is not discour- aged by non-success, but stimulated by its conscious improvement, exerts its best energies, and in the end, becomes flattered and encouraged into a real success. There is nothing so cheap as a kind and encouraging word, and nothing that the teacher can better do for the real benefit of the scholar, than to be prodigal of praise where praise is due, and chary of blame even when deserved. “A teacher,” indeed, in both matters of decorum as well as learning, “ should keep one eye shut” as the German indiomatic proverb hath it. He should not see too much. Another point in this connection may not be amiss. Children should be encouraged to hold their teachers in respect. The exaggerated ideas which pupils some- times enthusiastically entertain respecting the profundity of their abilities, need not be questioned or contradicted by parents. It is but human nature, to alike exalt one’s friends, and to detract from the deserts of those we dislike. If children look up to their teachers, they will receive far 7 RESPECT TO TEACHERS. 146 OUR CHILDREN. greater benefit from them, than if they continually hear from their parents and friends, disparaging accounts of their powers. More than this, parents, as well as their children, should hold the calling of a teacher in higher estimation, than is generally conceded to it. The world is beginning to give rank to this erudite class, whose attainments are often of a loftier character, and the mental faculties of a far higher order than is seen in the other learned profession’s of medicine, law, and divinity. Indeed, it is perhaps very near the truth, if it should be claimed for the teachers of the world—including Professors in Colleges, and the high schools of science—that they were the most erudite men of the world. A few hours of the day are spent in teach- ing as a method of gaining a livelihood, while the balance is spent in the laboratory, the experimental room, in ex- plorations and researches into the obscure realms of thought, which reach beyond space and time, and into the most wonderful and obscure mysteries of creation and destruction. When we look at the labors and teachings, the discover- ies and the explanations, of such men as Agassiz, Huxley, Tyndal, and a host of the great thinkers of the world— whose names are not so fresh in the memory, from want of recent publicity, as those given—when we look at such men, we feel that they deserve a high rank in the realms of science, in the reputation of the world, and the hearts of the scholars. The teachers of a Primary School, may have no eminent personal abilities, but they have a high calling, gilded by the reflex of the great men who adorn the roll of teachers, and the parent should recognize this eminent position, should invite them to the house, and in any convenient way show to their children that they are held in respect by them. If, for no other reason, the patience so often tested, THE TEACHER'S PLACE. 147 deserves tins recognition, and support from those who can appreciate its trials and endurances. The more humble the teacher—be he, or she, only the initiator of a. b.-ab, and one and one make two, to the child—the more gratified is the recognition to the teacher, and the more surely will this recognition of the teacher, react beneficially upon the pupil. Having myself spent my college vacations in instructing the scholars of the ordinary district schools, in New England country towns, I know from personal exper- ience the worth of the propositions here enunciated. The teacher needs the moral support of the parents, in order to secure the most beneficial results to the children. This personal attention paid to the individual teacher, should be but a correllation of the general respect paid to genius. STUDIES SHOULD BE MADE INTERESTING. For children to succeed in acquiring information, their studies should be made interesting. This depends much upon the tact of the teacher, his personal recognition, andv still more upon the natural aptitude of the scholar to receive the ideas. The tact of the teacher. This, with some, consists only in persistancy. Gen. Grant’s idea of “ constant hammer- ing,” may be, and was excellent as a means of breaking up rebel forces, but as a means of overcoming an incapacity to receive an idea, I doubt its utility. We know too little about the mental organization, to be able to force discordant elements upon the mind. There are some minds that are unimpressible to certain ideas, but this is overlooked by teachers. They know that some have no idea of the charm of melody, that others are not sensible to the measure of time, and are unable to see the rythm of sound, either in music or its sister poetry. 148 OUR CHILDREN. The musician recognizes this, and rejects such organiza- tions as musical pupils. Why does not the ordinary school teacher recognize the same want of faculty in his arithmetic scholar, his chemistry pupil ? We know that certain persons can never acquire a foreign language, while another, with but half the same opportunity will master it perfectly. There should be a little more common-sense in the education of children, than there is at present. No one doubts that to make a swift runner, a strong lifter, an agile fencer, a sculptor, painter, judge, physician, soldier, &c., that certain natural requisites must be present. Why try to mould all children alike? One has an eye for drawing, cultivate that; one an ear and faculty for music, educate that i another has a clear insight into grammar, the beauties of style, loves poetry, appreciates reasoning and logical deductions—develop that faculty. Suum cuique—each has his gift and some few, several of them. Be thankful, and give this single talent a chance. A farmer that should say of his farm, “ there are forty acres, one quarter is fine arable land, another quarter is sand, and the remainder rock, but I will manure, cultivate all alike, it is all mine.” Would he not earn a chance of getting into the lunatic asylum, if he should be seen carting his manure on to his barren rock, dragging his plough laboriously over its unyielding surface, sowing the seed and expecting a crop ? Yet is he any more absurd than those who expect to get algebra, geometry, &c., out of a head that can with diffi- culty learn the multiplication table ? Does a horseman enter his big Pennsylvania team-horse, for a four-mile heat, at the Jerome Park race course? Would he not be jeered at by every idle boy ? And yet how much better is he, who expects of his child mental acquisitions, which his nature debars him from attaining by any possibility ? I once had a patient with a tonic dyspepsia, a natural THE NATURAL CAPACITY. 149 weakness of digestion, inherited for several generations. He complained one day that a certain article of food, distressed him exceedingly. He said “ his stomach refused to digest it, but he meant to eat it, till it would/’ Teachers perhaps, sometimes act upon a similar like sensible rule, and they thrash and abuse their scholars, for deficiencies that lie in their nature, not in their desires. “ Your child has no capacity” said a teacher to a shoddy millionaire.” “ Well,” was the reply, “ I have got plenty of money, I don’t care what it costs—Buy her one.” This is the argumentum ad absurdum. The next thing to recognizing a deficiency in the capacity of receiving a certain branch of knowledge, is not to degrade the scholar, in his own, or his fellow joupiVs esti- mation, on account of this deficiency. The child has some gift, make much of that. The capacity of happiness lies in it. Develop it to the utmost. There is a source of joy, pride, honor and distinction in that one faculty. See the whole class of musicians, to what distinction they arise, how lofty the eminence they attain, riches, peace while living, and their names recorded in the book of fame, when death has removed them from earthly renown ! And yet, scarcely one of them all, who had any other marked faculty, or mental development. The late Gottschalk, whose funeral I but yesterday attended, was the only eminent professional musician that I have known, of all the hundreds that I have been per- sonally acquainted with, who was a cultivated, highly educated man, outside of and beyond his music. His naturally, great mental organization enabled him to be a linguist, a metaphysician, an accomplished scholar, and a brilliant writer. He was an exceptional man, and there are a few such in any sphere of life. Teacher, it is your business to analyze the mentality of 150 OUR CHILDREN. your pupil. There is fine gold in each one. Use yonr mental alembics, crucibles, and retorts, and yon may discover in the analysis of character—perhaps by exclusion—the talent which your apparently stupid scholar “ like the toad, ugly and venomous, wears yet, a precious jewel, in his head.” Finally,£< are not our own geese swans "What parent but saw beauty in his pug-nosed, ugly boy, and talent, and good-nature in his spoilt and stupid girl ? Even if this were not so, we should do well to make the best of what we cannot help. We will see that our children have the best opportunities; there shall be no lack of effort, nor will we strive for more than can be obtained. What faculties our children have, shall be brought to light, and we will enjoy and be thankful for. The defi- ciencies we will put where they belong, to our own account, remembering “ that the man is father of the child ”—in other words, that the child is not only the offspring of the race as a species, but of the individual bearing the traces and consequences of his parentage throughout the whole of his compound nature—viz: his body, soul, and spirit— and as a serious corailary to this, that the career of that child for good and evil, for personal advantages or the contrary, for intellect, or imbecility, and even for moral tendencies, if not written before his birth, with pen of ad- amant, on tablet of brass, “is at least marked out for him by boundary lines, which to overpass, if unfavorable, will require more than ordinary courage, resolution, and a con- currence of favorable circumstances not often to be looked for.”* “the education of children.” What does it mean, but to so instruct them, not in Latin *PhyBician’B Problems.—Chas. Elam, M.D. Fields, Osgood & Co. REAL CHARACTER. 151 and French, and so as to be able to pass a creditable exam- ination before the corporate examiners, who are mere myths, so far as any capacity for accurately testing the intelligence of the scholars is concerned, but to so educate them that they may pass through their after life happily to themselves, and creditably to their acquaintances and friends ? The result of education is to enable a person to be some- thing, not everything. With a lofty intent, a high aim, let us do with our children the best that we can. Some boys, if not good horse-men, would be nothing; some girls, if not efficient house-keepers, would be nothing. We are content; we will leave the professions to those capable of filling them ; we will make strong-minded wom- en of somebody’s else’s children, but we will make of our own what their own especial nature will enable them to become, and thus, as such, a pleasure to their friends, and finding solid happiness and content for themselves. “ Ma- ry has chosen that good part, that shall not be taken away from her.” Honesty in all the details of life, honesty of heart and soul, permeating every portion of the character, give your child but this, fill his mind full of this glorious idea, to be —not to "pretend—to be indeed something, true and praiseworthy—that is sufficient for the result of character ! To be one’s self, no fashionist, with a change in dress, opinions, character as the wind may blow, but to be hon- est, truthful, sincere—this is character! The learning got from books, the advantages of innumer- able quarters of tuition of the first schools, with all the extras, silver fork and spoon, six napkins and ring” all the dancing master’s and elocutionist’s teachings, with “ the use of the globes” added, will not make a girl fit for a wife, and the duties of a mother. Education goes deeper 152 OUR CHILDREN. than that. It commences before the mother’s milk ceases, and continues long after in the course of nature, the poor mother “under the daisy’’looks backward from the world of the future, at the career of those born in suffering, edu- cated in hope, and left with prayers. THE TWO NATURES OF A CHILD. In all our education we must remember—and I have stated it here often enough to be remembered—that the child has two natures, both inseparably connected together —viz: the body and the mind. There is more danger in severing the one from the other of these, than in dividing the materialistic bond of the Siamese twins, yet this is constantly neglected. It is the old fable revived, of the quarrel between the different members of the body, the stomach, the hand, and the eye, etc. Modern thought has begun to pay some attention to the body, and the remarks made by England’s great thinker and orator are so pertinent, that I trust I may be pardoned for larding my imperfect expressions by his matured and rich thoughts. He says: “ It was a great point in ancient philosophy, the value it attached to the body, and the proper training of it, the preservation of its health, strength, and all its proper pow- ers. Ancient philosophy did not despise the body, did not regard it as a mere husk or outside of human nature, or treat it as a despicable and absolutely vile thing; it regarded the body as a true part of human nature, deserving of proper deference, for the failure of wThich it was sure to retaliate fearfully upon the whole man. Hence the gym- nastics of the Greeks, which were not only fostered by the boxers and wrestlers, the drill-sergeants, and corporals of that day, but went on under the solemn sanction of sages. There is a distinction between the tone of ancient and THE BOLTS CLAIMS. 153 modern thought on this subject, and the ancient has cer- tainly an advantage over the modern on this particular point—at least, over the modern before the latest improve- ments. “ It has been too much the fashion with us, to decry the body, to talk it down, to speak scornfully of it, in every possible way, to be always comparing it with the mind, for the sole purpose of showing how vile and worthless it is in comparison—a mode of speaking, which, even if it is true abstractedly, may be indulged in such a degree as to involve a practical untruth. “ Our didactic books have been full of the praises of midnight oil, all our oracles of learning have been vehement in favor of unsparing study, and the mind has been subjected to the most acute stimulants, while the body has been left to take care of itself as it can. Of course the great mass of our school and university youth, take the law into their own hands under these circumstances, and adopt very effective measures against being goaded with suicidal study, but a certain proportion have responded to the whip, and responded but too eagerly. “ These have been the tactics, we say, of our modern masters of the schools, and encouragers of learning—an unsparing use of the goad, a merciless appeal to student ambition and emulation, as if it was impossible to stir up these natures too deeply. But how one-sided is a discipline which applies this powerful, sharp, and penetrating stimu- lus to the mind, while it leaves the body to itself, or rather, what is worse, suppresses and flings aside the claims of the body, which has to fare as it can, under the exclusive and oppressive dominion of its rival! How partial is such a system, and superficial because partial! After all our sublime abuse of the body, a body man has, and that body is part of himself; and if* he is not fair to it, he himself will be the sufferer. OUR CHILDREN. “ The whole man, we Ray, will be the sufferer—not the corporeal man only, but the intellectual man as well. Par, ticular capacities may receive even a monstrous development by the use of an exclusive stimulus, but the reason and judgment of the man as a whole, must be injured, if one integral portion of him is diseased. If the body is thor- oughly out of condition, the mind will suffer, it may show a morbid enlargement of one or other faculty of it, but the directing principle—that which alone can apply any faculty, or knowledge to a good purpose, can regulate its use, and check its extravagances—is weakened and reduced. “How miserable is the spectacle of morbid learning, with its learned hoards, and its voracious, insatiable appe- tite for acquisition, united wTith the judgment of a child! Such study does, in short, leave mere children with remark- able memories, and acquisitive powers, who know as much history, philosophy, and poetry as would make a learned man, but who are not a bit the nearer true men in conse- quence, because they simply know by rote, what they know—they do not understand their own knowledge. This is to a considerable extent the case with all morbid learning, where the general intelligence has not been culti- vated—which general intelligence depends upon the sound- ness and health of the -whole man, body, and mind also. The picture of Kirke White dying at the age of twenty-one of nocturnal study, wet towrels around heated temples, want of sleep, want of exercise, want of air, want of everything which nature intended for the body, is not only melancholy because it is connected with an early death, it is melancholy also on account of the certain effect which would have followed such a course unchecked, if he had lived. We see, when we look down the vista of such a life, an enfee- bled and a prostrated man, very fit to be made a lion of, like a clever child, and to be patted on the head by patrons GENIUS TO FOLLY ALLIED. 155 and patronesses of genius, but without the proper intellect and judgment of a man. How sad even is the spectacle of that giant of German learning, Heander, lying his whole length on the floor among his books, absorbing recondite matter, till the stupor of repletion comes over him, for- getful of time and place, not knowing where he is, in the earth or in the moon, led like a child by his sister to his lecture-room, when the lecture hour came, and led away home again, when it was over ! Is this humanity we ask, as Providence designed us to be ? Is it legitimate, rational human nature 1 It can hardly be called so. “We must not let the mind refresh itself by the ruin of the body. The mind has no right to this indulgence, this dissipation, and whole-length abandonment to its cravings, any more than the body has to sensual indulgence. This mental dram, the noxious stimulant that produces this overgrowth of mind, is as contrary to nature, as the coarser stimulant which unduly excites the body. The mind should be a good, strong, healthy feeder, but not a glutton. We have no right to depreciate the body, or to speak of it only and exclusively as something which is vile in compar- ison with the mind. This language will lead astray. It will make ardent, ambitious students neglect health, and abandon themselves to the process of acquisition, at the cost of body, and ultimately of mind too. “ Do not use too unsparingly, the motive of ambition, in dealing with youth. It is a motive which is perfectly honest and natural within proper limits, but when pushed to excess, it produces a feeble, sickly, unmanly growth of character; it creates that whole brood of fantastic theorists, sentimentalists, and speculators, which in art, science, and theology alike,.are the reducers and the corruptorsof man- kind.” Times, {London) Oct. 28, 1858. J The great education which the parents can give to their 156 OUR CHILDREN. children, is in the enriching of the mind and heart with the true principles of life, not in the details of schooling. As the farmer plants a crop on a sterile soil, not with any hope of reward, for when it arrives at a certain growth, he purposely drives the plow through it, and turning it under the soil, looks for its reappearance, transformed and developed in the grain afterward sown; in the same manner, the parent keeps the heart alive to fresh impulses, which carefully tended, and buried deep in the mind, result in a like change, whereby the entire animal nature, and the celestial spirit are strengthened, developed, and the crop of virtue, happiness, and peace is ensured. ADDENDA. Since writing the above, I have read with great delight, as well as profit, a recent English work “ a physician’s PROBLEMS.” Had I time, I would re-write the foregoing chapter hy its light. Bat I add the present addenda, to direct the attention of all interested in this subject of the reciprocal relations of Body and Mind, to the chapter in the work referred to. It should be read carefully by the parent anx- ious respecting the mental development of his offspring, and ambitious for their future greatness. It is a compen- dium of the knowledge of the world on this point, and I feel no little satisfaction in finding that in my imperfect way, I have been in the same path with this great thinker, and with the many erudite minds of the world, whose tes- timonies on this subject he has collected in the support of his views. Two of his resumes, I feel compelled to quote in full, in order to add a final polish to the present chapter. “5. The injurious effects of mental labor, are in great measure owing To excessive forcing in early youtli: PREGNANT THOUGHTS. 157 To sudden or misdirected study : To the co-operation of depressing emotions or passions: To the neglect of the ordinary rules of hygiene: To the neglect of the hints of the body, or To the presence of the seeds of disease, degeneration, and decay in the system. “7. The extended and deep culture of the mind, exerts a directly conservative influence upon the body. A WORD TO THE WISE. “ Fellow Laborer! One word to you before we conclude. Fear not to do manfully the work for which your gifts qualify you ; but do it, as one who must give an account, both of soul and body. Work, and work hard, whilst it is day, but the night cometh soon enough—do not hasten it. Use your faculties; use them to the utmost, but do not abuse them—make not the mortal do the work of the im- mortal. The body has its claims, it is a good servant; treat it well, and it will do your work—it knows its own business. Do not attempt to teach or to force it; attend to its wants and requirements, listen kindly and patiently to its hints, occasionally forestall its necessities by a little indulgence, and your consideration will be repaid with interest. But task it, and pine it, and suffocate it; make it a slave instead of a servant; it may not complain much, but, like the weary camel in the desert, it will lie down and die.” And after all, we must not forget in our educating pro- cess, how brief is the period before us. Death is the great teacher, as well as harmonizer. The body demands strength- ening, but for a period, the mind requires stimulation and development but for time,—the development of our bet- ter nature is for eternity. What we need most to look at in ourselves, in our children, in the study of individual 158 OUR CHILDREN. men, and the history of mankind, is that inexplicable, in- comprehensible mystery, THE EESULT OF LIFE. When we stand beside the coffin of our departed friend, and gaze on those features once instinct with life, so lately the play of such varied emotions, but now stolid and im- movable in death; when we see that calmness of death momentarily assuming a more placid and benign expression, every trace of agony or discomfort or dissatisfaction fleeing away; when we note the serene beauty which so gradually creeps over the face of the departed, and transition from this world to the realms beyond, is physically characterized by so marked an expression of content, and almost beatific serenity ; when we who remain behind look tearfully, and often at the same time so enviously, at the beautiful rest of one who has finished his labors, who has laid aside grief and troublings, who now is standing behind the curtain, and to whom the great drama of life is unfolded in all its hidden workings—we are moved by a thousand fancies. Thoughts are evoked, which else might never have arisen, and memories are stirred that have long been buried in a fancied oblivion. But the great thought arises and forces itself into every mind, What is the result of our friend’s life ?—and yet not to be measured by the material wealth left behind, of worldly honors, monuments, heaps of gold —what has he taken away as a support, passport, letter of credit, character and reputation, wherewith to commence his renewed life in the unseen world ? Theology gives the modern thinking man cold comfort, if any at all. The men whom we have despised as we met them in the world—men the vast portion of whose lives, even to the moment preceding death, have been lives of disorder, and wrong-feeling, and bad actions—a prayer, a WHAT MIGHT HA VE BEEN? 159 rite, a genuflexion, and a few half-sensible, half-audible words, extorted by fear, not love—these, the Church has told us, have died in the faith, and been gathered into glo- ry. We cannot agree with this; we find heaven, thus peopled, no place for our aspirations, nor its occupants those we would seek for company. Religion, on the contrary, teaches us of better things. Religion is in every heart—God-implanted. Faith in the God of the Universe, belief in the great principles enunciated in the Holy Scriptures, of love to God and love for man, translated by our minds into our own hearts and souls—• actions such as we have been best able to perform with our whole weak might, with trials and heart-wringings, and oft-times in despair—Religion tells us, through no priestly voice, but from the teachings of our own consciences, that no more is required than can be performed, no sacrifice beyond our means, no faith that surpasses the possibilities of our nature. We believe, because we must, and as we must. And we look into the open coffin. There is mystery in the past, and mystery in the future. God only knows what we have accomplished with the limited means He gave us to act with. Fie alone is our Judge. We ask in vain if our friend used his life as best he might—if he overcame temptations, benefited his kind, his race, the world! We recognize the transcendent talents or the weak capacities, but their limitations, the inseparable alter egos of weakness, vacillation, and the exhaustion fol- lowing their exercise—these are beyond our ken. What might have been, had these qualities had different surroundings, developed under other atmospheres—were the lion’s strength added to the gazelle’s symmetry and lightness % Suum cuigue. Each has his own gift, each his own opportunity for development. We are but clay in 160 OUR CHILDREN. the hands of the potter, and it is the part of happiness, as well as true wisdom—wisdom that comes direct from the Great Source—to recognize the limitations of all things, and instead of repining that more was not accomplished, to wonder that so much,has resulted, and to give thanks. Millions of thistle-downs waft their seed over the broad savannas, jet how few germinate, and fulfill their apparent destiny! The roving fish from the depths of the ocean, thousands of miles distant, comes back to the place of its birth, to return, in compensation, the fruit of its year’s incubation. Of the millions of eggs thus produced, and toilfully deposited, not a tithe are fructified and developed. In the more lordly man—yet a mere creature and depend- ent, formed for no far loftier end that we know, if in vanity we imagine for a higher purpose—can we expect a greater percentage of perfected development ? We look again into the coffin. Untroubled by our im- aginings, our friend lies in calm repose. The doubts we have had, once his, are now cleared up to him, and as the traveler finds still before his advancing footsteps constantly rising, new, and as dimly seen mounts as the before blue and obscure peak, to a knowledge of which he has just attained, so in the distant realms of the unseen world} whither our friend has reached, new worlds of constantly increasing glory are doubtless ever before his eagerly peer- ing eye. “ Who, by searching, can find out God ?” and yet, till we find Him, can we discover ourselves, our capacities, the object of our creation, and the mysteries that ever enshroud us from the cradle to the grave, or can we answer the in- quiry, Has our friend lived in vain \ CHAPTEE XL AMUSEMENTS AND RECREATIONS. THEEE are few changes in the moral world during the last century, more marked than that which is noted in relation to amusements. The word itself is derived from 7nusare signifying to stand idle; and this of itself, was esteemed a crime of no slight magnitude. Amusement and idleness synonymous! No wonder that in this land at least, for the last hundred years it should be looked at with reprobation! Yery recently indeed is it, that an idea, that some re- laxation from constant toil was necessary for strength of both body and mind, has been entertained by the teachers of youth, and the directors of the ideas of the world. Centuries ago it was written Apollo non semper tendit areuni, and more modern philosophy has said that “ all work and no play would make Jack a dull boy,” but practically these teachings were forgotten. Perhaps the influence of monastic discipline, had no little to do with forming the habits of the world. The silent influence excited by whole regiments of lazy monks, who, although they rarely did anything beneficial, yet pretended to be always engaged in some occupation, keeping their fingers moving their beads, and rolling up their eyes most sanctimoniously, a supposed most praise- worthy pursuit. This influence was exceedingly pernicious ; they never smiled, or seemingly felt any pleasure. More than this, 162 OUR CHILDREN. they were assiduous in keeping up every one else to most active labor, frowning upon all amusements that they were able to. This influence descended into the Protestant clergy, and not till a very few years past, in this country, would even an incipient divinity student engage in a game of ball, or if he rode a horse, would he go faster than a most solemn trot. The sensible and healthy recreations of the English clergy, were severely frowned at, and their piety was even doubted, because they followed the hounds with the best men and women of the country. Fortunately in every respect it is, that a change has come over the feelings and judgment of the intelligent part of the community, for any change is far better than a per- sistance in wTrong. Even to do worse, is better than to stand still. There are many wrongs done constantly, and tolerated because they have been tolerated for so long a period, and because change also brings temporary discomforts with it, and there is an uncertainty about what the future will bring forth. But make it a little worse, and then the “ last straw” is added, indignation supplants our reason, and revolution is the consequence.—We are praying, for an example, that the elective judiciary of this country may be but a trifle more venal, dishonest, and vile than at present, ■—if that is possible—if not, that the people will only just see their actual present depravity, and then—won’t the whole system be reversed ? Fortunately I say, it has been discovered that some recreation was necessary, but unfortunately, the best kind of amusement has not always been selected, and how could any thing better be expected, when the selection of amuse- ments was made at the instance of that portion of the community, that never know anything about amusements, as recreation for the mind, or recreations of wasted vigor, and lost mental force ? MUSCULARITY OVERDONE. The catholic clergy, for years, have thought to combine health with study, toil and asceticism—in vain. They had ghostly books read to them, while eating their daily meals. They walked around their cloister yards, never heeding the glorious sun, or the beauteous moon, whose calm serenity might have been a lesson to them; but as they walked their solemn round, they told their beads, or read over their dismal prayers which contained scarce a recogni- tion of the love and goodness of God, but appeals against his implacable wrath. The result was, that every religious monk and priest, was a sour, pallid, unhealthy specimen of humanity. But the amusement reformation, introduced clubs of ponderous weight, and dumb bells, and the muscles were developed by lifting and straining, in the effort to rival the ox—like the frog in the fable—not in size, but in strength, with the similar fatal result of over-doing—the bursting of blood vessels, and the like injurious results from a competition entirely uncalled for. Next came boat-clubs, and racing, and the whole energies of the scholar’s life spent in the intellectuality of boat pulling, and the training. It is generally know, that the training for prize fights, and prize races, while it exerts a temporary benefit, is utterly inconsistant with health when prolonged ; that the time when it can be continued is very limited; and that a constant persistance in it would be death ! Collin’s “Man and Wife” gives a truthful portrayal of the folly, and unhealthiness, of the excessive muscular pursuit. This is a “jumping from the frying-pan into the fire,” for probably less evil would result to the health from the former student life of the world, while the moral deterioration would be unquestionably diminished. 164 OUR CHILDREN. BILLIARDS. The religious teachers have also approved of billiards, as an in-door, unobjectionable form of relaxation. It is reput- ed to be wonderful as exercise, that it teaches the science of angles, momentum and resistance, and other branches of physics. With as much propriety, it might be judged a teacher of mathematics, as it teaches counting as far as five; or gunnery, inasmuch as it has to do with balls! The objections to billiards are numerous. First, it is very expensive, as a table will cost from $5OO to $lOOO ; then it must have the exclusive use of a very large room for the whole time. The appliances of light &c., are a constant expense. These amount to a very large sura per annum, A billiard player, playing generally at public tables—where the one who loses the game pays for the whole, and being of some force, had therefore but compar- atively rarely to pay this expense—told me that he thought billiards, without any other incidental expenses, such as drinks, &c., had cost him $3OOO, and he was about 40 years of age. Then there is nothing in any way elevating, reviving, graceful, or beneficial about it. It is a house game, and is played when one ought to be out of doors, in the enjoy- ment and benefits of sunshine and air. But the greatest and incontrovertible argument, of all that can be said against it, are its demoralizing qualities; I assert it in opposition to all the Young Men’s Christian Associations, that have introduced billiard tables into their rooms—if any have, as I have heard it stated. Billiards lead men to the worst purlieus of the city, into communication with the vilest denizens of any town, village, or city, where there is a billiard table, amidst all the allurements of drink and dissipation. “ But seen too oft, familiar with its face, We first endure, then pity, then embrace.” AN OBJECTIONABLE AMUSEMENT. 165 Merchants, and clerks, and that multifarious class yclept brokers, spend their nooning where they can see or unite in the game, at a serious pecuniary cost to a poor man. It is a reason for stopping in at some low place on the way home. It is the first in a series of irregular places, for which a young man leaves his parent’s house, and his sister’s, and best friend’s virtuous company, to spend his dissipated evenings. Finally, in a quite considerable experience, I cannot remember one man of real ability, and who has attained to any real excellence in any elevated pursuit, who plays a superior game of billiards. It consumes too much time, to permit a man to attain anything else. Furthermore, as a reason rather than argument, I object to it on the ground that it takes a young man, not only out of his own house, but where ladies, his sister, wife, and mother, cannot accompany him. They can unite with him gaming, fishing, boating, riding, but they can’t go to a billiard saloon. Having thus protested against some of the methods of getting exercise, and amusement, in vogue at the present period, while at the same time I have asserted the necessity of some form of relaxation, for both mind and body, and that too, of both young and old, it would seem inconsistent not to find some substitute that might be acceptable, after this iconoclastic raid. In the first place, I protest against anything being done simply for exercise. Exercise should be something more than a movement of the muscles. It should be either connected with amusement, or utility, to be beneficial. I am very much in the habit of telling the parents of my young patients, not to send their children for a monotonous THE KIND OF EXERCISE REQUIRED. 166 OUR CHILDREN. walk, but to find an errand for them. Go and call upon some friend with a message, a note, or a mile off for a particular spool of thread, or paper of pins, and which the young child is to think of some considerable importance. As the girl gets older, she can walk home with her father, or brother, meeting him on the way from his business. Instead of a young man’s swinging a ponderous club, let him chop wood, or shovel the snow from his sidewalk. I would like to see a city boy with moral, as well as physical strength enough, to dare do it in any of our cities. Labor and health have got to be degrading. Horseback riding, and other luxurious amusements in city life, it is unnecessary to recommend as a matter of health. I say unnecessary, because it is generally admitted to be the best of all forms of exercise, and all that is requi- site for indulgence in it, is the horse and equipments. There is absolutely no objection to it for both sexes. I trust that it is in the power of every reader, to put their children on horseback at an early age. By a careful grada- tion in the characters of the animals, in a very short time there will be no appreciable danger in their riding any ordinary beast. But I would like to see an American youth practicing it as an accomplishment—for very few attain to anything more than keeping on the animal, all grace and thorough command of the horse, being generally neglected. Ho better amusement, as well as health, is to be found, than in training a young horse to all the tricks of the manege, and let me say that patience, and kindness, are as essential to horse-training, as in child-training. Another manly art, as well as interesting amusement, is in obtaining a thorough knowledge of fire arms, and mili- tary arms generally. Military drills are great, capital forms of experience, and the natural enthusiasm of youth, should PROPER AMUSEMENTS. 167 be encouraged in tliis direction. Boys should be encoura- ged to go gunning in the country, and in seabord cities, to the shore, where if the game is scarce, the beach will allow prolonged walks with tine air, and sufficient excitement to prevent any feeling of fatigue. The timidity of parents, should not stand in the way of the physical and moral development of their sons. There are too many like the ancient Greeks, that will not permit their sons to go into the water, until they have learnt how to swim. They are not willing that their sons should have guns, until they have learned how to use them. They seem to forget that a boy without a true, noble, manly character, had far better be dead. Swimming, boating, every opportunity of personal development, should be eagerly sought. I should like much to seethe old custom of wrestling re-introduced into general practice. How far more enob- ling than the Indian clubs, the straining at lifting great weights, on platforms made for the purpose. Wrestling, makes a man able to use his limbs in case of any accident, to defend himself against gamblers, foot-pads, burglars and the like. In connection with wrestling, there are certain in-door sports, and accomplishments, universally superior in every point of view to billiards, and one of these is the graceful, ennobling art of fencing. Nothing is more delightful, to an observer, than to see a fencing match with rapiers. Here come in the highest qualities in manhood, quickness of perception, strength, rapidity in action, and a certain sort of nervous courage, even with foils and masks. Simply as exercise, there are few more conducive to general physical development. Begs, back, arms, every muscle and nerve are brought into full play, not with real exhaustive strain, as in the laborious liftings, and pullings, of more recently introduced methods of exercise. 168 OUR CHILDREN. Another great benefit is, that it can be indulged in out of doors, as well as in the house. The foils and masks are easily transported, and thus in the fresh, brisk morning air, under any sheltering tree, it may be indulged in its full measure. The same remarks may be made, respecting “ the manly art of self defense.” Boxing is excellent exercise, but rougher, and always to me, had something low and degrad- ing to a person of gentlemanly instincts. Still I always regret, that I was not early taught an accomplishment, which is often found in the experiences of after life, to have its advantages and benefits, among which, the feeling of being able to protect one’s-self from any drunken attack, when going about on necessary business, is not at all to be overlooked. Boys should be encouraged in all manliness. Mobility of thought and act, in contrast to the degrading tendencies of modern money-making, is to besought for and developed by every possible means. Parents are too apt to consider the danger to life or limb, and are restraining their boys from climbing trees, from learning to swim, to ride, to hunt, and the like, while they quite overlook the danger arising from the encouragement of habits of indolence, and love of ease. The worst thing that can happen to your children, is not to break their limbs, or even to get killed. “ Far better,” many a parent has said, “ had I buried my boy when he was 10 or 15 years old, than to have him now, as he is, a miserable, worthless man, a disgrace to himself, and a curse to all his friends.” Parents should remember that boys will be something; either you make them, by every encouragement, manly, honorable, adventurous, or they will be mean, sneaky, and base. There is no soil, so sterile that something will not AS YOU SOW, SO SHALL YE REAP. 169 grow on it. If it is left to itself, tares and weeds will riot, if carefully tended, there will be a corresponding growth of sterling grain,—hut the seed you must sow. The quantity and quality of the crop, depends upon the natural excellence of the soil, and the superiority of the grain that you have selected for seed. SPORTS AND EXERCISES FOR GIRLS. There are less out of door sports for girls, indeed their natures do not render them necessary. They have not the same restless activity of their brothers, still they have the same necessities for fresh air, and excercise, which are not to be neglected. Modern life has not the labors of our parents; spinning, churning, and the thousand in-door employments, so full of variety and exercise. Still Croquet is considered a blessing, inasmuch as it is an out-of-door, gentle exercise, and a social pastime, tending to the happy union of pleas- ure seeking and exercise. The city girl however, can find little out-of-door exercise, except that of walking, I have already mentioned how desirable it is, that this should be with an ostensible object. In-doors, the most seriously exercising labor is making beds, and even this, with the modern healthy, general sub- stitution of mattresses, for the feather-beds, that needed so much shaking, is almost wanting in any real labor. A moderate use of the sewing machine, is enough ex- ercise, for an hour a day, for the lower extremities, and an equal time at the piano, will do as much for the arms and hands, if the piano is actually played with force and emphasis. There need be no fear respecting the nnhealthiness of a sewing machine. Of course, one should no more ex- pect to use a machine all day, than to ride on horseback 8 OUR CHILDREN. all day, without previous preparation; but one is as easily and safely done as the other. All that is necessary is to use it the first day, after any long abstinence from its em- ploy, for a short period, and then, every succeeding day, for an increased length of time, and thus no injury will ensue, unless used beyond one’s strength. This is more especially true of the light Sewing Machines, like Whee- ler & Wilson’s, Wilcox & Gibbs, and the Weed, which, I know are unsurpassed in the ease and little fatigue conse- quent upon their employ. Furthermore, the work they Jo, is especially adapted for family use. Battledore and Shuttlecock, and Graces, are sports that seem almost forgotten, but unsurpassed for pleasure, exer- cise to the whole body, combined with grace and beauty. They develop the muscles, while they give ease to the movements, by the rapid changes of posture required. Of late years, Skating has come very much into vogue among the young. This is essentially a boy’s sport, and I think it should be confined to them. My own experi- ence in its effects upon girls is very much against it, more especially in cities, where the change from the in-door hot- house life, to the freezing exposure, even for a very short period, is fraught with danger. If girls were going out every day, and spending a large portion of the time in the open air, the objections would be less, then, enough would still remain to make such sports' very un- desirable. The natural coquetry of the sex, in the crowds that swarm upon the ice near large cities, induces them to dress more for exhibition, than with an eye for health. Then the peculiar functions of womanhood are most ma- terially affected, by the falls and accidents so commonly experienced, by the extreme cold of the extremities, and by the unwonted exercise, with so great impetuos- HEALTHY AMUSEMENT. 171 ity and excitement. These latter accidents are as liable to occur in the quietude of country life, as among the crowds of city rinks and park ponds. I have had nu- merous patients, with marked uterine disturbances, who report the date of its commencement, to certain ska- tings in the various parts of the United States. One, a country girl from New Hampshire, dated an illness of many years to skating near her own home. The Shipping Hope is a very common, graceful, and fascinating amusement for young children. It has much to recommend it, as a happy union of exercise and pleas- ure. lam sorry to say one word against it, and I will do it very gently. Parents should limit the ambition of chil- dren when very expert. There is a rivalry among little girls, as to “ who will keep up longest.” This is some- times carried on to a very great excess, to great strain on the muscles, and more especially to a tax on the heart, sometimes predjudicial to health. I have known children whose serious heart disease dated from this rivalry, and parents would do well to guard against excess. Girls should be encouraged in running. There are few games for girls in which running forms any portion, but with a skipping-rope, or a hoop, they are willing and anxious to “go around the block,” in cities, where such amusement is, perhaps, alone desirable. This is a side- walk exercise which should be encouraged, and it is one that is especially useful in all temperatures. There is no better form of exercise for growing girls, than rowing a boat. A large, broad, flat-bottomed boat, one not easily upset, provided with oars not too long, or heavy, and a shallow creek or pond—then ad libitum en- couragement, to go out at any time for a “ long pull, a strong pull, and a pull all together. This form of exercise is very fascinating for girls, and is 172 OUR CHILDREN. peculiarly beneficial for those with a tendency to stoop, and grow round shouldered. The long pulls, laying back on the oar, and exerting the whole strength in a real man- ly fashion, brings out the chest most superbly. If ladies would establish boat clubs, with boats of from two to six oars, upon our rivers and lakes, they would make a move in the right direction. They would be as- tonished at the vigor they would derive thereby; the beauty of their arms and chests at the winter parties, would be noteworthy, and their power at the piano would be noticeably augmented. Many growing youth of both sexes, are dressed to grow round-shouldered, and braces, and mechanical appliances are called for to rectify this failing. • The exercise of pull- ing an oar for an hour or two per day, will be found worth them all, and most fascinating, if properly conducted. I have known many young ladies compelled twice a day, to lie flat on their backs upon the floor, and for a half hour each time, to alternately raise their hands straight over their heads, touching the floor, and then putting them down by their sides, and this every day for a year. Oth- ers, swing upon ladders—a matter of actual labor, and a serious tax on the patience and temper. For a year or two, I gave up the use of one parlor—the highest room in the house—took up the carpet, and erect- ed a ladder, upon which my children hung for a half hour twice a day; a most vexatious thing to enforce, and for the children to practice. But the threatened distortions of the spine, so often seen in children are to be counter- acted by any means, within the power of a parent. GYMNASTIC EXERCISES. This leads to a consideration of gymnastic exercises, .and gymnasiums, now so common in public and private schools, as well, in some degree, in families. GYMNASTIC EXERCISE. 173 I have already said that exercise should he an adjunct, and incidental to either business or pleasure. We will walk any number of miles with gratification, with either for an object, but painfully, and laboriously, if this is for some exercise, imagined to be hygienic and necessary. It is laborious to work at a force pump for a quarter or half an hour, when it is considered to be doing a service, as filling .. eservoir at the top of the house, and guarding against fire &c. The same work would be unfrequently, and in fact very rarely done, if it was known that no other end was accomplished, than to head off some suspected spinal irritation, or even prevent dyspepsia. Most people would prefer to take a pill or two, and leave prevention alone. Gymnasiums therefore must, to be practically useful, be made interesting. This can never be done unless there is something beside the mere exercise. It needs the excite- ment of Society, the stimulus of competition, or the encouragement of spectators, and admiring friends. Give the persons the excuse of utility, for doing something that is agreeable, and the great end is accomplished. If the gymnasium is made a public resort, if there be competition and comparison, then business and pleasure are both furnish- ed—and the result will be successful. The next point is the character of the exercises intro- duced. A very great improvement has been made in this particular, within a few years. Great muscular development is not desirable to most young men, to no ladies. What is needed is grace and agility. Those exercises which will bring into play the most muscles, use them not to fatigue or to do more than thoroughly excite, without wearying them—this is the exercise desirable. The light gymnastics, intended for the wants of gentle- men and ladies, not for laborers and milk-maids—this is 174 OUR CHILDREN'. what is seen in the graceful and agreeable series of muscular actions, originated I think, but certainly well developed by Dio Lewis. It has always seemed to me, for gentlemen to be attempting to lift tens of hundreds of pounds, harnassed in leathern bands, or swinging immense dumb- bells, and wielding huge Indian clubs, is as improper, as to see dogs drawing loaded carts—at once painful and against nature. ' On the contrary, the latter is an adjunct to dancing, renders the body lithe, supple, graceful and free. Swimming is a healthy exercise, very much neglected, especially by girls, and mainly I imagine, on account of the difficulty in getting to and from the place of bathing with proper regard to the exegencies of dress. It is one of the most useful of the muscular accomplishments. Girls should not neglect an opportunity for perfecting themselves in that, which may perhaps in some after period, save their own lives and perhaps that of others. With boys igno- rance of it, is quite inexcusable, and is an evidence, so far as it goes, of a want of manliness. WALKING Although the most common of all the forms of exercise, should not, in a chapter like this, be passed by in neglect. Possibly because it is so common, there is not enough thought about it. Once in a while we have some indefati- gable “ walkists,” as they have been styled, who astonish the world by their feats of endurance and rapidity, and following this excitement, there are temporary spirts of walking among the young men, but they soon die away. So degenerate is the present age, that a boy is considered by his mother as most remarkable, who walks to and from his school, or his business, a distance of four or six miles a day, and too many prefer the fatigue of hanging on WOMEN IN FETTERS. 175 to the straps of an over-crowded car, and standing in the confined air, made by the breath of forty persons, to a brisk walk. In the country it is even worse. I have scarcely known a man who thinks of walking any distance over a quarter of a mile, but will go almost as great a distance to get up his horse. Prolonged walks, especially by students in their ttions, ought to be more common than it is. The tourists who are seen walking in the Scotch High- lands and the Swiss mountains are very numerous, but in our White mountains, or up the beautiful banks of the Hudson and Connecticut, they are scarcely known. Health, pleasure,—the intimate knowledge of the peculiarities of a country, which can only be known by the opportunities afforded by slow observation, and attendant rests on peculiarily attractive localities—all these recommend pedes- trianism as a most delightful and appropriate method of utilizing the vacations, and the pleasant weather of the summer and fall seasons. ■ But for girls walking in any extended manner is simply impossible. The sex, have had the inconsistency, while claiming to emancipate themselves from past slaveries, yet to cling to their fetters. Since time immemorial, they have endeavored to render themselves physically incapable of any real, laborious undertakings. Setting aside the restraints of petticoats, which sadly interfere with locomo- tion, even when there is no wind to act on these out-streached sails, they are always incapable of raising their hands to the top of their head, because the sleeve begins too low down on the arm. They cannot take any number of prolonged breaths, from the tightness of the garment around their waists, and compressing their chests. But now they have rendered themselves incapable of walking. While she laughs at the absurdities of the 176 OUR CHILDREN. Chinese ladies, who make their feet little, by persistent compression from birth; the modern, fashionable lady by high heels, prevents herself from taking anything like a good long stretch, even on the best of sidewalks. The little, rickety heel enters into every crack, turns on every petty elevation, and even without these drawbacks against locomotion, it drives the foot so constantly down into the shoe, as to hind the instep, compresses the toes, and soon covers the feet with corns and bunions. Without these, the fact that the foot never touches the ground flatly, is fatal to pedestrianism, and woman will be a fettered slave until some new fashion shall come to take the sex off from the stilts, upon which they are now, mounted. There would he some compensation, if there was a possibility of a girl moving gracefully, thus shod, but when her every effort is employed, in keeping from pitch- ing on to her nose, and to avoid, what appears to be, her inevitable destiny to tumble over, all hope of seeing grace is departed. There is an idea quite prevalent, that walking early in the morning, and riding at the same time, before breakfast, is beneficial to the health. I think that no one, who has ever tried them for any length of time, can be found, who will speak very highly of the pleasure derived from it. It is not to be justified by any theory of a sanitary character. If one cannot find any other time to give to this exercise, perhaps the early, damp morning, which offers such a chilling change to the warmth of the bed, may be better than not to exercise at all. Certainly however, he will take such exercise any where in this vicinity (New York,) at the risk of an attack of fever and ague. It would be almost sure to seize him, if he should walk for a month in our beautiful Central Park, at this inclement hour of the morning. TRITE TRUTHS. Then the idea of walking, fasting, is unsnstained by any theory of utility, while practically, it will be found not only disagreeable, but unhealthy. A robust, vigorous person, may perhaps be able to take such exercise with impunity, and such will not find it requisite, but most will discover, that they get headache, nausea, and general exces- sive fatigue, from such unadvised and injudicious exercise. If, however, such exercise is necessary, let the person fortify himself with a very moderate meal—a cup of coffee, and a crust of bread may be all that is necessary, but something should be taken “ to stay the stomach.” PLEASANT THOUGHTS BENEFICIAL TO HEALTH. The amusements referred to thus far, are mainly considered in regard to their connection with exercise, as thereby conducing to the physical condition of the body. Perhaps all might not at first glance agree with me, in the idea that pleasant thoughts, agreeable methods of passing time pleasantly, are likewise beneficial to the health. Still the fact is none the less so. A pleasant face, a happy house- hold, and a cheerful spirit, conduce most surely to good digestion. A worry of mind destroys the appetite. Sorrow, by destroying the powers of nutrition, the capacity of assimilating food, weakens the system, induces disease, and ultimately destroys life. The converse is just as true, for a happy home makes a healthy one. Amusements, are something which is not business, care, toil, and are abso- lutely necessary for health. Unquestionably, the highest form of amusement comes from books, or reading in general. There is a wondrous change in the world in this respect, within the last half century. It is wonderful, to think of the mass of reading matter which goes through the mails and express compan- ies, and pervades every corner of the world. There is a 8* OUR CHILDREN-. question to-day not before known, which is, “ what shall children read?” Formerly, they read everything they could get hold of; the libraries were small, the newspapers were small, they contained the baldest statement of the news of the day. There were but few works of fiction, and those written with no moral purpose. To-day these works are the vehicles through which the greatest truths of the world are disseminated. Prime Ministers write the novels, which cause revolutions and civil wars. CHAPTER XII. WHAT SHALL CHILDREN READ? AX examination into the manner in which the men and woman of different ages have employed their time, is a history of the mental, moral, and physical growth of the world. At some periods, labor, and its consequent rest, consumed the entire time. This labor in different climes and nations was various; in some it was in hunting, in others, in constant war, and predatory excursions, in others, in perhaps even more debasing occupations, because calling for less intellectual development, of husbandry. But a great change has come in with the 19th century, and still greater is before us. Labor—which in the warlike tribes and Xomadic, hunting people was shared in by all alike, the highest being elevated to chieftainship, because the most laborious labor—gradually became the lot of the poorer in intellectual capacity, and who thus were speedily poorer in the possession of that, which constituted the peculiar wealth of each people. Labor then kept a constant, and unrelenting hold on a very large class of the community. Amusements were so unfrequent as scarcely to be worth the mention, and con- sisted mainly in attendance upon the festivals of religion, or in witnessing the solemn pageants attending the occasional rejoicings, or lamentations of their rulers and superior classes. At the present time, the great tendency of the civilized portion of the world, is to diminish the hours of work. 180 OUR CHILD RUN. The necessities of life are obtained with a far less expen- diture of physical energy than ever before. Steam, in the fields, at the anvil, and the loom, have materially abridged man’s toil, and with the sewing machine, puts clothing of better quality and fabrication than was formerly deemed possible, upon the backs of the richest and poorest, at a cost of money, labor, or time once scarcely imagined. Throughout Christendom, comes the cry for a diminution of the hours of labor. He who once worked from sun to sun, has gradually diminished his hours to twelve, ten, and now is vehemently demanding another shrinking to eight. If then, we ask what is the great occupation of the people of this country, the men, women, and children, collectively, we cannot say work. The merchant’s hours are from 10 a. m. to 3p. m. His clerk’s are from 9a.m. to 4 or 5 p. m., with increasing holidays, and closed doors on Saturday afternoons. Servants work indeed nominally as before, but their time remains the same; but the various appliances of modern housekeeping has diminished their labors most seriously. Hone but doctors find their work never done. They are hitched to a bell wire, and like a Jumping Jack, must work when the string is pulled. Labor then is not the grand occupation which occupies the world at the present day. Possibly, the antithesis to toil is pleasure, and again it is possible, that pleasure of the most unalloyed and general description is found in reading. Most assuredly it is known, that more time is now employed in reading in this country than in any other way. It is the occupation or amusement of every age and every class. Newspapers are printed, like the Boys and Girls Paper by Prank Leslie, for children; and papers, magazines, novels, and histories, for every culture, of every age and class. Newspapers of every grade and price, WHAT SHALL BE READ. 181 for religious and irreligious, for saints and sinners, in small type for the young, and large pica for the old, with pictures and diagrams, in colors and plain. In short every body reads. Vulgarity, dirt, croesus, poverty white, negro, Irish, Chinaman—everybody reads. News, games, science mirth, religion, scepticism, this world and the next—every subject has its exponents and its readers. If there is a man interested in any matters, he finds his periodical treating upon it. Everybody reads something energetically. Only mention to me an interest unrepre- sented in typedom, and I will ensure an exponent before a week elapses. The fact, that this era of general reading is coincident with the highest civilization to which the world has ever attained, will render any lengthened argument to prove its utility unneccessary, and a more useful question than what shall we read ourselves, is what permit our children to read ? The empty stomach requires diluted food. The milk which forms the earliest condiment, which kindly nature affords for our first needs, is mainly water, and it should be remembered too, that this is not allowed to be obtained without some exertion. No matter how weak or young, the babe must exercise some volition, and put forth some energy, or starve. Let this great fact be remembered when we inquire, with what intellectual food, to feed our infant’s mind, that “an empty stomach requires diluted food.” .1 have known a healthy Jew after his annual fast of twenty-four hour’s complete abstinence from even a drop of any fluid, not even water, or a crumb of bread—I have known him to die, from eating hard-boiled eggs and bread. The young mind is to be fed on Mother Goose’s melodies ■not aphorisms, and Tupperism, and Essays on Man. 182 OUR CHILDREN. Their food is French soups, viz,—a great deal of taste with very little substance, a gallon of water, a chicken’s wing, a few grains of rice, an onion, and plenty of pepper and salt. •—No danger of a surfeit, and subsequent disgust. What shall children read ? Anything that they will. Fairy tales, travels—Eoss and Parry and Kane, in the North Pole, DeChaillu and Eiley in Africa—Facts are always preferred to fiction, when the fact is not too much for the young mind. “Is it true is the great question of the youth. But the diversions of Gulliver, for children do not see its satire, and Sinbad, and Peter Wilkins, and Eobinson Crusoe, and The Swiss Family Eobinson, and Arabian Nights Entertainments, are most digestible to the youngest intellectual stomach. The true way is to fill the mind with this succulent material, till it outgrows this style. But before this is done, the habit of reading is formed, and the child will never willingly give up the book. Eeading is ever after, a necessity, it has become a habit like whisky drinking, and the use of tobacco. The next step is still onward, works of fiction, romances, and love tales, soon claim the growing taste. The girls like the misteries of Udolpho and Belinda, and Miss Edge- worth’s inimitable novelettes, and the boys crawl higher from Mayne Eeid’s extravaganzas, to Ivanhoe, and Break- spear, and Thaddeus of Warsaw, and soon the whole plenitude of Dumas’ unsurpassed plots, and imaginations, and the series of thrilling romances, and tales of the times, delight and enthral the opening mind. And parents look aghast, and are fearful of the effects of this indiscriminate reading, and of novel reading at all. They forget that the novel of to-day is a portrayal of life, of passions as they exist; the world shows them, that these works are daguerreotypes of actual life, into which READ ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS. 183 the child will soon enter, and of which it should learn, that being fore-warned it may be fore-armed. The mother forgets that the great lessons of the day, are taught through these means; that Beecher, and William Ware, and others, preached by means of the modern novel; that the reforms of anti-slavery, temperance, anti-rentism, and politics of every description, religious creeds of every kind, are all, most ably vindicated and sustained, by these methods of spreading their tenets broad-cast. Sargent’s Temperance Tales were most powerful agents in the Uew England reform of a two score years ago, and Uncle Tom’s Cabin was the opening wedge, in the eman- cipation of the slave. The great idea is to form the habit of reading, to teach the young mind to seek for its pleasure, as well as its strength, in books. If there is a mind worth ennobling, or caring for, books will develop it. The assistance of a parent’s or superior knowledge, to aid in its training, is not to be overlooked. The child reading any work—the simplest, with any encouragement—will ask questions as to the meaning of a word, the understanding of a paragraph. The true teacher directs to the sources of knowledge, not by crossly saying, “ Look it out in the Dictionary,” but by interesting still more the enquiring youth in the subject. If there can be any doubtful or double meaning, a brief mention of the fact, with an apparent personal interest, ■will do much to encourage the aspirant to knowledge. More particularly should the young be taught to read in connection with their employment. This is more practi- cable than is supposed, and of inestimable benefit. The ignorance of many merchants, respecting the very articles that they have sold for a whole life time, is astonishing and often, not a little mortifying. We find grocers, who scarcely know the countries from whence comes their 184 OUR CHILDREN. merchandize, far less, to know anything of the form, char- acter, appearance or shape of the trees that produce the teas, coffees, nutmegs, allspice &c., that they daily handle. Druggists are compelled to know the chemical compo- nents of their drugs, but the paint dealers may sell ultra- marine, with utter ignorance that it is a silicate of alumina, and the jeweller generally does not know that an ordinary ruby, or sapphire, differing so greatly in hardness and value from the oriental gem, is from its being, a different chemical formation. So we might go through all the trades, and find food for thought, and study for the young mind, in the very direction of the business of his life. Such inquiries as these should be stimulated by the parent as he sends his son into the world, so that when he has arrived at a period of life, when he may himself assume the conduct of the business, he may be fully informed respecting it. Then, no long-ago tried and discarded idea, revamped and modernized may be put forward, as a new patent, to waste his time and money. Nor is this kind of reading for boys alone. "Women of the coming era, are expected to be in advance of those of the past days. This cannot be without study—or studious reading. She should read carefully on every elevating theme. Let her New Year’s presents for the nonce, be in this direction. Find out how your coral ear-rings are made, how obtained; learn what is the composition of the bronze statuette which your uncle gave you, read about their antiquity, endurance, and why they are esteemed valuable. Any knowledge that is complete, will be found most agreeable. If you think you have exhausted the subject, that you know all that is known upon it, you will find an interior satisfaction far surpassing in intensity, as well as duration, the ephemeral pleasure, derived from the fictitious Smiles and tears of a Sensation novel. READING A TRUE JOY. 185 Reading is the key to the arcana of science. Seek knowledge, for in it, is the only true happiness of this life. With the head full, the belly may be empty, the body naked, yet joy fills the heart and satisfaction is depicted on the countenance. The world looks at this one, and that, with astonishment, and he, with treasures that cannot be stolen, pities the mere man of money. Reading brings forgetfulness of ills, prevents envyings, ennobles mankind and leads to the only true communion that mortals may have with the great Author of all. CHAPTEE XIII. HOME AMUSEMENTS. THE next amusement of an in-door character, although to some extent capable of being practised in the open air, is that derived from MUSIC. For many years there was a stigma attached to musicians of every class and character, unless it was to the singing master, whose efforts were directed solely to teaching psalm- ody and acting as chorister in church. A violin was denom- inated a fiddle, audit was deemed sacriligous to introduce it into a church edifice, although the bass-viol and double-bass, the larger sizes of the same instrument, seemed to have a natural dwelling place in the church choirs. To-day, the piano is in almost every house in the country, in the magnificent palaces of our great cities, and in the log cabins of the undeveloped West. The influence of music is ever recognized as one of the most ameliorating, and elevating, and we find it introduced into our school- houses, where it is used to assist in the teaching of the poorest scholar, who thereby acquires the rudiments of mu- sic, and all classes of the community are thus brought under its refining influences. Still, there is a proper limitation even to this humanizing art. It is not advisable for every one to give much time to the cultivation of what, to them, would be a useless matter, one to which they have no natural affinity. Those children who evince a decided taste for music, and develop PIANO PLAYING. 187 extraordinary capacities, should be permitted to develop these tendencies ; but if not, they should not be forced to engage in a persistent, serious, and profound study, to attain to any degree of excellence, or the capacity of pleasing themselves or others. Till very recently, it has been the custom only for girls to practice the piano—the King of all instruments—and unquestionably, the best instrument for general use. A wiser judgment is now commencing to be seen, and boys evincing marked musical taste, are early put to the piano, for a short period daily. Generally the time is not less than one hour a-day—so long that it tires young boys, who would greatly prefer their play, in the street with others, to this self isolation. If but a quarter of an hour was en- forced for the early years, and this diligently employed, sufficient would be effected to see how great talent the child exhibited, before compelling him to waste time in striving after something that his nature did not give him the power to satisfactorily attain. I said it was desirable to encourage boys to learn the piano etc., and for the reason of its absorbing character, its refining influences, and its eminently social and domestic nature. Boys fond of music, are willing to spend their leis- ure hours, around the family piano. Their evenings are always at concerts, at the opera, or among musical friends —and thus in good company. Boys who spend their even- ings at home, are never very bad. I would not, in this connection, lay much stress upon the benefits to the health of those who are devoted to mu- sic. But it is certainly true, that the practice of singing, by developing the lungs, does much to strengthen the pulmonary apparatus, expand the chest, and gives room for the full play of these vital organs. But the great benefits to health are more negative than OUR CHILDREN. positive, by keeping the youth, through its facinating in- fluences, away from more gross and exhausting pursuits. Nothing that I know of, has more interest to youth, than glee clubs, and singing evenings set apart for choral union. The Germans are to be imitated in this respect, and their general ideas of social life need but little modification to adapt them to our habits of living, to be extremely benefi- cial to the social element of our natures. GAMES. Another form of family amusement within doors, is to be found in various games, many of which, such as blind- man’s butf, and like noisy and boisterous sports, are not fit for a carefully furnished, modern drawing-room, and moreover require a large number to play it. Most children have some lessons to learn, and an hour or two can be well de- voted to charades, story-telling, to checkers, chess, and the like. Card-playing has met with more objections, but I think, very unfounded ones. The following opinions I published in the public press, some year or two ago, and met with considerable approval from the wise and discerning, whose judgments I have had reason to esteem. I will venture to copy it in this connection, as probably I should not be able to express my ideas any better, by a second attempt. CARD-PLAYING. Puritanism had many excellences, which have been fully recognized ; it had also many defects, which are only be- ginning to be acknowledged, if long since recognized by those not blinded by prejudice. Cromwell, and his ad- herents and successors, were men of little culture—rude, bigoted. They embraced an essential principle of the Catholic Church, one of its most erroneous ones, and which ASCETICISM OBSOLETE. 189 has done more than any other to put hack the advancement of civilization and intelligence—to narrow the mind, and belittle the hearts of mankind. This principle was, that this world was a vale of tears—the abode of a race of sin- ners, whose whole duty was to deplore the fact of their existence; to shut their eyes to the beauties, charms, and joys of this world; to eat and drink with sour countenances; and, in fine, to refuse to acknowledge, in any practical way, the goodness and love of God. True, the Puritan did not carry his faith quite so far into practice as did his teacher, the Church. They were a foe to laziness and sloth, and they encouraged no cloisters and nunneries, with their attendent horde of lazy, dirty, gluttonous inmates. Labor they esteemed better than beggary, and psalm-singing, and fighting; prayers and hard work, were considered better mixtures for their spiritual health, than orisons and wine- bibbing, genuflexions and sloth, Monkish asceticism and Puritanic austerities have had their day. Ere long, the last monastery and convent will cease to exist; and shortly after, we shall also see disappear the last trace of that long-descended Puritan and Ante-Pu- ritan idea, that we are born into this world to feed on the bitters and the thorns, to see only tbe clouds, and to de- light only in the dust and storms. Instead of these doc- trines, repugnant alike to our inmost natures, and any reasonable or revealed idea of the Great Creator, we shall acknowledge that this world is beautiful exceedingly—full of materials of happiness, which it is alike our duty as our delight to embrace. We may well go back to our school- days, and our old copy-books, and write out again, in a full, round hand, the real doctrine of life—our real duty respect- ing this world, and all that is in it—“ Use, but not ABUSE.” It is obligatory upon man, to use the world and every 190 OUR CHILDREN. thing in it. Sin consists in excess. He does not act correctly, from any high principle, or in conformity with the laws of health, who lays down a prohibitory law against the use of stimulants, while he gives unlimited license to his appetite for eating. Indeed, on the score of health alone, there is no question but excess in eating throughout the world, produces more illness than excess in drinking, even if the occasional effects of the latter, are apparently more surely traceable, and more demonstrative than the results of the former. As a logical sequence of the views formerly held, the Catholic devotee withdrew from the world, and endeavored by self-imposed tortures, to make himself think this world was a world of misery, and to look forward with hope, to a deliverance from it by death; and the Protestant sedulously avoided every action or employ- ment, the result of which was pleasurable. He had few feast days, but many fasts, few pleasures, and many priva- tions. The Puritan eruption brought employment for the minds of the men. Each had a share in the State ; each had a duty in the Church. The caucus and the conventicle occupied all their leisure, and the jollities of the cavalier were displaced by the triste observances of ghostly ordinances. Sad days were these for the youth. Laughter was an abhorrence, and sports and games were almost penal offenses. Those engaged in hard labor during the day, found indeed, all the forgetful pleasure they desired; but for those of a higher class, the time must have past tediously. The necessity of amusement, the absolute demand of relaxation, never entered into the minds of our grim progenitors. To-day, however, such teaching is unnecessary. The changed habits of life, require changed occupations and amusements corresponding thereto. More particularly do MAKE HOME ATTRACTIVE. 191 we need agreeable occupation for the long winter evenings. “ Up with the lark, and with the lark to bed,” is obsolete. Gas and comfortable homes, render the evening the most agreeable portion of the day, and the habits of society are conformable. Whether the memory of this transatlantic bird has anything to do with it or not, may be a question, but some of our youth are very fond of employing these hours to “go on a larkand this is what we deprecate, and desire to obviate. To make home attractive, to keep the young not under jurisdiction, so much as under agreeable, unperceived ob- servation, is the great duty of parents. Pleasant evening amusement is the great desideratum. The piano does a world of good for the morals of the community, around which all ages can gather. Cards are another source of unfailing amusement. It is hard to say why there is such opposition to this eminently social, domestic amusement • one, in which the most pious and worthy Christians, clergy and laity, bishops and priests of all grades, in the Roman Catholic and Episcopal, and various other denominations, unite. Is it because there are gamblers ? Gambling with cards is not worse than gambling with gold, or Erie, or flour. Allowing, then, if you please, that each and all are wrong theoretically, there is no greater truth than that all diseases are diminished in virulency, by being introduced into the system prepared for the purpose. Thus, inocula- tion of smallpox diminished by half its virulency, and was universally adopted, till vaccination, or the substitution of another less dangerous disease, was discovered. Now, when a less objectionable, and equally engrossing amuse- ment is instituted for cards, then we will readily agree to be vaccinated. Till then, we think youth should be inoc- ulated with Hoyle. Cards are certainly, to nearly all, the most engrossing 192 OUR CHILDREN. of amusements. If the youth is encouraged in card-playing in his younger days, not only he is kept at home, happily and satisfactorily employing his hours of relaxation in the family circle, but he is fitted for his after experience in the social circles of the world. You may recognize, in the gambling establishments of our great cities, the neophite from the young man, who from youth has found cards a frequent pastime in his own home. While the latter enters mildly, if at all, into the excitements of faro, rouge et noir, at Chamberlain’s or Baden-Baden, the former, not being acclimated in his youth, rushes impetuously, luckily if not ruinously, into the fascinations of the sport. Nine times out of ten, the ruined at these famed gaming-tables, are those who, too late, were initiated into the excitements of cards. Had he played vingt-et-un for sugar-plums, as a child, and cribbage for penny points with his father or mother, he would have harmlessly passed through this form of intellectual measles, which is always lightest when taken and borne with in youth. What is more conducive to real family happiness and morals, than the family whist-table ? Here the gray-haired grandfather, and the youngest—three generations—may meet in amusement, as they can nowhere else. And here is a reason for learning games at cards, not often, perhaps, adduced, yet, I think, a good one, There is nothing that the old man desires so much as some method of agreeably passing his evenings. Generally, his advanced age, and feeble health, forbids his seeking occupation abroad. The state of his eyes very frequently forbids reading by gaslight. The faculty of playing cards is one of the special boons of Providence for the old. I have personally noted so many instances of the happiness thus derived from this interesting occupation, that I deem it worthy of consideration, and think it eminently desirable for the young to learn at least, CARD-PLAYING AT HOME. 193 some of the leading games, as a resource against the ennui of declining years—one that remains with impaired vision, utter deafness, semi-paralysis, gout, and, indeed, many of those afflictions which compel one to the prison of a house or a chamber. Darby and Joan delight themselves thus, forgetting their rheumatic incapacities, and other infirm- ities. Cards assuage the monotony of a sickroom, the fatigue of travel by sea and land, the horrors of any Libby Prison, and, it is reported, of convent life. Invented at a- very early period, they have soothed the passions, and calmed the minds of the greatest men of earth, and solaced the miseries of the poorest, and, perhaps, have been the least objectionable employment of the most vicious and depraved. Never have they attained to such universal and beneficent usage as at present. They teach the government of the temper, the uncertainties of fortune, the instabilities of to-day, personal reticence, impassibility, and foresight, and judgment, as well as the humbler lessons of arithmetic and calculation. A finished card-player is of necessity gentle- manly in deportment, considerate in his demeanor toward others, and under proper self-control. The benefits deriv- able, are far beyond the evils deducible, a proper estimate of which will lead to an even greater extension of card- playing among us. The following response from a lady, will show how the article pleased one person. CAED-PLAYINO. To the Editor of Frank Leslie’s Illustrated News-paper; .Dear Sir—l thank you, and through you Doctor Gardner, for the views expressed respecting home amusements, es- pecially referring to cards. I am but recently converted to the belief that their injuriousness is a bugbear, and more OUR CHILDREN. owing to attendant circumstances, tlian to anything inherent to them. But I proposed not to give you a corroborative dissertation, but an anecdote. I must premise that I am the mother of a family of three boys, whose bringing up in a proper manner has been a source of great solicitude. I have striven to keep them under my personal observation, as much as possible; their evenings have been spent very much at home, and they were in the habit of retiring always by ten o’clock. They have now attained to considerable age—the young- est being eleven years old. I had for some time noticed that they were, with increasing years, becoming more docile and obedient. I had merely to hint that “it is ten o’clock, boys,” when, without a word—no teasing “to just finish this one story,” or “to get to the end of the chap- ter,”—they shut up their books with alacrity, and, with cheerful jokes, marched off to bed. I now remember once Tom said to Charley: “I wouldn’t advise you to read about Captain Kidd, just before going to bed, for you’ll think of having your 1 cut-throat,’ before morning.” Charley, and indeed all, seemed to see some remarkable joke in this remark, which was not then apparent to me. One evening, a few weeks ago, I had occasion to go up. stairs on some unusual errand, which I did very rarely before retiring, and was thus compelled to notice some un. wonted conversation from the boys’ room. “ That’s the left bower!” “I order it!” I knew not what those ex- pressions meant, but soon, “ Play the ace! ” “ Heart leads! ” let me into the secret that my boys were surreptiously playing cards, I went down, without betraying any con- sciousness of my presence. The next day I bought a pack of cards, and when eve- ning came, I said: “ Boys, our evenings are too dull— what shall we do to amuse ourselves ? I have bought some DANCING CONSIDERED. 195 cards to-day. I will try to teach you; but I have almost forgotten, for I have not played since I was a girl.” John, soon recovering from his astonishment, says: “ Ma, I have seen the boys at Sharon, last summer, play euchre, and I guess we can manage that.” It wmuld seem astonishing how soon the boys caught the idea, for but very little in- struction seemed necessary. We played till a little after ten, and the boys went to bed about the usual time. Do you think it curious in me, that I went up-stairs after them, to see that they actually went to bed without any delay ? The next night, I again proposed a game of Euchre, and every night we had it for about three weeks, till I saw that they were gradually wearying of it; and finally, Tom says: “ Good gracious, ma! don’t play to-night; I get tired of playing cards every night. I want to read a little.” Since that time, we have an occasional game of Euchre or Whist, but there are no more “ stolen joys,” and robbing the hours of rest. I have now little fear that my boys will be led away by cards. Their greatest attraction seems to have come to them from its novelty, and the fascination arising from the surreptious method of obtaining it. I have drawn the fangs from the serpent, and he is harmless. Yery sincerely, A Mother. dancing. At the present day, none but bigots and ascetics are found, who object to dancing. Indeed, no one who looks at the natnre of man can object to it, for it seems implant- ed in his very being. It seems impossible for one to fully express the emotions which fill his breast at certain times, without leaping for joy; and dancing is but the regulated movement of this joyous emotion. 196 OUR CHILDREN. At the present day, pantomimic methods of expression are less common with the more cultivated, and less sensa- tional people of the world. It is considered polite to evince a certain apathy on all occasions. Fashion says we must hear the delicious strains of harmony, with no sign of its effects upon us ; yet, the hoys in the pit will stamp in rythm, with any popular march, or measured air. We must speak in a calm, even voice, with immovable countenance; yet the excitable Latin race add the varied movements of the face, and the ready gesture of limb and hand, and the free action of the supple frame, to enforce the verbally expressed idea; and we ourselves, when we address any large assembly, and strive to persuade others to our ideas, call upon all the aids of gesticulation to ex- press an intensity of feeling, which words were incapable of enunciating. Joy cannot be expressed by simple language, and nature goes out in leaping, swinging of the arms, to convey, through the eye, a depth of feeling which the current of sound cannot carry through the one channel of the ear. King David “ danced before the Lord,” to evince, by all demon- strable means, the intensity of his emotion. It is not to be doubted that he also sang. Even to-day, while perusing this chapter, comes the news of the proclamation of a republic in France. The tumultuous crowd, joyous at a freedom from tyrannical rule, are rushing through the streets, singing the Marseil- laise, and impotent to declare, with such a desired fullness of expression as they would like, their happy emotions, proceed to the beautiful palace of the Tuileries. This dwelling of so many glorious monarchs, this great archi- tectural grace of France, is not deemed too good or valu- able, to be sacrificed as a testimonial bonfire, to the delight at their delivery, into the supposed purity of a free gov- ernment. DANCING A NATURAL INSTINCT. 197 In this moment of delirium, when nature is struggling for expression, a half-crazy pair start a can-can in the gor- geous salon of the dethroned emperor. At last, an ex- pression is found for the pent-up enthusiasm, and the crowd ready for anything, are turned by this straw, and in quiet, and without arson or bloodshed, the republic is proclaimed.* This bodily expression of intense joyous feeling, the resort of a king and subjects in seasons of great excite- ment, which certain sects of rude religionists have conse- crated to worship, as did heathen tribes centuries ago, this rythmic expression of delight and gladness finds a welcome among all the young happy hearts in our homes, and the little gatherings of kindred and friends. Dancing is the fitting expression of joyous delight. The lamb gambols on the green lawn, the horse curvets, and prances, and cara- coles under the direction of his rider, and in accordance with his own happy feelings. The exuberance of animal excitement thus finds its vent in motion. The animal in man, has its same surplusage and necessities, but in more measured, and regulated steps demonstrates it. The favorable light in which we view dancing, does not bind us to approve of everything connected with its cele- bration. The indiscriminate mingling of the sexes, the pure with the vile, the immodest and sensuous positions, the indelicate steps and movements, the improprieties of dress, the improper hours, the non-essential and unhealthy adjuncts of eating and drinking are censurable. Baccha- nal orgies, and indecorum are no more associated with it, than the rowdyism often seen at a fair or a camp meeting, with the beneficent intent of these assemblies. Where there is excitement, crowds and imperfect regulation, there * This was written before the horrors of the Communist revolution, but the fact, and the deduced argument are true, although no second happy in- spiration came to save the august pile from the incendiary’s fury. 198 is apt to be some excess. Perfection is no more to be seen in one walk of life than another. OUR CHILDREN'. The evils above referred to are not, however, necessities of, nor do they pertain exclusively to gatherings where dancing is a primal element. They are evils of society. As matters of health, evening parties are not defensible. There is a certain risk to the health, to every one that attends them. The risk from exposure, for both men and women,—who are arrayed according to the etiquette of dress attire—have marked change in their clothing, render- ing them more liable to take cold. The evening supper, at an unaccustomed hour, formed of materials that tempt the palate, and induce to over-indulgence, the lateness of the hour, and its infringement on the usual hours of sleep and rest, the wonted excitement (especially to the young,) acting not only for the time, but long before, in anticipa- tion of the evening pleasure,—all these may not be con sidered as healthy. Still, they give a fillip to life, they start the blood from its usual jog-trot flow, and thus have some compensations. More than that, knowing all this, we take the risk. The boy takes a risk when he climbs to the topmost branch for a desired red apple; when he mounts his pet colt for the first time. The question arises—is the game worthy of this risk ? Portunately for youth, such calculation comes later in life. I, for one, should be very unwilling to limit the pleasures of youth to my judgment of their value. And this reminds me, that all that I have laid out for myself to do, is to consider dancing as a matter of health. It is not easy to consider it, in its simplicity, apart from its excitations, its exposures, the late hours, suppers, et id omne genus. I will however, say nothing further on these heads. Dancing, therefore, considered as a mere rythmic, hop- OBJECTIONABLE PERIODS FOR DANCING. 199 ping up and down, posturing, and balancing, unquestion- ably develops the muscular system of the back, loins, and legs; it is an often severe exercise, expanding the lungss stirring the blood vigorously, and pleasantly exciting the senses. As such, it cannot but be looked upon as a most valuable exercise. It is, however, open to certain serious objections. It is far too vigorous for children, troubled as they often are, by any disease of the heart, and rheumatism. Strict care should be taken with children frequenting dancing school (usually in winter), lest they take cold, or dance too vigo- rously when suffering from a severe cold upon the lungs. A great amount of injury originates with girls by going to dancing school, and more especially, to evening parties, without reference to the presence of their menstrual periods. I desire to draw parents’ most serious attention to this fact, as the amount of female diseases which can be traced directly to this point, embraces a very large per- centage of the flood of uterine diseases, so prevalent in this country. In Europe, girls are kept at boarding schools and semi- naries, quiet and retired, until eighteen to twenty years of age. By this time, their functions have become fully established, and they themselves have arrived at years of dis- cretion- Here on the contrary, foolish mothers launch their children on the sea ol life at very tender years. They are dancing the vigorous muscular dances, exposing themselves to every atmospheric change, at a time when nature de- mands quiet and repose. Mothers themselves, are often both ignorant and regardless of the actual condition of their children, when they send them to dancing school, or permit them to go to an evening party. A great portion of the prevalent female debility is owing to the severe exercise of dancing the polka and like dances; 200 OUR CHILDREN. and thus violently shaking down the internal viscera, when excited by the ordinary monthly functions, and preventing the natural engorgement. Trivial diseases thus commenced* ignorantly neglected, aggravated by succeeding impru- dence, and thirty years of age finds this girl a confirmed invalid, and the community wondering “ why it is that American women fade so quickly,” and “ why it is that there is so much more disease now, than there used to be when we were young ?” My dear madam;— The fruit is picked too young. It should hang on the tree (i. e. go to school and be a child) till mature. The four year old colt will not stand the pavements of city life; why expect your child to do better than any other animal. The factory child, and collier’s child, set to work before the gristle is hardened, is puny, miserable, and if it lives, is prematurely old and decrepid. Your child, hot-house raised, prematurely launched into life, stands no better chance of health, clad in silks, than does the laborer’s child, clothed in linsey-woolsey. The same law of development holds good with each, and all. Dancing, therefore, like all saltation, and severe muscular exertion, should be limited to such times and seasons, as will find the body in perfect health, and when the undeveloped functions of ovulation shall not be liable to any derangement. The moral effect should not be overlooked in this con- nection. The animal nature cannot be disregarded, and the appetite, and passions of some are excessively strong, and often dominate the whole nature. The parent cannot overlook this fact, and delicacy shall not be allowed to pre- vent an allusion to it here. The natural instincts cannot be supplanted ,if restrained and held in check. Especially at this period, are they most ungovernable. While I would not consider that there is the least dan- LIFE'S DUTIES NOT ALL SELFISH. 201 ger to virtue from the ordinary comminglings in the measures of the mazy dance, there is an nnrestrainable excitation of the senses from the sight, tone, and contact of the sexes, and the imagination is stimulated and re-acting on the body, a warring in the elements commences, which is perhaps, borne in quiet, perhaps, is immediately manifested in fainting, in paroxysms of intense pain, or in the spasms of hysteria. How far better, an avoidance at these periods, to any such opportunities for the initiation of dificulties, that may be the seeds of life-long disease ! SOCIETY AS A MEANS OF KECKEATION. Society may be considered both, as an amusement and an instructor. Let us consider it in the present connection, mainly as a means of recreation, although the other cannot be wholly ignored. Life at the present day, is not one of isolation, and self- gratification. We must live in the world, and it is alike our duty and pleasure, to take our share in it. Children should be early taught, that society is a mutual relation, in which none are honorably allowed to stand aloof, or to fail in contributing their full quota to the general good. We often meet with individuals standing apart from the rest—■ wall-flowers, they are called in derision, who, having neither superior attractions, or marked attainments, are forced into a position neither honorable, or agreeable. There are some, who seem to think it derogatory to them- selves, to bring their quota to the general entertainment; they have consequently, little interest in what is going on around them, “ the world forgetting, by the world forgot.” It is the duty of parents, at an early age to bring their children into society, and insist that modestly, without un- due assumption, they take their share in its duties. It is not like a public place of entertainment, where qne is OUR CHILDREN. 202 expected to look on in silence, and be amused and so depart, but a market place, where one barters bis own special gifts for entertainment, in exchange for similar talents on the part of others. The society of cities is far inferior to that of the best country towns. The public entertainments furnish such varied, interesting, and instructive methods of passing the leisure evenings, that the union of friends in social converse and gaiety is far less common. Yisiting, except among relations, is too apt to degenerate into mere formal calls, which, with the more infrequent and grand parties, make up the most of the social intercourse of ordinary life. This state of things does not tend to bring out the bet- ter side of people. It is most apt to substitute show for reality, and fine dress is too apt to pass current in the world, while intellectual aesthetic graces are liable to be ig- nored and neglected. The polished and refined mind is set aside for the nimble foot of a dancer of the German, and knowing this, it is the duty of parents, while not in any manner neglecting the interior of the man, not to despise the exterior polish, which is so much prized, and belongs to a finished person of the world. SELECTION OF COMPANIONS. But there is a social intercourse, which it is very desira- ble to note—the intercourse between the young, the chil- dren, respecting whom, this work is intended to treat. In the want of general social intercourse, the associates at the ordinary school, the dancing school, and the Sun- day school, and church, keep up their acquaintance by calls, of which, and those who compose it, the parent is too apt to know little or nothing. In this manner, persons of little reputation or character, are introduced into the family. NECESSITIES OF SOCIAL LIFE. 203 In the times that are past and never to return, “ every- body knew everybody the exact value, mental, bodily and pecuniarily, of every person in the town, village, or little city was known. His or her ability was gauged at birth, his every action known, his future prognosticated. It was a matter of absolute knowledge, and this son, and that daughter were trusted together with impunity, for their past, present, and future had been known and recog- nized. Times are different now. Those halycon days of inno- cence, and purity, will never return again. This country is the refuge of the poor and oppressed, the bold and the daring, the speculative and hopeful of every land. The suffering poor, and the criminal refugee, flock to these shores. Locks, and bars, and bolts are needed for our dwel- lings, our families also require watching, and our young sons, and delicate daughters must be guarded against the company they keep. The past freedom of intercourse is not to be seen at present, nor expected in the future. The foreigners, who flood our country, have brought with them, from their ef- fete homes, the vices of a rotten world. Virtue is but a name with them, and honor too often but an imagination. The pure and simple manners of our past days, are to them but evidences of depravation, and liberty is supposed by them to mean license. But be the cause as it may be, the days of security are past. Parents now, must demand some positive knowledge of the antecedents of the strangers introduced into their family circles, and even when thus scrutinized, too much licence and opportunity are not to be given. He is a bold man, and it might be said a foolish one, that allows his daughters to go to concerts, theatres, and public places, to ride or walk—as was formerly the case—with one 204 OUR CHILDREN. not fully recognized, and thoroughly known. The habit of allowing a young girl even to walk out alone, for any pur- pose, with a gentleman not of the family, is highly to be reprobated. Young girls should not be allowed to receive their young gentlemen acquaintances alone. If the parents, or some elder person cannot “ chaperon ” the girl, she had far bet- ter refuse to receive any guest. This should be a standing family rule, and is based upon morally hygienic data. The freedom of intercourse between the sexes—never known out of the United States—is a thing of past days, it is impossible in the future. “ Sparking,” and all the antecedents, and relationships, are greatly to be modified, and the European methods of marriage are to be in the main adopted. Long courtships, and the freedom of indis- criminate visiting, and to stay hours in utter privacy—this is a barbarism of the past, which the present disowns. Henceforth, the company of the parlor is the company of the house, and the mother—or substitute—is to be pres- ent with all company. “It is doubtless all right, my dear Sir, (wTe may reason with the stranger) but we have not had the pleasure of your acquaintance but for a very lim- ited period—and you may depart to-morrow. Reputation may be compromised by a foolish act, may be actually lost by a bad one.” There are two persons in every town, who know as much of the secret history of that town, as all the rest together. These two people, the clergyman and the physician, wall cor- roborate the above statement, and will agree with me, that some restraint, is requisite to the old freedom of intercourse between the young of different sexes. The exact form of the future courtship is perhaps uncertain. There will be modifications of the present manners, but one thing is cer- tain, that to-day, some change is imperatively demanded. SOME NEW LAWS OF SOCIAL LIFE. 205 Girls can no longer go to the theatre alone with an acquaintance of yesterday, then to a supper, with wines &c at Delmonico’s, and then—for several hours, away from the observation of all friends, she, simple, unsophisticated, pure; he, young, impassioned, ungoverned, or old, designing and a villain—Will parents read this thoughtfully ? PEIVATE ENTERTAINMENTS. The amusements of private entertainments—parties, balls, &c. can have little said of them favorable, in a hygien- ic point of view, The hours break in upon the ordinary time for sleep, turn night into day, and distort the ordinary course of events, usual time of taking food and ordinary occupations. There is great fatigue from the unaccustom- ed standing and dancing. The stomach is disordered by the rich viands, and the stimulating drinks, and several days are necessary, to fully return to the ordinary state of health. Occasionally this may be permitted to occur with impunity, but a number of such dissipations will markedly hollow the cheek, and take away both color and flesh, and this is not done without a risk to permanent deterioration and injury to the constitution. Still, an occasional party is perhaps, beneficial in its re- sults, for monotony in life, like quietude in water, is apt to produce injury by its very stagnation. The mind demands exercise, and the excitement of preparation for, and attend- ance upon such festivities has its benefits, which are not to be ignored. There is good in every thing, and every good may be abused. These trite proverbs contain the key to the whole subject. There is an oft repeated adage “ that when you are in Rome, you must do as Romans do.” I have great respect for those u old saws ” They are the traditional truths that have descended from the wisdom of a past world, and have 206 OUR CHILDREN.\ ruled the conduct of the generations that are gone, and perhaps will those that are to come. They may cease to be true; if so, they will be forgotten, but if they continue to be quoted, it will be because their virtue is still extant. We, and our children must conform to the manners of the world around. If not, we shall be singular, and our children will be deemed odd. To us, this will be of little importance for we are old and have formed certain notions, but our children, it will make unhappy. A child is unhap- py not to go to places, when other children are going; to be dressed markedly different from her associates. Minis- ter’s children are said to be more unruly,than those of the par- ish generally It is because they are unwisely deprived, re- strained and consequently dissatisfied. When they get per- sonal liberty, they revenge themselves by excess. It is cruel- ty, if one has the means, to send a child to school to be con stantly twitted, and taunted by her associates for squalid attire. If there is actual poverty causing it, this is not so. Children respect poverty, but early learn to despise mean- ness; and the fault of the parent is visited on the child. Perhaps it may be a wrong custom for children, going to parties, to be dressed in party dress, wdth short sleeves, and low necks. I know it is unhealthy. The exposure of so much of the person, usually kept covered is risky, but for my part, I had far rather risk my child’s health, than to risk her happiness, her disposition, her love and respect for her parents, by thwarting her desire in this respect. I would try a compromise, for although it is a small matter for a parent, it is almost life and death to the child—as she thinks. Perhaps on a cold night, she would willingly wear a high neck, and something extra in the way of ornamenta- tion, so as to hold her own with her associates. Such pride is not improper. She sees little difference between being at the head of her class in spelling, or arithmetic, and standing at the head of the silk dresses. RIDE SOME HOBBY. 207 Ministers think that by their preaching, they make these things all “ plain to the good sense of their children,” and the result is, that the pendulum swings back to the extreme, as soon as it gets a chance—no sensible man likes the boot- ings, and obloquy of his associates—and children are not so philosophical as to despise the opinions of their mates. A lung fever is in every way cheaper than a heart-fever. MAKE YOUR CHILD HAPPY. The best way of insuring the physical health of your child is to attend to his moral health—make him happy. The best way to make him happy is to give him some occupation in which he shall take special interest. Let him have several in regard to which he shall feel warmly, and no matter how silly they may be, if not wrong, don’t discourage him. If he choose to make a collection of blurred and defaced post- age stamps, from which nothing can be possibly learned, encourage him in it. Bring him home some from the stores and all covered with the cancelling ink, or coins or autographs—better still, minerals, and if you start him with a half a dozen specimens, and a geology treatise, the postage folly perhaps, will be speedily forgotten. Direct his attention at the stated season to a garden spot, and while you are laying out your own, he will work most assiduously by your side, getting practice, health and happiness together. Your girls’ natural tastes will early be turned into this channel, and by exciting only their ambition, the general system will be stimulated, and health will course through every vein, and artery of the body. Home may be made most attractive by a very little effort, but that effort must be made earnestly and kindly. CHAPTER XIY. THE HABITS OF THE YOUNG. THE habits of the young are a matter of very great im- portance. It means nothing more or less, than what they shall do, and the way they shall do it, for the remain- der of their lives. Is not this a serious matter ? Some people respecting some things, and occasionally respecting every thing in life, have no settled way of action, and the consequence is, that when they go to do anything (which perhaps they have done every day or week, and each time perhaps differently), they have to stop and think, and this takes up time—what way they will do the work on this especial occasion. What another person does insensibly, is with them a matter of deliberation, and a consequent frittering away of time, and thought, which will ever prevent such a person from accomplishing much in the world. Carry such a form of mind and habit of thought throughout life, and you can see how little time there is for anything else, when every trivial action of life is a labored, and distinct process of reasoning, instead of the rapid, and thoughtless inspiration of habit. As a corollary to this, it must be recognized how tyrani- cal the habits become, how they rule the individual with despotic power. This is evident in the old bachelor and old maid. They are called “ set in their ways.” It is because they have had no one to interfere with them in their tastes, whims, and caprices. They have no one to HABITS OF LIFE 209 please but themselves; no one to interfere with their plans and desires. The married live for others, to whose tastes their own are too often made to yield. The former have no one to wait for, they must dine at just such an hour, to the minute. They never have had sick children to watch with, and to be anxious respecting, to wait for their coming in from the- atre, church, or party. dSTo, they have an hour set for bed-time, and they do not infringe upon it. Being undis- turbed at night, they can rise at just such a daily hour, and breakfast as they desire, with regularity. It may thus be noted, how strong are habits, and the natural de- duction is, how important it is, that the habits of the young should be good habits. Too many habits are objectionable, especially for the young. Life is made thereby too methodical, monotonous, tame, and insipid. But there are certain duties of life which are most im- portant, that are apt to be neglected, if not made a matter of system, and the habit strengthened and encouraged, un- till it becomes a necessity. Of moral habits, I have nothing here to say. Ca va sans dike, but I would impress upon parents the importance of educating their children into habits of bodily care, difficult indeed for many to learn, but when acquired, unable to be given up, and of inestima- ble benefit in all after life. PERSONAL CLEANLINESS. It would seem as if it was unnecessary, in this nineteenth century of civilization and decency, to insist upon so impor- tant a matter as this, to the health of the creature. Yet it is absolutely necessary, for the want of it is painfully and disgustingly evident in every walk of life. Every person should have a thorough ablution of the wrhole person, at 210 OUR CHILDREN. least once a week throughout the year. The city custom of a daily bath as matter of luxury, and in warm weather, is well enough, but health does not require this thorough ablution oftener than I have indicated. This should be done effectually either with a sponge, or by a bath, as may be convenient. There are some persons of rank and pro- fuse perspiration, that require washing of portions of their body daily, and especially the feet. This of itself will pre- vent, if not cure the corns and bunions so tormenting to many. There is more necessity to direct attention to cleanliness, because this country is becoming filled up with various nations of foreigners, some whole classes among whom, are essentially and entirely dirty. This fact was distress- ingly evident a year or two ago, when a “ live duke ” from Southern Europe, who had come to this country on a high- mission, disgusted everybody at a dinner made in honor of his nation, by being so foul in his person, that the half dozen crosses and decorations upon his breast, could not divert attention from, far less hide the actual dirt on his hands, nails, face, and neck, and no Pomatum or Lubin’s Extract, could find aroma strong enough to neutralize its emenations. It is not often that one washes, or bathes too much. Yet, the temptation of the overflowing hot and cold water of city houses, sometimes induces a sensuality in this direc- tion positively injurious by its ineruation, and induced debility. The increase of these sensual baths, commonly called “ Turkish,” “ Russian,” &c., powerful adjuncts as they often are of disease, do perhaps as much ill as good, when taken as they are by many, simply for the pleasure therein. I have known frequently very serious injury to result from them. The skin no more needs such extra stimulation—such extraordinary scraping and cleansing, than does any other of GENERAL CLEANLINESS. 211 the organs of the body. We might as well purge the liver as the skin, in this excessive manner, and the same with all the excretory organs. It is a false and fallacious idea, that because the skin constantly exudes from its numerous pores, their natural secretion, that this should be removed. The liver likewise irritated, will pour out bile, the kidneys constantly secrete urine, and we should have just as good a reason for the constant taking of local medicines, as for the constant topical treatment of the skin. CARE OF THE TEETH. The teeth are less neglected now than formerly, but far more than is proper. Young ladies of beauty are unkiss- able by reason of green on the teeth, which the tooth-brush would have prevented, if properly and thoroughly used in the morning, and more hastily, but sufficient, to rinse away every particle of food from the teeth, the last thing before retiring to bed every night. Now don’t tell me, young miss, that you “ can’t think of it,” or “ you are too sleepy and tired then.” All my life long, and especially during twenty-five years of arduous professional life, I have scarcely failed to read a chapter in the Bible—long, or short ■—and then to brush my teeth every night, the last thing before stepping into bed, unless when away from home, without a brush, sick on a sea voyage, or on rare occasions of that nature. No matter at what hour I return from a professional engagement and go to bed, at midnight, five or six o’clock in the morning, I never forget the tooth-brush—and if I have been able to do it, you surely can, and if you do it, when you get to your fiftieth year as I have, you may have as good a set as I have. But don’t say “ can’t.” The green “tartar” may be removed by the use of a piece of soft slate pencil, rubbing them carefully with the sharpened edge. 212 OUR CHILDREN. A safe and necessary tooth-powder for daily nse. RBol Armenia 1-2 oz. Pulv. Peruvian Bark 1-2 oz. Pulv. Orris Root 2 dr. Mixed. I suppose there are few, who now do not at least pre- tend to brush their teeth, and I suppose most think that this has been done forever ; but before this century it was very rarely done. I remember my great aunt, who died over eighty years old, some twenty odd years ago, had every tooth sound. She ascribed it to the care she had given them. When young, she “ took a' fancy ” to seeing them white, and was accustomed to rub them daily with a rag, and sometimes ashes, or whiting, as she cleaned the family silver. She had never heard of any one’s doing so, and brushes were not known for fifty years afterward. Every one said to her, that she would “ rub her teeth all away,” but having got the custom of having her teeth feel clean, she could not leave it off. BRUSHING THE TEETH. But there are but few, who brush their teeth effectually. It is but little importance to brush the surface, for that portion will take care of itself, but between the teeth, in the crevices, where the food lodges, and what is most im- portant where lies the secretions from the glands, which is what destroys the teeth when acrid—this is the portion of the tooth that needs care. After all, the great preservation of the teeth is to keep the stomach in order. Late meals, dyspeptic stomachs, and their acrid tendencies have more to do with decay of the teeth than any thing else. Our ancestors generally— like my old aunt, lived healthy lives, were vigorous and hearty, and their good teeth were owing rather to that, than the supposed efficacy of brushes and tooth-pastes and powders. Health and vigor of one organ is almost an CLEANLINESS NEXT TO GODLINESS. 213 imposibility with a general constitutional weakness and active disease. THE CAKE OE THE HATES. When I was a boy, it was the ordinary custom for respectably brought up families, to prepare on Saturday night for the coming Sabbath. If Godliness was left for Sunday, the next thing to it, cleanliness, was attended to the night before. The children were all washed with especial care on that night, if not before during the week, and then the head was combed with a line-toothed ivory comb—The heads of most youth are full of dandruff (and this is the secretion of the skin, through the pores of the head, and the exfoliation of the cuticle, combined.) The more one exercises and perspires,the more there is of it. It is not therefore a disease; it is not objectionable, except as it looks badly, when seen in the hair, or falling off upon the gar- ments and powdering them. The line-toothed ivory combs once used, are now very rare, and stiff brushes have taken their place, much to the benefit of the hair, which was for- merly often injured by being drawn between the teeth of the comb. Boys’ hair need only this brushing; all shampooing is injurious. It is merely wetting the head with an alkaline lotion, that dissolves the natural oil of the head, and turns it into a soap, and this being washed out, the hair is left dry and stiff. Oils, and pomatums are not necessary on the hair and, very often injurious. If one would only persistently brush his hair, with a brush that will reach to the scalp, he will find his hair glossy, and soft, without any rancid fat, or ol- ive and lard-oils, colored and scented. But if the habit of using these adjuncts is once commenced, they will gener- ally be kept up. If parents could only see, whence come OUR CHILDREN. the ingredients used in these oils and pomatums, especially the French, they would never allow the use of them again. Girls require greater care of their hair for cleanliness, to preserve it, and to assist in its laying properly; many have such an unpleasant smell arising from their hair as to be almost unbearable. This is caused by the water used on the hair, from its being imperfectly brushed, and from the decomposition of the bandolines &c, used as dressings. These are all substitutes for labor. If one will not use anything on the hair, there will be no trouble; but many suppose that it is necessary to use something, because their hair falls out. This is but natural. One sheds the hair5 more or less, every spring and fall, and no application will prevent this. It is more observable, when it is long than when short; but it is part of the animal economy, which is shared by the brutes throughout the range of animated nature. For the same reason, it is supposed that cutting the hair prevents its falling out after the exhaustion of fever; for as it is made shorter, it is not so noticeable. Shaving the head has very slight utility, except as it benefits the bar- bers. But as few are sensible enough to “let well enough alone,” and must pin their faith on some oil or wash, it is well to have some receipt that is not actually injurious, as are most of the dyes, bandolines, and tonics. Here is one that is as efficacious as any, a slight stimulant and alterative. R Castor Oil, 4 oz. Oil of Bitter Almonds, 20 drops. Oil of Orange Flowers, 10 drops. Alcohol 90 p. c.—2B oz. Tinct. of Spanish Flies, 1-2 oz. mix. But now let us call your serious attention to a habit, that is unequivocally a bad habit; that has nothing good to be THE USE OF TOBACCO BY THE YOUNG. THE USE OF TOBACCO. 215 said of it. Considered in any light, there is no favorable aspect in which to view it. It ranks with the physiologist with spirit drinking, opium eating, marsh miasm, diseased and insufficient food, as one of the great causes of the de- generations in the human race. Some of these above enumerated causes of the mental and physical imbecility, cannot easily be prevented; perhaps the poor cannot always get healthy food, and in famine, one must take what he can get, and enough if possible, and the prevention of marsh miasm is a matter of time, as well as expense. But the employment of opium, and tobacco is a matter of will, a voluntarily, heavy, expense, wholly devoid of any utility, and only a disgusting, selfish sensuality, holding those using them in a most degrading slavery, recognized as fully by the victims, as by all others. Used in moderation by persons of full growth, and ma- ture faculties, tobacco may not be markedly noxious; but when used immoderately, I presume no one will deny that it is exceedingly detrimental. The immediately observable and undeniable effects are too marked and serious, to per- mit any doubt respecting the fact. Irregularity in the heart, the great main-spring of life, is daily observed as a direct result from its power over the nerves, and we all know, that upon the regularity in the action of this organ, depends our health, and the duration of our life. It is the tendency to excess in the use of tobacco, where- in lies its danger. The smoker, who feels himself injured by the weed, does not say he cannot renounce it, but he diminishes the quantity, or reduces the quality, until by habit, he is enabled to increase one or both. But my object is not to inveigh against the use of to- bacco, so much as to prevent its being permitted to be used by immature boys. Parents can easily prevent this, if they will place themselves in correct relationship to their 216 OUR CHILDREN. sons. If per-emptorily ordered not to use it, they will un- questionably be tempted to surreptitiously steal an oppor- tunity for a trial, the interest in which, is heightened by its being prohibited. Promise your son some equivalent, say a thousand dollars when he is twenty-one years of age, a pony, something that he desires, anything that will be effectual in inducing him to keep out of this enervating, and demoralizing habit—“ the curse of the present age.” Dr. Elam says, “ this is certainly injurious to very young people, before development is completed. The great quantity of saliva secreted, is likely to interfere with the working of the digestive functions. Young smokers are generally pale, and meagre, and their nutrition is imper- fect. There is alternate excitement, and depression of the nervous system.” Dr. Selly of St. Thomas Hospital says: “ I know of no single vice that does so much harm. It is a snare, and a delusion. It soothes the excited nervous system for a time, to render it more unstable, and feeble ultimately. I believe that cases of general paralysis are more frequent in England than they used to be; and I suspect that smoking tobacco is one of the causes of that disease.” Dr. Pidduck says :—“ If the evil expired with the indi- vidual, who, by the indulgence of a pernicious custom, in- jures his own health, and impairs his facultes of mind and body, he might be left to his enjoyment, his fool’s paradise unmolested. This, however, is not the case. In no in- stance is the sin of the father, more strikingly visited upon the children, than the sin of tobacco smoking. The ener- vation, the hypochondriasis, the hysteria, the insanity, the dwarfish deformation, the consumption, the suffering lives, and early death of the children of the inveterate smokers, bear ample testimony to the feebleness, and unsoundness of the constitution transmitted by this pernicious habit.” SENSUALITIES OF DAILY LIFE. 217 These are not arguments to cause a man to renounce such a habit as this, rooted and grounded in the selfish na- ture, but they are reasons of some potency, why one should discourage by every means in his power, a son from falling into the habit. But I have not written these few sentences in the ex- pectation of accomplishing any appreciable good result. The President of the United States smokes persistently, the clergy, the judges on the bench emulate this example; even physicians, who are supposed to know something of hygiene, and the laws of life, cannot confine this sensuality to the privacy of their own houses, but ride about in their gigs to make their professional calls, with a constant cigar in their mouths! In fact, one who does not use tobacco is a wonder, and his omission to use it, is ascribed, either to his ignorance of real luxury, or more probably, to his par- simony. There is however, no question, and I have seen it my- self in repeated instance exemplified, that smoking stunts the growth of the very young—boys from eight to twelve years of age, and the knowledge of this fact may possibly urge some mothers, to attempt to keep tobacco out of the mouths of their infantile children. Can we in this connection, pass by the still more serious HABIT OF INDULGING IN SPIEITOUS AND VINOUS DEINKS ? It may add some force to what I am about to say, if I confess that I am not myself a tee-totaller, and am not therefore to be considered as expressing any extreme, or bigoted views. I place all exhilarants, in the same category with all the gifts of God to man, all to be used at their proper times, and seasons, for the comfort and happiness of man, guided by the rule to use, and not abuse.” SPIEITOUS AND VINOUS DEINKS. 218 OUR CHILDREN. But stimulants, and exhilarants are not called for by children. They have no flagging energies to arouse, no nervous and bodily exhaustion, to overcome and repair. On the contrary, they have an excess of these qualities, and they are, or should be engaged in storing away this super- fluity, into granaries for future consumption, in other words, in forming a constitution, which shall enable them to carry on the business of life for many subsequent years, and bequeath a like vigor to coming generations. Children should not be indulged in any such beverages, and they should be instructed the reason why they should not. In olden times, when wines and liquors stood open- ly, and constantly, on every gentleman’s sideboard, children never thought of helping themselves, nor did their parents help them, except on occasions of great festivity, when some sweet, and innocuous wine was sparingly given to them, more to connect them with the event, than for any excitement it might create. At the present day, children’s minds, and imaginations are so morbidly stimulated, that they place an unwonted, and very improper estimate on the delights of wine-drinking, and look upon it as an evidence of manhood. As a matter of hygiene, few persons need any stimulants before they arrive at mature age; as a matter of social ex- hilaration, it should not be considered to be ordinarily allowable, until one has become his own master. By twenty-one years of age, the constitution is formed, and the ills inevitable upon too great drinking, will find a constitution behind, able to sustain some abuse: and far better, a character formed, it is to be hoped, upon such safe-guards, and a will of such powTer, as to prevent one’s being led away by the blandishments, and awful seducting influences, which surround the free-drinker on every side. If the young will entirely abstain thus far, with a prop- EFFECTS OF DRINK. 219 er character, they will be enabled to gratify their tastes at a more mature period with safety, and perhaps with benefit to themselves. If however, there is an hereditary love of liquor in the family; if in past generations, there has been a love which was unconquerable, which brought early death from insan- ity, suicide, delirium-tremens, or less still, from acute inflamatory diseases, croup, laryngites, inflamations of brain, lungs, heart, rheumatism, Bright’s disease of the kidneys —in short, from any disease, the direct result of over-stim- ulation, then my son, say to yourself, “ I will be a man and by my self-denial, I will avert the threatened disaster. I will redeem the blood of the family from the curse upon it. I will break this entail, and we will stand again regenerated, restored, renewed. Mine shall be the “ sec- ond building of the temple.” Can any doubt the hereditary effects of alcoholism? Dr, Elam (Physician’s Problems) has enlarged upon this theme. I have not even room here to quote his resume, but can merely note one or two points, trusting that any doubter will refer to his first problem, which takes in “ oinomania ” as one of the forms of natural heritage. He says, “ the first point to be noticed is this, that the habit of the parent, when inherited, does not appear in the child merely as a habit, but in most cases as an irresistable impulse, a disease, an impulsive desire for stimulating drinks, uncon- trolled by any motive that can be addressed to the understand- ing or conscience; in which self-interest, self-esteem, friend- ship, love, religion are appealed to in vain; in which the pas- sion for drink is the master-passion, and subdues itself,every other desire, and faculty of the soul. * * * * anq some- times, with a complete abolition of all the moral senti- ments.” “The offspring of the confirmed drunkard, rich or poor, 220 OUR CHILDREN. will inlierit either the original vice, or some of its countless protean transformations. The external aspect, may in one case be less revolting and coarse than in the other, but none, as a rule, can escape the inevitable law written in the most hidden recesses of our nature, in accordance with which, the children do suffer for the sins of the parent, and even at the third and fourth generation the taint is hardly wiped away, save by the extinction of the line or family. For the disease which leads to these sad consequences, there is but one cure—total, and entire restraint; so as to prevent for a long period, any possibility of indulgence in the depraved taste and habits: even this is too often unsuccessful. For a time, under this enforced discipline, a cure seems to be affected; but, when the sub- ject of it is liberated, he too often takes unto him “ seven other devils, and the state of that man is worse than the first.” My personal observations will entirely corroborate the sad picture, here so forcibly drawn. I could easily give a biographical history of one family, where a father dying at an advanced age, for many years a full drinker and in his later days subject to frequent intoxication. Leaving quite a family of sons, two died at a very early age of de- lirum-tremens, another, a clergyman was never able to entirely refrain from drinking, dangerous as he must have known it was to himself, and family. Another son, a re- ligious and excellent man, could nevertheless, not refrain from drinking, and divided his time between the pulpit and the lunatic asylum. Two others were so intemperate as to be useless members of society, notwithstanding their abilities, and were a constant expense, and source of anx- iety to their friends. MORBID HABITS OF MIND. "We sometimes hear persons of little culture make the SENTIMENTALISM. 221 statement, “that they enjoy very poor health.” It is possible that these persons are not very happy in the choice of words to convey their meaning, but it is also certain that some per- sons enjoy melancholy, and take a grim satisfation in un- packing their hoarded griefs, and bringing them up for seperate contemplation, as the bereaved mother delights in reviewing the clothes, and simple playthings of her dec- eased off-spring. Some children are made sentimentalists by education. They bury their pet canary with ceremonious grief, and delight themselves by simulating the lachrymatory evi- dences of genuine sorrow. Sometimes they succeed in working themselves into a positive flood of tears, and by excitation, actually weep at these mock funerals. There is an exaltation about these parades not entirely wanting in pleasure, and repetition with more outward evidence of success, has a species of artistic success at the counterfeit, added to it, heightening very materially the satisfaction. One process leads to another, and the victim ot this morbid stimulation encourages herself in imagining events, magnifying trifles, and making mountains of grief, from mole-hills of trouble. Sometimes we have a union of forces, and neighboring children unite in enjoying these fabricated griefs; and growing older, they invite their sentimental friends to visit them, and “ have a good cry together.” These statements appear ridiculous on paper, but they are recorded as actual- ities, occurring under my own observation, and I am in- clined to think, that there is more of such romantic enthu- siasm than is generally supposed. Bearing these remarks in mind, parents will do well to have an eye of circumspection in this direction, in order to repress any such morbid tendency, which, continued with life, degenerates into petty jealousy, suspicion and misan- 222 OUR CHILDREN. thropy, making not only the originating individual unhap- py and morose, hut materially influencing for the worse, all that fall within the circle of this baneful influence. There is unhappiness enough in the world unfortunately, without its being created, and nourished, solely by the imagination. SOME HABITS OF MIND AND BODY, APPARENTLY TRIVIAL, YET THE SOURCE OF GREAT DISCOMFORT ON THE PART OF THE CHILD, AND ANXIETIES OF THE PARENTS. One of the most ridiculous feelings, as it seems to us after having arrived at mature life, are the fears of child- hood, but I question, if ever more acute suffering comes to many, in the whole course of their after life. Sometimes their fears originate from the bug-a-boo sto- ries told them by nurses and others, which have an intens- ity of interest, and an actuality hardly recognizable by the adult. These are magnified by the vivid imagination of childhood, reproduced with personal relations, and this torture is inconceivable. The human mind is prone to mystery, and the suffering caused by the insane idea of spiritual communications from departed friends, are but magnified portrayals of the foolish fancies of childhood. These imaginings in childhood we cannot expect to be influenced by reasonings, or argument, seeing how little amenable are the adult children all around us, to logic and common sense. But I do not propose to discuss the question here, or elsewhere. All I desire is, that parents should recognize the actual torture, under which imaginative children are frequently suffering, and endeavor to lessen and not to heighten these real woes. Do not force one of these ner- vous children to go into a retired room after dark, or shut up the refractory child for punishment in a dark closet, as UNPLEASANT HABITS. 223 is sometimes done, with the result of bringing on immedi- ate convulsions, and an unhinging of the whole nervous system. Yield therefore to these imaginings of your child; laugh at them if you please, and reason with him, hut do not force him to expose himself to this trial of his nerve. Time will soon, with coming judgment and strength, drive away all these terrors, and he who was frightened at darkness, may yet bravely offer his life for his own or his country’s honor. A somewhat different form of the same mental charac- teristic comes in the dreams of youth ; “in thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake; then a spirit passed before my face, the hair of my flesh stood up, it stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof, an image was before mine eyes. There was silence, and I heard a voice.” DREAMS OF YOUTH. This vivid description of Job is the veri-similitude of the torturing dreams, which visit the pillow of many a child, and make the idea of going to bed repugnant, and the reality torture. If your child complains of such soul-harrowing dreams, and awakes in the morning little refreshed from its prolonged stay in bed, and uneasy slumbers, ascribe it to its easily recognizable cause, to “ night-mareto the result of inju- dicious, or too late eating; alter the character of food taken at the last meal, its quality or quantity, and there will be an end to these sufferings. Especially permit no eating of fruit, nuts, or cake after the last meal, and as frequently occurs, immediately before retiring. In this connection, I may be permitted to allude to still OUR CHILDREN. another ncctnrnal habit, which gives rise to great annoy- ance, and no little shame, and mortification. It is the habit of wetting the bed. Here is another instance where it is the height of cruelty to a child to visit this misfortune by scoldings and castigation. There is in nature, a great secretion by the kidneys during the quiescence of sleep. The blood has little demand for it, and its bulk is dimin- ished by the quiet action of the kidneys and emunctories which eliminate its grosser materials, and purges itself of its crassness. In the adult, the consequent oppression felt by the over-flowing bladder, awakes him from his less complete sleep, and he is enabled to prevent the catastrophe which falls to the lot of the youth who, free from care, is buried in a profound slumber. If his overwhelmed nature is cap- able of any perception of current events, his uneasiness vents itself in an uneasy dream, wherein he fancies himself disturbed by this necessity on some public occasion, and concludes to his great satisfaction by an unexpected oppor- tunity occurring, whereby he obtains relief. The coming day finds that it was not all a dream. The proper method of treating such occurrences, is by carefully guarding against taking any food or drink, for many hours before bed-time, by awaking the child an hour or two after retiring, until a habit is formed of awaken- ing himself, and by no means to attempt by punishments, or threats of any mortification, or useless medicines, to prevent it. Time will surely eradicate the habit. In a previous chapter I have referred to other habits of a more general nature, which I trust, taken in connection with those here descanted upon, may be the means of early directing the attention of parents toward special faults, which, when newly commenced, and not become fixed as habits, may be easily broken up. KINDNESS AND CONSISTENCY. 225 Most of all, I would reprobate tbe harshness which endeavors to prevent certain habits—dependent not upon the desire of the will, but upon natural organization, and nervous proclivities—from being established, or counte- nanced, by castigation, threats, or in any way, except by a removal of the exciting causes when possible, and by that general system of kindness and amity, which should always exist between parent and child. The inconsistency which a parent exhibits, when in a towering passion he severely punishes a child for any fault —least of all, for one not dependent upon will, and devoid of all intention to do wrong—and then goes upon his knees, to ask his Divine Parent to forgive him for his own sins committed in the strength of manhood, and open-eyed —such inconsistency is marvelous. Not that I am opposed to physical punishment, but while on the contrary, I approve of it in the rare cases that are necessary, I yet deem it like the capital punishment of criminals, to be reserved for those audacious crimes of comparatively rare occurrence, and demanding exemplary and condign punishment. The errors of childhood are rarely flagitious, and the parent who asks forgiveness for himself, cannot say anything better than. That mercy I to others show, That mercy show to me. CHAPTER XV. THE ACCIDENTS OF CHILDHQOD, AND THE FIRST THING TO BE DONE FOB THEM. OXE reason which I have never seen mentioned why there are so many more children born into the world than live or can live, or, living a short season, die off early, is, that so many are required for young mothers to learn on, for young fathers to try their crude plans for “hardening ”on, for nurses, and old maid sisters,and grandmothers, and young doctors to practice on. Babies are peculiarly adapted for these purposes. First, they have little to say for themselves as to what ails them, whether they feel better or worse after the enforced treat- ment, and although they make considerable noise, whether as a protest, or asking for more, is not perfectly understood. Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, “ there are plen- ty more where these came from.” Thirdly, they have every form of disease to which human adult flesh is heir to, and some additional, peculiarly infantile, and interesting to amateur “ medicationists.” Fourthly, they are endued with great tenacity of life. They can be “ trotted ” till one would think their little heads would snap off their pipe-stem necks, or their incipient brains become addled. They can swal- low unlimited amounts of catnip-tea, and castor-oil, and paregoric, and soothing-syrups, swill-milk, prepared grits and barley, and mother’s milk, redolent with corn and sweet potatoes, and melons, and beer, and rum, and hun- dreds of additional colicky and depravity-breeding mate- rials. Xurses can leave them closed to drafts and gusty SOBER RESUME OF CHILD LIFE. 227 showers, with their heads in the sunbeams of August, and their feet in its shade, while they flirt with the grocer-boy as he passes through the park. They can fall down areas, into pools and tubs of hot water, pick their eyes out with scissors, put peas in their noses, swallow pennies ,or matches, or bits of any beautiful caustic they may find lying around, sugar of lead, or nitrate of silver. They will empty at one draught, their father’s bottle of “ bitters” which was to last him a week. As they get bigger, they can get scratch- ed by the cat, bitten by the dog, kicked by the cows, but- ted by the calves, thrown over the fence from the colt’s back. They may cut their fingers “ a whittling,” their knees with ax, sickle or scythe, cut otf a few joints with a hay-cutter, get ducked in the pond, tumbled off of hay- carts, scaffoldings, fruit-trees, blown up by blasts and fancy pistols and shot-guns, bruised by stones and snow- balls, pummeled by bully-playmates. Such an opportuni- ty for experience, such a field of practice, such an inex- haustible supply, was made evidently for the wise purpose described already. We will endeavor to promote this laudable end, by giving very briefly some of the results to which the world has arrived, after the observations and traditions of many centuries. Partially from their ignorance of cause and effect, par- tially from the restless activity, inseparable from youth, children are constantly suffering from accidents of various kinds, and as these are very apt to occur when at a dis- tance from any medical relief, and as they are of such a nature as to require immediate assistance, I will briefly review some of the principal forms of accidental injury, with a hasty summary of some of the means of relief, such as can be applied by one not necessarily skilled in surgery, and with such remedies and appliances, as are to be found in ordinary country houses. 228 OUR CHILDREN. Perhaps the earliest mis-hap that children bring upon themselves is from sticking beans, peas, beads, and buttons, into their ears and nose. In these cases fortunately, there is no immediate danger to be apprehended, but they often are very difficult to be removed, as they are frequently crowded into the passages, when of too large a size to be even admitted easily. FOREIGN BODIES IN THE NOSE. "Wads made of paper when passed into the nostrils, or soft vegetable matter, are merely passed out of sight, as a narrowness in the passage is very apt to re- strain any further advance, and with a bent piece of wire —as a hair-pin—the foreign substance may generally be hooked down and extracted. If however, it be pushed still farther, it falls back into the expanded chamber of the nasal passages, and there it is out of the reach of any but a skillful surgeon. This is very apt to be the case with cherry-pits, beads, and other like hard substances, which the parent is very apt to push back in the attempt to remove it. With a struggling, frightened child, and a nervously excited parent, this is not improbable. Even then, there need be no alarm or anxiety, inasmuch as these substances may remain there for several days, and perhaps weeks, without exciting any disturbance. In the course of that time, they are very generally dis- lodged by some sudden jar, from the child jumping about, by the ordinary movements of the act of swallowing, or very commonly by a fit of sneezing, when it usually falls into the mouth, and is spit out. Should this foreign body remain long in this warm, moist passage, and it chance to be a pea, or bean, it may swell and sprout—if a bit of hard gristle meat, or vegetable, it will decay, if it has sharp edges, or any projections, or if made of any caustic material it may irritate, and INJURIES OF THE ORGANS OF SENSE. the result will be that the child must be taken to a compe- tent surgeon, who, by means of a whalebone, or a long pair of curved forceps, may pass down through the nostrils and, so it may be reached and removed. FOREIGN BODIES IN THE EAR. Substances pushed in the same manner into the ear, are much more important, and will require no little skill to remove, inasmuch as there is no other way for them to be got out, except, that by which they entered. Even if soft and pliable, they come into immediate contact with the organ of hearing, and if introduced far, must rest directly upon the tympanum, or drum of the ear, the especial organ of the sense of hearing. This delicate veil stretched across the extremity of the orifice is extremely sensitive, and anything resting upon it will give acute pain, while if any great pressure last for any considerable time, the tympanum will become inflamed, ulcerated throughout, destroyed, and then the sense of hear- ing on the ear is lost forever. No delay should therefore be permitted to attend a matter having such serious, not only possible, but probable ill-results. BLOWS ON THE HEAD. In another place I have spoken of the injurious results from the punishment of children by blows upon the head, or what is called “ boxing the ears—the results are too serious to a subject for family treatment; rupture of the drum, abscess, and permanent loss of hearing, are some of the results. While writing this chapter, I have seen the hearing of one ear of a child entirely destroyed by the rupture of the tympanum by a blow on the ear, given by a school teacher in England, about a year ago.. 230 OUR CHILDREN. Like accidents result from the effect of snow-balls vio- lently hitting the side of the head. When severe pain is the result, then we may attempt its relief by blowing to- bacco smoke into it, hot and strong through a tobacco pipe. To do this, after lighting a pipe filled with ordinary tobacco, the bowl should be covered with a gauze, and the mouth placed over it, then blow the smoke from the burning tobacco through the pipe-stem and into the ear. Care is requisite that it should be not too hotly applied. WATER IN THE EAR. Another more common accident comes to the unaccus- tomed bather, and it is said more especially, when in surf- bathing, from the direct effect of the force with which the wa- ter is dashed into the ear. Some consider it to be partially, if not entirely owing to the action of the salt upon the ear. However this may be, it is observed that shortly af- ter such bathing, there commences a sort of deafness, and leads one to suspect, that some water had entered the ear and was still retained there. This happens, if at all, on account of the presence of a small bubble of fluid within the ear, and is necessarily very temporary, but the feeling still remains. When one hav- ing such symptoms, finally goes to an aurist, he discovers that there is a large collection of wax in the cavity, and when this is removed by a syringe and warm water, although there is great relief, it does not always entirely pass away. This is owing to some inflammation of the parts, and a careful examination reveals more or less, inflammation of the tympanum, and this may be very severe, accompanied by initiative inflammation of the tympanum. The treatment to be resorted to in such an event, is a vigorous one. If there is much pain or heat around the ear, cheek &c, we may apply one or two leeches around the opening of the ear externally—-care being taken not ACCIDENTS t/JT CHILDREN. 231 to allow them to crawl in and seize on the tympanum it- self, which would be exceedingly painful. Nothing how- ever will give more relief than a hot poultice, to be fol- lowed by the following stimulating liniment around the ear and cheek, aoplied several times a day. K Potass, lodid, 2 drs. Spt. Ammon, Aromat, 2 oz. Make no applications into the ear, unless, if exceedingly painful, a few drops of laudanum on a pledget of cotton, which may be passed well into the meatus, or wetting in and around with spirits of camphor. The injuries arising from the “snapping the ears” are not internal and are unimportant, but I have known severe injury to arise from a teacher’s venting his anger upon a child, by savagely twisting the external ear till the result was a quite severe injury. A hot poultice is the best relief, if any such brutality should be committed iu these modern days. If not allowed to thaw too rapidly, it will have no worse result than a sensitiveness which sometimes remains for several seasons. Sometimes however, there is an ulcerated condition which continues for quite a period, and the re- sult is a loss of a greater or less portion of the rim. Occa- sionally, in scrofulous children, an ulcerated condition remains for quite a period, and will require general consti- tutional treatment from a skilled physician. FREEZING THE EARS. The great aim should be, to have any portion of the per- son that should chance to be frozen, thaw from the weather first. One should therefore very guardedly enter a warm room, or near to a fire; and instead, by taking warm drinks and by exercise, to excite the circulation, until they again cause the current of the blood to flow freely through 232 OUR CHILDREN\ the frozen portion. Thus, with the exception of some after tendency, the whole ill effects of what might occur from freezing will be easily passed away. Lacerations of the ear, are not nnfrequent from various causes. If the torn or cut edges are placed as nearly as possible in their original position, the parts will generally unite, if bound firmly by strips of adherent plas- ter, and left thus for several days. The injury of these important organs are among the se- rious accidents of childhood; those occurring from blows from sticks, stones, the fist, may produce formidable look- ing “black eyes,” but these are rarely of any great import- ance. Providence has placed the projecting brow, the salient cheek, and the edge of the nose as if for the peculiar purpose of especially guarding the important organ of vision. A black-eye is rarely more than a rupture of some slight subcutaneous blood vessel, and its contents are effused, around the eye, into the loose cellular tissue surrounding. It can there do little injury, and its removal may be some- what hastened by bathing it with a solution of INJURIES TO THE EYES. R Muriate of Ammonia, 2 drs. Hot water, 1 pt. Mix. Allow it to cool before using. The really serious injuries come to the eye by injury to the ball itself. Sand, and dust, and chaff may enter the lids and inflame them, but after they are removed the inflammation soon passes away. The rough beard of rye, and other grains, are more irritating, and their removal effected with more difficulty; but a blow upon the ball, hitting it powerfully, may break it, allow the vitreous hu mor to escape, or may result in cataract. Piercing the ball with any sharp pointed instrument, a knife-blade or INJURIES TO THE EYES. 233 scissors, or jagged stick, may be followed by permanent blindness. It is probable that in the most of such cases, one can do little at home for their relief. The best advice of a specialist even, may not be sufficient to save the vision from destruction, but one thing remember. In all injuries, and accidents, and diseases that MAY HAPPEN TO THE EYE-BALL, DO NOT VENTURE TO APPLY ANY HOT POULTICES, OR HOT APPLICATIONS TO IT, WITHOUT THE BEST MEDICAL ADVICE. On the contrary, cold water may always be freely used without fear of evil consequences. ACCIDENTS FROM CUTS WITH ANY SHARP INSTRUMENT. Children have a wondrous aptitude for getting themselves injured, with every form of cutting instrument, pen-knives, scythes, hay-cutters, axes ; they all have their turn, but the injury they all do is of the same general character. It is what is called a clean cut, of a greater or less extent and depth. A few general principles will serve to guide for the dressing of any ordinary cut wound. If the blood which flows from the wound is dark, and runs from, and over the wound, we may conclude that it is only veins that are severed, and veins very rarely require anything further to stop their flowing, than pressure di- rectly upon the cut surface. In this case the clots that may have formed in the wound, should be carefully wash- ed away, and also any dirt, gravel, sand, or other material, and the cut edges should then be firmly pressed together, and kept there by a strip of adhesive plaster—not a mean, stingy bit, that but just covers the wound, but one which may go for several inches each side of it, and thus be so firmly secured, that there can be no possibility of its being torn off by any motion, or any ordinary slight swelling. But if from the cut, a stream of blood sjourts out, with 234 OUR CHILDREN. a jerky jet, bright red crimson, then it is evident that an artery is severed. If this is a small one in the finger, wrist, or about the small joints, or limbs, then we should endeav- or to apply the same dressing as before, but passing the strip of plaster way round the limb, so as to make strong and firm pressure. Then we should make a pad of eight or ten thicknesses of ordinary cotton, and apply this between the exit and the heart, as nearly as you might judge immediately over the course of the blood vessel that comes from the heart, and this should be bound down firmly by a band of cotton first, one over the cut, and upward over the pad; next, one from the very extremity of the limb or finger, upward and over the first bandage. If the vessel is a large one, and the bleeding is very profuse, do not neglect to apply the dressing as above given, and at the same time, take a handkerchief and put- ting it above the injury, that is, between it and the heart, tie it quite loosely. Then put in a piece of stick, say a foot long, and twist it as tight as can well be borne, or at least until the blood stops flowing; make the twist come an inch or two above the wound, and directly under the twist, place a pad—and this pad should be a bit of cork as larce as two or three old-fashioned cents, covered with o ' several thicknesses of cotton. You can do all this, and it will be better to do too much than too little, while somebody is going for a surgeon. When he comes, he may think it best to dress the wound afresh, and to put in some stitches &c, but if so, then your application saved a great loss of blood, and perhaps even a life. Yery likely if the bleeding is thus stopped, the surgeon will think it best to leave it for several days before opening it, while nature is at work repairing the damage. . Sometimes the knife of ahay-cutter has taken off the joints FINGERS GROWN ON AGAIN. 235 of one or more fingers. I have known parents, wlio, having read marvelous reports of fingers and toes growing on again, do such foolish things as washing the dirt off the amputa- ted joints, and putting them where they came from, and carefully binding them on, hope to get a like renewal and reunion. The age of miracles is passed. In twenty-five years practical professional life, I have never seen, or known, a single instance of such like rejoining. But the statement is sometimes made, “ that there’s no hurt in trying, if it don’t do any good, it will do no hurt.” We are compelled to excuse such remarks, from the igno- rance of the speakers. Such experiments however, do hurt. They prevent a proper dressing of the wound. The end of the bone is thereby almost always left exposed, and thus it will necessitate a subsequent amputation, and at a time, when, if the injury had been properly dressed at first, the wound would have been entirely healed. Then, there is far greater danger from subsequent hem- orrhage, from lock-jaw, and the joint is certainly left much shorter at the close, when all is healed. mjUEIES FROM GUN-rOWDEK, and other explosives are of those descriptions, which may be considered as external. By that, I mean lacerations of the integument, and surface injuries from'the direct influ- ence of the explosion and burning of the gun-powder it- self. Another, which is internal, is that done by shot, balls, and wadding,beneath the skin. The former may be considered as a burn, and treated as will be directed in another place. If however, there should be any unburnt grains of powder, lodged under the skin, these must be carefully washed out, as much as possible before the first dressing. Probably the wound will be too painful, and the child 236 OUR CHILDREN\ too much in fear, and too fretful, to allow of any great suc- cess at this time. But by the next day, the smarting will be in a great degree allayed, and then, and in a few follow- ing days there will be more or less inflammation, and some ulceration around each deposit of the powder. Then, with a long needle and great patience each one can be opened, and the greater portion extracted. Some of the remaining part may be removed, by careful washing with milk and water. If this is repeated diligently, day after day, before the parts have healed, the blue spots will have faded very materially, and perhaps have entirely disappeared. If not, each one can be cut down upon with a sharp knife, and then by being rubbed and irritated, some portion will be thus extracted, and the sore that will be thus made, in the process of healing will carry off, possibly, all that remains. If, however, it be found that some discoloration is left in a conspicuous position, this can be again worked at, in a similar manner, until entirely removed. Patience is the greatest requisite, both in the patient, who has to bear the painful irritation of the pick, and also in the operator, who will probably get tired of such a continued job, and the result will be a more or less conspicuous scar. Where however, the injury is done not by the immediate burning from the powder, but from the discharge of shot, or a ball which penetrated far beneath the skin, the injury will most probably be too great for the care of an uninstruct- ed person. The principal effort of a parent or friend, will be to arrest any bleeding that may occur. Ordinarily, there is little resulting from a gun-shot wound. If however, as sometimes occurs, the bullet has severed a large vessel in the leg or arm, we may follow the directions already given in speaking of cuts with a sharp instrument, by making pressure upon the artery above (between it and the heart) BALLS IN THE BODY. 237 the wound, and by compressing the wound itself, by nu- merous folds of cloth bound tightly upon it. If, however, the ball has passed into the body, through the chest especially, the external orifice should not he closed up, as the flow of blood will not be thereby arrested, but will continue to escape from the artery into the cavity of the lungs or abdomen, and retained there, will be an additional injury from its clotting and remaining as a foreign body. No attempt should he made to remove the hall by an uninstructed person; first, because it is usually an operation requiring great skill; secondly, its presence for a little lon- ger or shorter time is immaterial, while the attempt to re- move it, whether successful or not, will be very apt to be followed by a bleeding, perhaps not easily controlled. BROKEN BONES. broken bones are very common accidents in juvenile life, but although quite formidable ones at the time of their occurrence, being sometimes quite painful, leave little permanent injury when properly attended to. While sending for a surgeon, if there is great pain, the limb should be placed as nearly as possible in a natural position, and kept as quiet as possible. If it is one of the long bones of the extremity of the limb, it should be drawn down to the same length as the corresponding one, and placed on some firm, unyielding substance, as a flat cushion resting on a board. Should the broken end protrude through the skin, the limb should be forcibly pulled down in such a direction, that the end of the bone shall be drawn into as near a nat- ural position as can be easily done, and kept there, while the bleeding should be restrained as much as possible, by a firm bandage drawn tightly around the pierced wound, in 238 OUR CHILDREN. a manner like that given in the directions for treating gun- shot wounds, and cuts generally. If it should chance that some hours, or perhaps a day or two might elapse before a competent surgeon could be obtained to set the bone, after having drawn the limb straight, and placed the ends of the bone as nearly as possible in the right position (which will be suspected by the consequent diminution of the pain), after covering the limb with a sin- gle thickness of cotton or linen, then take a long piece of paste-board, or a part of a paper box, and having made it pliable by dipping it into hot water, place it lengthwise upon the limb, mould it somewhat to the shape of the limb, and bind it on quite firmly. It should be wide enough to nearly encircle the limb, and when it has dried it will be found to be quite stiff, and to support the limb perfectly. If the fractured bone be a collar bone, or rib, little can be done but to keep the patient quiet till relief comes. If the patient is bleeding internally, as may be evinced by spitting up blood, either with a cough, or an attempt to vomit, we may fear that a broken rib has pierced the lung or stomach. Quietude of mind as well as body are then of the greatest importance, as any excitement, by increasing the action of the heart, and disturbing the regularity of the breathing, will but augment the flow. If there is fracture of the bones of the face or head, the hurt is even more serious, both from the immediate dan- ger, and the deformity that may ensue after a cure may be effected. The most trivial of these injuries is that which may happen to the nose. As this organ is eminently con- spicuous, any injury affecting its regularity is markedly apparent. The most common accident is the separation of the protruding gristle, or cartilage of the nose from the bone below. Unless this accident is speedily attended to, the swelling which comes on very rapidly may prevent its SEVERE ACCIDENTS. 239 being recognized, and before it passes away, it may have formed an improper adherence; the consequence is a permanent disfiguration of this portion, naturally changing the beauty of the countenance as well as its look of intelli- gence, thus giving one an appearance far different from his natural character, and by that means, perhaps, blighting his prospects for life. More than that, it also not unfre- quently changes the voice, so as to make it disagreeable, and even ludicrous in its intonation. A similar disfiguration, but not quite so severe, is caused by a dislocation of the little, shell-like bones, about the size of a finger-nail, which are on each side of the nose near its root, and just about where the spectacle bow touches it. It is quite difficult to determine this accident, unless seen immediately after their displacement, and not easy to restore them to their true position at any time. FRACTURES OF THE JAW, either of the upper or lower, are more rare accidents in children, as they are the result of severer injuries than those to which they are often subjected—such as railroad acci- dents, kicks from animals, the “ kickings ” of guns, &c., and these are far beyond domestic treatment. By falls from trees, high rocks, roofs of houses, hay mows, &c., children are very subject to injuries of the head, and the most common of these is to be taken up senseless—that is, they have concussion of the hrain. Utter prostration, complete innervation, a deathly look to the countenance, which is devoid of all color, are the marked symptoms, all looking like death, while the solitary sign of life is the irregular, infrequent gaspings for breath at very prolonged intervals, and on raising the eye- lids, the eyes are noted expressionless and lifeless, rolling with regularity from one side to the other. The skin is 240 OUR CHILDREN'. cold and clammy, and the pulse is feeble and infrequent. Life is however evidently present. We carefully examine the head upon which the child has struck, and find no evidences of fracture. This examina- tion should be made immediately, by the parent or any- body that sees the child first after the accident, as swelling comes on so rapidly as to entirely obscure the wound, and render it impossible to tell whether or not the bone under- neath is injured. If the skin is cut through, and there is considerable bleeding therefrom, the swelling will be less, but still the condition of the bone will be masked. If the cut is deep, push the finger down hard upon the bone, and, if necessary, take the point of a knife, or end of scissors, and see if there is any fracture of the bone. If it passes easily, without catch, over the smooth surface of the bone there is no bone broken. If this be all, probably the child has by this time be- come somewhat sensible, for those around have been rubbing his limbs, giving him some slight stimulants, and the first evidence of returning sensibility is probably vomiting, after which consciousness in a great degree has returned, yet with great prostration and weakness; but in a few hours, perhaps after a sleep, he will awake in apparently ordinary vigor. He must, however, not be allowed to return to school, to play, or any severe exercise for several days, but be watched with care for any untoward symptoms. Such accidents as these may lay the train for a series of cerebral troubles, persistent headaches, mental debility, or epilepsy. While I am writing this sheet, a young lad of eleven years of age by an accident fell backward into an area, near which he was sitting, striking upon his head. He got up, walked to his own house some few rods distant, was imme- diately seized with convulsions, and died before night. INJURIES TO THE HEAD. 241 The post-mortem examination by the coroner showed that he had ruptured a blood vessel upon the brain. If there is a fracture of the shall, it will be recognized by a marked depression of the bone, and in this case the stupor into which he is thrown will be persistent; the breathing will be slow, labored, and sonorous. According to the extent and location, there will be continuous paraly- sis. There is little to be done except by an expert surgeon, who will endeavor to remove the cause of this state of lethargy and depression. This he will endeavor to do as speedily as possible. The operation is a formidable one. It consists in making a free exposure of the cranial bones, by cutting the scalp and raising it away from the bone; then, by means of a kind of auger, the surgeon cuts out a piece of bone as large as a bottle cork, either the broken portion or adjacent to it, and then forcibly pries up the depressed piece which, resting upon the brain, is the cause of the paralysis. When this is done, a larger or smaller quantity of the broken down substance of the brain itself escapes with effused blood, clots, &c. Sometimes consciousness returns immediately with this removal of pressure, and a sufficient intelligence for the recognition of friends. According to the locality of the injury—if it is limited to this spot—is the chance of ultimate recovery. As may be supposed, the chances are very precarious in any event; but if the injury be in the anterior portion of the cranium, the seat of the intellectuality, the chances are better than if in the posterior portion, where the injury is in the cere- bellum and vicinity, the location from whence spring the nerves of sensation, motion, and life. But the important thought in this connection is what is to be done by parents, or by-standers immediately after the accident, and before the surgeon has arrived ? Usually, 11 242 OUR CHILDREN'. there is nothing to he done; absolute quiet is to he main- tained. Do nothing, unless you are well convinced that what you do is correct. Of course, keep the patient suffi- ciently warm by rubbing the limbs, and by warm applica- tions to the extremities. Almost invariably, it would be wrong to attempt to staunch the blood which flows from the wound; certainly, unless extremely excessive, for any considerable flow will but act as a substitute for such bleeding as might be necessary to allay inflammation, and, by closing the external exit, you may inadvertently force the stream to take an internal direction, and, by clotting within the cranium but add to the pressure. Here I leave the patient in the physician’s hands, under whose care, under the best auspices, he must remain for many weeks, and perhaps months of watching, but fortu- nately with little bodily suffering. His recovery will be very slow, and during this time he must be kept very quiet with no excitement around. And now comes the question, which from the beginning has agitated his parents’ breasts, “ If he recovers will he have his intelligence and ordinary capacity, or will he be but an idiotic, weak-minded, simple boy?” What the child might have become, it is impossible to say. The injury will have been a great draw-back upon him. Nature will refill the vacuum with renewed brain substance, and the hole made in the skull will be filled up with new material, and, save a slight depression, little evi- dence will remain of the great damage that has been done. But a year or more will elapse before any schooling can be resumed, and for a period it will seem as if the child had forgotten everything he ever knew. Mysterious and wonderful are the workings of the brain; Gradually memory returns, imperceptibly reason resumes THE RECOMPENSE ONE SOMETIMES GETS. its control, and in tlie course of a few years there is a man before you, in the flush of health, and apparently in the perfection of mental attributes. He has no memory of your face, but he says, “Sir, I owe my life to your skill and attention. I have no memory of your face, or of my injury, but my parents tell me of your devotion, assiduity, and capacity.” Such an one came to me during the late war, to ask if he was not fit to serve his country in arms. He was strong, stalwart, and apparently intelligent, earn- ing his living in some semi-intellectual employment. Ap- parently he was as well capable of service as another, but I could not but advise him to avoid the intense excite- ments, fatigue, and anxieties of a soldier’s life. I have not since seen him. There are several methods for restoring animation. I give here the most celebrated, while I have especial pleasure in recalling the memory of the writer of the best text-book on the practice of medicine that I ever read; the genial Englishman who, while he did so much to advance the science of medicine, I personally found to be a finished gentleman, a delightful associate, and a warm friend. DEOWNING. MARSHALL HALl’s READY METHOD IN ASPHYXIA. Ist. Treat the patient instantly on the spot, in the open air, freely exposing the face, neck, and chest to the breeze, except in severe weather. 2nd. In order to dear the throat, place the patient gen- tly on the face, with one wrist under the forehead, that all fluid, and the tongue itself, may fall forward, and leave the entrance to the windpipe free. 3rd. To excite respiration, turn the patient slightly on his side, and apply some irritating or stimulating agent to the nostrils, as Yeratrine, dilute Ammonia, etc. OUR CHILDREN. 4th. Make the face warm by brisk friction; then dash cold water upon it. sth. If not successful, lose no time; but, to imitate res- piration, place the patient on his face, and turn the body gently, but completely on the side, and a little heyond ; then again on the face, and so on, alternately. Repeat these movements deliberately, and perseveringly, fifteen times only in a minute. (When the patient lies on the thorax, this cavity is compressed by the weight of the body, and expiration takes place. When he is turned on the side, this pressure is removed, and Aspiration occurs.) 6th. When the prone position is resumed, make a uni- form and efficient pressure along the spine, removing the pressure immediately, before rotation on the side. (The pressure augments the expiration; the rotation commences Aspiration.) Continue these measures. 7th. Rub the limbs upward, with firm pressure and with energy. (The object being to aid the return of venous blood to the heart.) Bth. Substitute for the patient’s wet clothing, if possi- ble, such other covering as can be instantly procured, each bystander supplying a coat or cloak, etc. Meantime, and from time to time, to excite inspiration, let the surface of the body be slapped briskly with the hand. 9th. Rub the body briskly till it is dry and warm, then dash cold water upon it, and repeat the rubbing. Avoid the immediate removal of the patient, as it in- volves a dangerous loss of time—also, the use of bellows, or any forcing instrument; also, the warm lath and all rough treatment. ACCIDENTS* FROM BURNING, SCALDING &C. The discovery and introduction into general use of ex- plosive oils, gun-cotton, nitro-glycerine, of steam, and elec- BURNS BY KEROSENE. 245 tricity have caused a great increase in the injuries, and deaths from the above mentioned sources. The explosion of kerosene oil lamps is one of daily occurrence and few families exist in those parts of the country where gas is not common, that have not in some manner suffered from the explosions consequent upon its use. The burning from kerosene is especially bad. The ex- plosion of a lamp containing it throws a large quantity over the persons exposed; perhaps upon a child sleeping like a blooming cherub in his cradle, saturating his clothes, and burning with a pertinacity unequaled. It is hard to smother its flames, and it burns until it is entirely consum- ed and the result is deep burning, sometimes charring the flesh in its unrestrained fury. The first efforts are to be exerted to putting out the fire, a not easy task, as unless completely submerged or stifled, the flame is not extinguished, and even then the oil floats upon any water that has been used on the surface, and burns all the same. But once extinguished, the next duty is to place the injured one in a proper situation, and then to remove all adherent clothing. If a person is scalded by steam or hot water, the clothes remaining uninjured are easily stripped off, and with the aid of a pair of scissors and cutting freely may be removed with little additional suffering to the individual, although large strips of skin, and the underlying integument may come off at the same time. When the person is burnt however, there is more difficulty, as parts of the clothing are burnt into the flesh, and adhere with so much pertinacity, as to render it unadvisable to tear them off. They must be cut away from the remain- der of the clothing and left adhering as they are, till soft- ened by the applications, and till the slough to which they 246 OUR CHILDREN. are attached is disconnected from the body by the process of healing. This duty is not easily performed when the child is very young, as it struggles against any action which seem to aggravate, even temporally, its pains. If the injury is limited in extent—say to a hand or foot, jt may perhaps be healed without sending for a physician ; after having removed all that is adherent, it must be covered so that the air cannot get to it. If the skin re- mains, do not attempt to remove it, for no application that art can make is equal to this natural one. The best application that we can make is composed of an equal portion of lime-water and sweet-oil, which makes a bland, thick, tenacious liniment, which does not easily flow off. Lime-water is made simply by stirring a lump of lime with water, and allowing it to stand till clear. It will not be too strong with any quantity of lime, as the water will only, dissolve a certain amount. "When this liniment is made, cover the downy side of a piece of canton flannel of sufficient size with the fluid, and cover the entire bum with it. The dressing need not be removed for twelve hours, and then repeated. The bum does not require much washing unless very offensive, which it is not likely to be for several days, as the lime is a disin- fectant, and the matter which covers it is a necessity in the process of healing. The intensity of the pain is often so great, that our first efforts must be given to relieving it. If chloroform is within reach, we should give this by inhalation, till the sharpness of the agony is overcome. If the burning is very extensive, a tea-spoonful may be placed upon a hand- kerchief and inhaled, watching the effect with care, and removing it to some distance from the nostrils so as to ad- mit some air to the lungs, or entirely withdrawing it, as RELIEF FROM PAIN. 247 may be necessary. There is little danger while one is in this tortured condition, of doing any injury with it, as the intensity of the pain will overcome any ordinary quantity of the chloroform. If however, any anaesthetic is not within reach, recourse must be had to laudanum, paregoric, or even spirit of any kind, till relief is obtained. It is an axiom in medicine, that if a third of the skin is stript off, death is certain; not, probably, immediately; but that nature is not capable of renewing the skin to such an extent, without exhaustion. If there be such an extent of damage, it is but simple humanity to arrest the jpain before death is hastened by its intensity. Take especial care as the healing commences, to keep the fingers stretched out, so that they do not become contracted by the scars; and separated from one another, that they may not grow together in the process of healing, by strips of lint or cotton, saturated with the same liniment. As soon as possible, after the new skin is formed, and before it gets hardened and undistensible, move the joints in their natural manner, especially if there be any tenden- cy to stiffness. If there be any marked contraction of the fingers, apply whalebone strips, or bands of india rubber, or ordinary splints, in such a way as the case may suggest to your mind, with the aim in view to counteract the unnatural distortion, and to keep up a persistent pressure and tension upon them, so as to cause the yet imperfect adesions to be ab- sorbed, and the unnatural rigidity to be overcome. To do all this, will require some resolution on the part of the parent, inasmuch as it will probably be met with some opposition on the part of the child. It is in sickness however, that the value of a proper “ bringing up ”of a child really tells. If you have been a 248 OUR CHILDREN. namby-pamby, sentimental parent, that lias not obtained by a proper government of your child the respect of his in- tellect, the due appreciation of your superiority, and “that perfect love which driveth out fear,”—if your child is his own master, and your master too, then you will fail to do your work, your child will grow up deformed and maimed, and every time you look at his distorted lingers, his with- ered arm, his crooked neck; every time that you “ wish your child could run about like other boys,” that your girl might dance or play the piano, or hold herself upright like her associates—at all these periods, for the whole of their and your subsequent life, if you are half a man, or half a woman, you will have qualms of conscience, and thrills through the heart, and vain regrets, and useless wishes, that you had not in season been true to yourself, and honest and just to them. Solomon’s text, that “he who loveth a child chastiseth ” had more meaning, in the powerful old Hebrew tongue, than merely laying a stick in anger over his back. He who loveth his child will not fear to cause him to undergo some temporary pain when the result is so important, as the avoidance of a life-long cause of shame. This is not all; but those far worse deformities of mind and temper, which the brooding of disappointed ambitions or a naturally morbid temper create, are far more to be shunned. Had Byron two perfectly-shapen feet and limbs, instead of that deformity over which he uselessly brooded, we might have seen a very different man; and those glori- ous works of genius which are the deathless monument of the strength and beauty of the English tongue, and the records of vivid imagination, would not have been deformed by the expressions of irreligious, and most objectionable imagery of various kinds. Then his wild witchery might have been safely placed with Milton, Coleridge, Shelley, and THE DEMANDS OF THE BODY. 249 Campbell, into the bands of all, and the youth of the world might safely hare drawn inspiration from this, one of the largest streams that has yet flowed from Helicon. Alas! that this turbid rill, brilliantly as it flows in its flashing strength, must be filtered, and its spirit deadened, ere it can be quaffed by the young mind. As I have previously intimated generally, and perhaps positively stated, the health exerts an influence over the powers of the mind, almost as great, certainly as marked, as over the strength of the body. The glorious reformation of the religious ideas of the old Christian church, has been recognizably marred by the dyspeptic gnawings which soured the heart of the great thinker, and introduced elements in his renowned work, that produced undreamt of discord, and which were with difficulty and after great trouble eliminated and rejected. This discussion is especially pertinent here, for par- ents should see how fraught with ill to body and mind, and soul, are the apparently trivial neglects in the culture of the body and of the stomach of the young. Children cannot have any part of them neglected with impunity. The child is a complex body, and each part depends upon, is intimately connected with, and its development or neg- lect and injury, affect every other part. Some mothers think all of their duty is to wash the faces, comb the hair, and appropriately dress their children. Some fathers imagine all they have to do, is to put food upon the table before then?. We endeavor to show in the various parts of this work that the three grand elements of a child’s nature are all to be separately and conjunctively attended to, and that their triad nature—body, mind, and soul—may be each properly developed and blended, in sweet harmony, into one perfect whole. And in this connection one thought forces itself into ex- 11* 250 OUR CHILDREN.. pression—the compensations which are created, developed, bestowed by Providence for any great loss or deprivation. We see it all around us in the world. A devastating fire sweeps away the house of an individual, or the wealth of a city; a pestilence taketh away the parent from a family of helpless, dependent children; war puts a cruel bullet through the brave heart of a father; or a city or nation is equally swept away—how the human heart is touched by misfortune! how sympathy is evoked in every human heart around ! See the divinity of our God-given human nature aroused! The beating heart, the helping hand, all around, respond instinctively, and are not content till the grief is assuaged, and the loss, as far as may be possible, made up. COMPENSATIONS FOR GREAT DEPRIVATIONS. We see the same, yes, far greater compensation, in the losses sustained by the individual. It is commonly recog- nized that the remaining senses are heightened by the injury to, or deprivation of one. That to the blind, unusual powers of hearing are bestowed. To the deaf, acute and rapid observation makes up for the loss. Fewer however, have noted how the loss of the powers of the body conduce to the development of the spirit. The loss of a leg, or an arm, turns the fiery, impetuous temper of a soldier into gen- tleness and peace. That fancied superiority, and imaginary independence of the world and its opinions, is shown to have been vain, and his after life evinces the moral growth after the physical pruning, as we see fruits in our orchard increased and sweetened by the lopping off of a limb. But the most marked evidence of the benefits to the whole character, is seen in those early afflicted by that disease of lingering suffering, commonly known as white swelling, and usually originating from some accident. What angelic serenity I What beatific gentleness and MORAL BEAUTY THE RESULT OF PAIN. 251 love ! What a mild radiance pervading the whole being of one of those thus afflicted! Those days and nights, those weeks and months, of persistent agony have purified the whole nature, have seemingly eliminated every grain of gross alloy, and left but the fine gold, purified as by fire. I never enter into the presence of one of these “ deform- ed transformed,” into a vision as of heaven’s purity and beauty come down to earth, but what I feel that the com- pensations are not limited to the mere physical strengthen- ing of other kindred organs and faculties; but that this baptism of pain and privation has regenerated the individ- ual’s whole nature, and that as the physical creature has been weakened and destroyed, the spiritual being, in hum- ble, submissive resignation to the loss which it has sus- tained, has been nurtured and strengthened by resignation, and beautified by the chastening, made but a little lower than the angels, and seemingly wanting but their cerulean pinions to wing their joyous way to more congenial spheres, where both sufferings, and their scars, are forgotten, rendered invisible, and renounced, as the mere scaffoldings by which they have mounted unto heaven. CHAPTER XYI. CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF THE SKIN. THERE are quite a large class of diseases whicli are called Eruptive Fevers by the older nosologists. It embraces Small Pox, Measles, Scarlet Fever, Chicken Pox, etc. These complaints are sometimes congregated under the name of children’s diseases; not that they belong exclu- sively to children, but that they, with the exception of Small Pox, are usually “gone through with” in the early years. They are most of them highly contagious, and some of them also infectious. By contagious is meant, that they are communicated from one to another by actual contact of a person with another person affected with the disease, or with his cloth- ing infected by his wearing them, or by going into a room recently occupied by him. Infectious means that the at- mosphere for a considerable distance is so affected that very many, but not all, of those that enter into it, take the epidemic disease. To make this perfectly plain, I will give two extreme examples. The itch is simply contagious. It is conimn. nicated solely by immediate contact with the person or clothing of one affected. Yellow Fever is in no manner contagious, but the air of a certain locality—be it a room, the hold of a ship, or a city—becomes impregnated by its subtile influence, and those who go into this locality are liable to be seized by it. If then, any one be stricken with the disease, and either living or dying, goes into a perfectly CONTAGIOUSNESS OF SMALL POX. 253 salubrious locality, lie does not communicate it to any one. All of these diseases have very marked epidemic character- istics, having seasons of marked prevalence. SMALL POX. This is the most fearful of all these contagious diseases, because excessively fatal in itself, disgusting to the highest degree in its manifestations and hideous in its results, pro- ducing great deformity, which never disappears, but remains with life an evidence of its former presence. Small Pox infects the air of a house and its surroundings to a certain, indeterminable distance, a length which is in- creased by favorable circumstances, by a dense atmosphere, a favoring wind, and the like. It is markedly communica- ble by the clothing of the individual, and for quite a prolonged period after the disease has passed away. It is even alleged that a burial for several years has failed to entirely eradicate the slumbering ashes of contagion. Some of the royal family of Germany are reported to have caught this dire disease from a visit to the ancestral tombs, (as was the habit in past times, when any princes married into a foreign land) and where no one had been buried for at least a year. The general primary symptoms of all these eruptive diseases do not essentially differ, and until the special eruption appears, it is impossible to tell what may be the coming disease, except as may be surmised, from the known exposure, or the actual epidemic then prevalent in the country. They all commence with chills, rigors, intense headache, great fever, and, usually, prostration. There is often, and more generally in children, one or more convul- sions, and these often followed by persistent stupidity, or coma. These initial symptoms are to be treated simply as symp- OUR CHILDREN, Toms and assuaged as may be possible, with no immediate reference to the supposed causative complaint. If there be headache or convulsions, cold to the head, hot foot baths; the fever should be alleviated by aconite (a drop of the tincture every hour) and if thought needed, by some mild cathartic. Most especially it is to be constantly and fully borne in mind, that none of these diseases are curable. If one actu- ally has the disease, he will continue to have it until the disease runs its full course, and disappears of itself. Med- icines cannot hurry it or diminish it; it has a course, a self-limitation, and this cannot be arrested or materially interfered with, unless with the penalty of death. Usually, children when seized with these complaints are dull and “ dummy ” for a day or two before being appar- ently sick, refuse food, are cross and fretful, or quiet and stupid; sometimes have some cough of a dry character; the eyes red, watery, suffused. The fever gradually increases with evident rigors and exacerbations. The doctor is sent for about this time, and he cannot tell what is the matter, but enquires what diseases the child has had, thinks of those then prevalent, and orders some mild medicine, and says by to-morrow it will be evi- dent what the especial complaint is. Perhaps before that time convulsions are present. The effort is then to bring the disease out upon the skin, where it more especially belongs. Formerly, through a dread of catching cold, and so “driv- ing in the eruption ” the room was kept at an intense heat; whether in summer or winter, every window and door was not only kept closed, but every crack and crevice was pad- ded, and even the key-hole stopped up, lest a breath of fresh air could come into the room, reeking with the foulest of odors. Every drop of drink, that was given was warm, and the quantity exceedingly sparing. DESCRIPTION OF THE SMALL POX. 255 How entirely changed is it now. The first efibrt is to keep the the room well-aired, and moderately cool; the next is to make the patient as comfortable as possible, re- lieving the fever by cooling drinks, even iced, but admin- istered in moderate quantities, although with considerable frequency. The skin may even be occasionally bathed in tepid water, and the system generally cooled by saturnine laxatives. After some days of sickness, gradually getting worse and worse, there will be found a greater or less number of reddish spots appearing upon the face; sometimes so thick- ly as scarcely to be counted, in others, less frequent. If the finger is placed upon them, even at their earliest appear- ance, the delicate touch will recognize a slight elevation of these points, and every six hours will show a rapid in- crease in them, and they soon feel like shot, of a gradually increasing size, under the skin. If one has ever watched a case of small pox, and has ordinary perceptive powers, there can be no mistake. These spots from their incipiency are diagnostic, and there is no room for mistake. They may indeed be overlooked in the darkness of a secluded room, or an evening dim light, but the next visit will surely make the character of the disease evident. These eruptions are rounded upon the top, and circular in shape, growing gradually larger and flatter, spreading out till they run into one another. If very thick together, as they increase in size they become flatter and flatter, till finally almost cupped, and the centre is marked by a shade, at first looking like a shadow, even before attaining its maximum size,—then as the wane commences, growing darker and darker, the brown spot evidently shows that it is commencing to dry up from this central point. From the first appearance, to the falling off of the first scab, is from two to three weeks. 256 OUR CHILDREN. Some will divide everything by seven, and give seven days from the appearance, seven for its presence, and as many for its decadence. Nature however, has no such mystic numbers, although it may be considered that the disease, when it goes through its entire course, takes, from three weeks to a month’s time. The severity of the disease depends upon the number of pustules thrown out, as each destroys a portion of the skin; each has a certain amount of matter discharged, exhausting in its effects upon the health and constitution. When the pustules are so numerous as to unite together, the disease is called confluent. The surface is then one continuous scab, with numerous cracks, through which the pus exudes of a foul nature and most disgusting odor, so much so, that its emanations may be observed by the olfac- tories, even before entering the house where it may be. In some cases there is more or less blood mixed with the material discharges, which drying, leaves a dark crust, and thence comes the name of the Hack small pox, which is supposed to be and is of an unusually formidable character, because showing a general debile condition of the system. Treatment. As already said, there is no use to attempt to cure this disease, as it must run its course. Our efforts will be limited to keeping the patient alive through the exhausting course of the complaint. This is not an easy matter, inasmuch as the same eruption observed upon the skin, is also present upon the tongue, throat, and following the track of the stomach and bowels is also apparent upon their surface and the exterior of the viscera within the ab- domen. With the stomach in such a condition, we find great dif- ficulty in persuading the patient to take any nourishment, stimulants, or even drink. Still our efforts, must not be intermitted in this direction, and recognizing the excessive TREATMENT OF SMALL POX. 257 exhaustion of the system, from so great a destruction of tenure, we must endeavor to provide against it by all the nourishments of syrups, and jellies that we can persuade the patient to take. The greatest relief will be obtained by bathing the sur- face with tepid water, removing the discharges that may be poured out, and allaying the excessive itching by inunc- tions with cold cream (made of spermaciti and sweet oil appropriately flavored) or, as sometimes found exceedingly grateful, with the fat of bacon. The relief is probably due to the creasote in it, and a wash of carbolic acid water will probably be full as useful. The difference between the variola (small pox) and vari- oloid (or kine pox) is apparently but in intensity. Vacci- nation consists in taking the lymph from a peculiar sore found on the udders of kine, and inserting it under the skin of a healthy human being. There results a mild febrile condition, and a sore where the matter was inserted, much resembling the small pox vesicle in general appear- ance, but materially larger. The effect lasts but for a limited period, and that a very uncertain one. Formerly it was supposed to last forever, but now it is ascertained that it almost always runs out? sometimes entirely, and then a person exposed to the disease will as surely take it, as if not vaccinated, and the appearance of the disease, and its dangers, are little, if any- thing, less than if not previously vaccinated; but if the vaccination was later, and a shorter time has elapsed, or its influence but partially gone, then the disease is markedly milder, the eruptions less deep, and consequently there is less permanent disfiguration. The scars are two-fold in their character. One is simply a redness of a deep purple-red color which lasts for several months, showing when the blood is heated and fading away 258 OUR CHILDREN. till almost imperceptible, on ordinary occasions. This is seen whether or not there is any depression on the skin. But where the ulcer has eaten through the true skin (cutis verd) a scar is a necessity. There can be no cut, or tear, or destruction of this tissue of any sort, or from any cause, which does not leave its indelible trace. If the ulcer of the variola has gone through this tissue, the mark is ever after apparent. We hear much of this disease having been present, and with no marking. This can never happen unless the disease is very superficial. We do sometimes see confluent varioloid, and then, extensive as has been the disease, it is limited in depth and no pitting perhaps is present. All the smearing, the pricking of the pustules, the injection of them with iodine, nitrate of silver, and the like, smearing them with oil, ointments of any and all kinds—this is all useless, as a preventative of disfigurement. More than that, in those severe cases where the danger of pitting seems imminent, there is also imminent danger to the life of the sufferer. With death staring you in the face, it is the seemingly, height of folly, to get down to paint, prick, and dress pustules upon a face that seems every moment will be assuredly mouldering under the daisies in a very few days time. After the first coarse scab has fallen off, the surface be- neath is tender, and illy bears the cold air upon it. Great care is necessary to guard against exposure and the dangers of lung fever, etc., afterward. Several thinner scabs and efflorescent particles will be thrown off, before the skin has settled down to its natural quietude. Whether the disease was variola or varioloid can only be told with absolute certainty, now that the smoothness of the face tells us, for the mild cases of the genuine disease are easily supposed to be severe cases of the medipid ERUPTIVE DISEASES. 259 disease, unless there is a family record telling whether or not the person ill has had the disease previously. It is only in comparatively rare instances that one has the disease a second time, yet unquestionable cases to the contrary are daily brought to view. If, after the feverish condition of the child, already de- scribed as ushering in the various acute exanthematous diseases, a generally suffused redness of the surface appears, characterized by a more general redness than the spotting mentioned as preluding the eruption of small pox; if there is a general red mottled appearance of the skin, without any shot-like pustules felt under the skin, we may set it down as one of three acute eruptive diseases, viz., scarlet fever, measles, and roseola. In well-marked, fully characterized cases, it is very easy to distinguish these diseases from one another; but where the distinguishing features are illy defined we have great difficulty, and even the most expert diagnostician in skin disease, can but guess which of the complaints is present. To determine this, we have to add to the appearances of the case, a knowledge of the prevailing epidemic, any espe- cial exposure of the child, and whether it has already had at any previous period any one of these diseases. This latter point is sometimes our only guide, and even this is not infallible, for in rare instances one may have these complaints a second time. Sometimes it is only when the disease has run its course completely that we may judge by the sequence of the symptoms, and their character, that it is one or the other of them. In more unmarked cases, we shall not be able to tell with certainty till another child in the family has been affected more markedly, or till an exposure to a subsequent epidemic shows an immunity from one or the other of these diseases. 260 OUR CHILDREN. ROSEOLA is the mildest form of all these symptoms. It consists in a simple redness of the skin, a mild rash of a rose color, appearing in patches of irregular shape, without any pim- ples or perceptible elevation of the skin. This disease is generally considered not contagious, but I am sure that I have seen forms of it which were most markedly so. There are other forms of it noticed in children, and especially in excitable females. Some girls when kissed, or excited by anger, will have a blush spread over the face? neck, and bosom, of a vivid rose color, with quite defined border, and so sharp as to give an appearance of elevation above the skin. It is also very often seen on teething chil- dren, These latter forms are temporary, and have no contagious characteristics. The principle interest which this disease has, so mild and unimportant is it, is its liability to lead to mistakes in diagnosis. Such temporary troubles, which never need more than a cooling, saline laxative, are seized upon by unprincipled men who profess to cure scarlet fever in two or three days, and without any secondary symptoms. MEASLES is a more formidable disease, but it is very apt to be con- sidered but little more than a cold, and the majority of the cases are healed domestically—generally too vigorously— apd without recourse to professional advice. Sometimes it is quite a serious malady. Many remember its fatality in the camps about Washington; most of the soldiers there were from the interior of New England, from the back- woods and distant mountains, where there was little com- munication with the exterior world, and where on that account, this disease had not visited. Consequently, there were whole regiments of brawny soldiers who had never had these diseases of childhood. MEASLES. 261 Measles is not a pleasant or a simple disease for an adult to have, and in this case there was great exposure, improp- er food for the sick, poor nursing. For a period the light- ing force was seriously impaired, and many died. The complications with pulmonary inflammations, and typhoid tendencies, are very common with adults, sick with this complaint. But a severe case of measles is a very serious affliction even in a child. For several days that child has been drooping, and seemingly has taken a severe cold; there is great redness and suffusion of the eyes, a catarrhal secre- tion from the nose, cough, and these acute symptoms, ac- companied by fever, loss of appetite, pains in back, head, legs &c. These symptoms are allayed by treatment—the fever by a drop of the Tincture of Aconite, every hour; the cough, by a tea-spoonful every two or three hours, of a mixture of equal parts of the Syrup of Squills, Syrup of Ipecac, and the Camphorated Tincture of Opium. This also, will soothe the restlessness, and keep the child from fretting. After a day or two of this uneasy condition, a bright rash is discovered upon the face, and soon after, upon the lower extremities of the body, and finally all over the person. Flow comes the difficulty in deciding what is the disease present. It differs but slightly from scarlet rash, and still less from roseola, already described. Of course, if the doctor knows that next door the measles is present, he will look wisely at it through his most wonderful and very learned gold spectacles, and boldly say, before scarce a blotch is perceptible, “It is the measles.” But if he knows of no such affection any where about, he will look more or less solemn and wise, but he will look a little more carefully. lie will look at the fine red points, which characterize 262 OUR CHILDREN. the eruption, and more especially for groupings of a semi- circular, crescentic character. These are not very numer- ous, but, sparcely distributed over the arm or body, a more or less number may be found. A single group is sufficient upon which to form a diagnosis, if it is well-marked. The rash generally is of a darker color than roseola, but less so than the scarlet rash. In the shade of color, it has a strawberry hue. But all these shades and niceties which distinguish the type cases, are immaterial in ordinary ones? as each disease assumes various hues. The “black mea- sles ” has a dark, mahogany hue, from an admixture of purpura in connection with it, constituting a very grave condition of things, one of great danger, and requiring quite a different form of treatment from that employed in ordinary simple measles. Measles generally manifests itself by sneezing, and catarrhal symptoms, about fourteen days after exposure. From then, until the eruption is manifest, is four days more; and four days to a week additional is required until desquamation—or its recession, and the falling of the dead, scurfy skin. From the appearance of the eruption, the symptoms generally moderate materially. Some cough remains, not unfrequently, and, especially in winter season, it is very apt to leave the lungs delicate, especially liable to taking on slight inflammation. In adults of a weakly or any inherited tendencies to phthisis there is great liability to a deposit of tubercles in the lungs, as a secondary result of the measles. In others the kidneys are seized with acute inflammation, and this subsiding, a chronic form of disease sometimes supervenes. On this account, children require especial watching, guarding against any undue ex- posure, but not to such an extent as to keep them in the house, or away from their usual sports. After a month’s SCARLET FEVER. 263 time has elapsed after convalescence, and the child has been out, and at school, no further danger need be looked for. SCAELET FEVEE. We come now to look at one of the most formidable, un- certain and disagreeable diseases that afflict childhood, or humanity. Eminently contagious, very deadly, one that in its onset may be like a thunder blast, and subsequently mild and gentle, passing away without leaving a trace, and without the slightest cause of anxiety for any after troubles; in another case, commencing almost unnoticably, scarcely making the patient even indisposed, it assumes new symp- toms, attacks remote organs, disappears, reappears, is one moment apparently gone, cured,—in a day or two after, a sudden death, or a lingering form of disease remains to show that it is but “ sketched,” not killed. SCARLATINA, Scarlet-fever, Scarlet-rash are different names, given to the same disease. It commences as the other diseases already alluded to, in many instances, and cannot, as al- ready intimated, be told from them in many cases. Still, in others there is no doubt of the character of the disease; the premonitory symptoms are far more grave and severe than roseola, or measles, and the character of the eruption speedily dissipates any doubt whether or not it is a vario- lous disease or varicella—chicken pox,—which will be described at some length hereafter. The eruption evinces very surely the character of the disease. This is a bright scarlet in hue, with no such erup- tive form as appears in measles, but simply a general scar- let reddening of the skin. This, with all the symptoms of fever already described, but intensified and magnified gen- erally. Sometimes indeed, there is no external eruption, OUR CHILDREN. the first symptom being a complete prostration, the child being seized with a convulsion which remains persistent and has no let up, until in a state of profound coma, the patient sinks and dies in from twenty-four to forty-eight hours. This is blood poisoning, and is almost without a remedy. To be sure, we can try, and do sometimes suc- ceed in bringing out the eruptions upon the surface by stimulants, the warm bath, hot teas, among which saffron has a popular repute. Not unfrequently, our best efforts are thwarted, and we are forced to see one so lately, blithe and gay, in a very few hours, or at most, days, dead and buried. The epidemics of this disease differ very much in malignancy, sometimes being exceedingly fatal, and at others comparatively quite innocuous. Some writers, with scarcely any show of reason, divide the disease into Scarlatina Simplex, Anginosa, and Ma- ligna ; but there is no difference in the disease, as we often see in the same family, aye, even side by side in the same bed and room, a whole family variously sick with these separate forms of supposed diverse diseases, but in reality only the same single disease in different manifestations. SCARLATINA SIMPLEX is a mild form; the eruption appears, and, perhaps, departs, and the patient is well in a week’s time. For a day or two, there may be some fever, itching, and loss of appetite, and then nothing more is seen of it. The treatment is almost nothing; the case should be watched that new syrn- torns may not arise, and the disease suddenly and unexpect- edly assume a malignant form. The itching may be allay- ed by smearing the skin with any oily ointment, or by rubbing the irritated portion with a bacon rind. Even in the mildest case, we must watch and see that dropsy does not supervene, before recovery is entirely SCARLATINA. 265 effected. The internal organs are as much affected by this disease, as is the skin, and in the mildest cases, we are more apt to see internal inflammatory affections of the glandular system, of the liver, and more commonly of the kidneys. This is evidence of a more or less complete stoppage of the water, and a consequent tumefaction of the belly, limbs, and face; sometimes indeed, there is no portion of the frame that is not tumefied, enlarged, and full of dropsical effusion. Some suppose that this is the result of exposure of the child to a draught of wind, while the kidneys are yet suffering from the inflammatory action orf the disease proper. It is indeed very apt to follow a check in the action of the skin; the insensible perspiration which constitutes so large a portion of the aqueous secre- tions of the system, is in consequence thrown back upon the kidneys. These organs, being in an excitable and de- bilitated condition, are illy able to perform this increased duty, and the result is an accumulation in the system of fluid. When this state of things takes place, the first efforts are to restore the lost function to the skin ; the second, to reduce the congested state of the kidneys, and to stimulate them to a temporarily increased exertion. The first aim is accomplished, if possible, by a generally increased tempera- ture. The child should be kept warm, not so much by covering it with extra clothes, but by placing it in a warm atmosphere. We may anticipate the coming Spring by taking the child south, and gradually returning with it. This is not always possible. We must then keep it in a wTarm house, or room, so that there shall be no possi- ble chill from passing from one room to another, and the temperature should be kept up to, or a little above seventy-five degrees, so that the skin may be thus induced to resume its normal function. 266 OUR CHILDREN.Ij The local difficulty in the kidneys should he met with irritating friction over the lumbar regions, so as to divert the stasis of the blood from these organs to the surface. An examination of the urine passed by a child thus affected, will show a large proportion of albumen, so much so that on boiling it carefully, in a test tube, or in a silver spoon over the gas, it will sometimes be found to solidify like the white of an egg. This condition of the urine is a symptom of Bright’s disease of the Kidneys, but it is not that formidable dis- ease. Still, when we find the albumen in such immense quantities, the condition of the patient is serious, and we cannot look upon him without inquietude. It is, however, very far from the case that the trouble is a desperate one. In fact, the great proportion of these cases recover from this form and final manifestation of the Scarlatina influ- ence, when carefully nursed under judicious direction. Internally, the treatment has a double purpose; Ist, To neutralize the temporary effects of the impurity of the blood ; for while the kidneys excrete a very small quantity, that is filled with the albumen, the nutritious quality of the blood, it fails to eliminate the urea, the impure and delite- rius element, from which comes the name of urine, and which, retained in the blood, exerts a poisonous, and nox- ious influence, producing the stupor, and sometimes the coma found in these cases. This result is obtained by giv- ing salts, which by their chemical affinities, neutralize or destroy this element. The various forms of potash, and more especially the Bromide, exert a beneficial influence, Chloroform, either by inhalation, or by swallowing, has the repute of somewhat effecting the same result. 2ndly, The kidneys are to be stimulated to increased secretion. This is to be done carefully, as the diseased organs cannot well bear any severe irritation. SCARLATINA ANGINOSA. 267 Syrup of Squills will thus form a good medium through which to administer the potash, or chloroform. We may also advantageously give the child diluents, hot drinks of flax-seed, which at the same time will stimulate the skin to increased results. The Tincture of Aconite, as before ordered, will also assist in the diaphoresis. In matters of general food, there need not be any very especial attention, only with a general aim to healthy nutri- tion. Eggs, in various forms, will seem to replace the lost albumen, but there need be no stress laid upon it. is a form of disease where the eruptive symptoms form but a trivial and unimportant portion of the complaint. Many years ago an epidemic ran through Hew England popularly called SCARLET FEVER AND THROAT DISTEMPER. This Was the form called Anginosa, The disease sometimes was the ordinary eruptive fever, and in others, scarcely any super- ficial eruption, but a great amount of disease in the throat; and a third form where the patient had both, in a greater or less degree. It then supposed that there were two distinct diseases, and that having one did not procure ex- emption from the other. I certainly knew one or two instances where, in a subsequent epidemic, those having one or the other, and quite severely too, took the disease in its other form, a second time. SCARLATINA ANGINOSA In scarlatina anginosa there is sometimes scarcely enough eruption upon the surface to make the disease recognizable; but the affection of the throat is exceedingly severe. Commencing with a more or less severe sore throat, apparently the result of a simple cold, it gradually increases in redness, pain, swelling, till finally the functions of the throat seem almost entirely suspended. Examina- tion shows the throat ulcerated deeply, the tonsils swollen, 268 OUR CHILDREN. and the passages to the lungs and stomach so obstructed that respiration is difficult, and the act of deglutition, or swallowing, almost impossible. Were this to continue for a prolonged period, one would perish from starvation ; but relief, or death from some other affection comes before any such result is possible. The discharges from the glands of the throat, and the secretions from the ulcerated surfaces are so offensive that the name of “ jputrid sore-throat ” is sometimes given to the disease. This form of the disease is frequently combined with other symptoms of a still more grave character, which be- long more especially to the species embraced in the name of scarlatina maligna, a disease from which a physician shrinks with more repugnance than from almost any other. Like a flash of lightning from a serene and cloudless sky, Malignant Scarlatina strikes down its victim in the flush of apparent health. Sometimes there is little differ- ence from the gradual approach of the simple disease; at others the child is seized by convulsions, which are repeat- ed with frightful rapidity, to be finally succeeded by a state of coma, wherein the patient lingers for many hours, and perhaps a day or two, with stertorous breathing, sometimes motionless, in others rolling from side to side in evident uneasiness, insensible to the presence of the requests or demands of nurses, and physicians, insen- sible to any appetites or demands of nature. During all this anxious, fearful period, there is no evi- dence of any Scarlatina eruption ; no knowledge that it is the disease in question, which is convulsing the patient; nothing to lend currency to this belief, except that there has been previous exposure. Sometimes we have not even this poor solace to our doubts, and can but surmise its la- SCARLATINA. 269 tent presence, because but rarely such symptoms herald the coming of any other malady. Sometimes in spite of all our efforts, the patient dies in this initiative stage, from the congestion of the brain with the poisoned blood. Then we can often show to doubt- ers, that our diagnosis was correct, for after death, the mottled and changed appearance of the skin will show the scarlet eruption, darker indeed in hue from that which we see in life, but still such as to be perfectly recognizable to any one conversant with the malady. Sometimes our efforts are rewarded, and with a sudden and almost entire relief to the pressing symptoms, the fiery eruption manifests itself in one glowing hue over the entire surface. Such extraordinary intensity is accompanied by an almost unbearable itching, which with great difficulty is allayed. ¥e fear to bathe the body with any cooling lotion, fearful of a retrocession of the eruption, which has been established with such great difficulty. We try various lotions, Lead ointment, Carbolic Acid ointment, Lotions of the Hydrocyanic Acid, and frequently with little avail. Small doses of morphia will often be of benefit, not so much in allaying the itching, as in rendering it bearable by benumbing the sensibilities. It is rare however, in Scarlatina, to have any trouble from cough. This, which is so annoying in measles, seems to be supplemented by the itching just referred to. It is after these symptoms have been to a great degree relieved, or have, in the order of things, passed away, that we have the great putridity coming on since the commence- ment, aggravated, and become really distressing, and seri- ous, in the diseased condition of the throat, referred to as demonstrated, when existing simply as Anginosa. We have already sufficiently described its leading characteristics. In the relief of this distressing symptom, our energies OUR CHILD REX. are to be promptly directed. In children of the same age, or in those younger, who have been brought up by their parents to rely upon, and mind the instructions of their supe- riors,we may reap the benefit of this timely training, by teach- ing them to gargle their throats, or even to permit an application of some potent astringent, or caustic alterative, to be applied to the throat and fauces. These methods of treatment will give great relief. But it is a matter almost of impossibility, and then not without a severe strug- gle with the child, producing perhaps as much injury as the application will do good, that we can succeed in open- ing the mouth, and forcibly making use of the desired remedies topically. In no cases of sickness, more than in this, and croup, are the benefits of the education of the child, observed in obedi- ence to parents, a confidence in their desires to benefit, and that reliance in their efforts to cure them—a con- fidence only surpassed by that reliance, which the religious man shows in his absolute trust in the mercy of God,—lt is perhaps now the difference between life and death, which hangs often on a mere thread. If a child has been thus trained to believe in his parents, to welcome the coming of a physician, confident in his powers, and exerted for his benefit, with gladness will he place himself in a position to get the best effects of the light, open his mouth, and permit such treatment as may be necessary; and he will understandingly make use of any gargle to clear his ulcerated throat. In view of sickness, parents ought to teach their children by practicing with cold water, to gargle their throats, and thus disease will find a patient trained to use the arms to be employed against it. In the same way, by practicing with buckle-berries, children may be taught to swallow pills, and thus, by this convenient manner of taking desired TREATMENT OF SCARLATINA. 271 medicines, they may avoid the unpleasant tastes and corro- sive acids found in medicines, which are otherwise obliged to be put in a liquid form. Among the gargles most useful in this complaint, is the ordinary yeast gargle, half yeast, and half water. One composed of equal parts of Tinct. of Galls, Tinct. of Myrrh, Tinct. of Cinchona, and Syrup of Orange Flowers, using a table-spoonful, more or less, in a tumbler of water. Perhaps the most efficacious, as slightly stimulating the parts, dissolving the depraved secretions, and thus “ cleans- ing the ulcerations,” and especially in changing the offen- siveness of the putrid exhalation, is the Chlorate of Potash ; an ounce to a quart of water, or if this is too sharp for the inflamed throat, a smaller quantity of the salt will suffice, or additional water may be added. The throat may be gargled with this, beneficially every half, or quarter of an hour. With this condition of the throat, there is most gener- ally great glandular sympathies, swellings in the glands all over the body, but more particularly in the ganglion about the neck. These will be so painful as to demand relief by local applications from poultices, from hot bags of salt, hops dipped in hot water, from Stramonium oint- ment &c. In the country, the leaves of the Datura stramonium, or Thorn Apple, commonly called Stink Weed, which grows every-where in the country, and whose thorn apples are eaten with such dangerous results by children; the leaves of this may be bruised and applied over the swollen glands sometimes with great relief. The inflammation of these glands not unfrequently goes on to suppuration, and large abscesses are formed under the chin, around the neck, some smaller ones breaking into the passage ot the ears, and discharging through the meatus. * OUR CHILDREN. THE ABSCESSES IN THE EAR These are very annoying, giving great pain during their development, continuing to discharge an often offensive mat- ter for many months, defying cure by any means, sometimes affecting the bones of the ear and the mastoid process, from which ulceration, an opening is effected into the cavity of the brain, and death results from this perforation. Some- times, indeed not unfrequently, permanent deafness results from this disease, and if the patient is quite young, the number of the deaf and dumb is thereby increased. The exhausting nature of this malignant form of the disease is such, that our earliest efforts must be to keep up the general tone of the system. Quinine and general ton- ics, cod-liver oil and pepsine, to aid the enfeebled digestive organs, with stimulants as soon as advisable, with milk punch, egg-nogg, schnapps, and the like, must be adminis- tered under suitable directions, as soon, and as freely as possible. After apparent recovery, the danger from secondary relapse already alluded to, is especially imminent, and the child must be constantly watched until two or three months have intervened since the last appearance of any symptom, as it re-appears in some form, with the persisten- cy of Dr. Bartolo in the Barber of Seville, with his never ending “BuonaNotte—good night, good bye,”—till you never know when you have seen the last of it. Measles leave a heritage of weak eyes, and delicate lungs—small pox, a marked skin, loss of complexion and beauty—scarlet fever, injury to the hearing, often perma- nent deafness, and the disfigurations which ensue as a consequence of the abscesses occurring in various localities. DYPIITH EEIA. There is another disease, which may well be mentioned D YPHTHERIA. 273 in this connection, although it is in no respect a disease of the skin. It was my fortune to see some of the earliest cases that occurred in the country, and I reported them to the N. Y. Academy of Medicine, of which I was then an act- ive member. The first one I treated as Scarlet Fever, to which disease it bears a very close resemblance, that is, to the non-eruptive form of Scarlatina Maligna. It is a dis- ease, like the former, of the blood, affecting the whole sys- tem—depressing the vital forces, poisoning the blood, and creating plastic exudations that are thrown out in various localities of the mucous membrane. When this is marked- ly seen in the throat, it may be mistaken by careless observers for croup. Dyphtheriais an awful disease in its manifestations. When first seen in this city, something like ten years ago, it was invariably mistaken, in its commencement, for croup; and often under that supposition, treated with mercurials, depressant expectorants, and by leeching, or blood letting in some form. The result was very generally fatal, and markedly so in all severe cases. As soon as it was fully recognized as a distinct disease, and the treatment changed to a tonic, and stimulating one, a great change for the better was seen in the results. There is in the throat a marked exudation thrown out over the tonsils, fauces, and the entire passages of the mouth, sometimes, even on the mucous membrane lining the vulva of females, an exudation of a character strongly resembling the fibrous deposit in croup. There is addition- ally, even from quite the first, a sanious, unpleasant dis- charge from the nostrils, seemingly of an acrid character, for the interior of the nostrils seem excoriated, and this is to me, diagnostic of the disease. OUR CHILDREN. Looking into the throat, the whole mucous membrane is found covered, in severe cases, with a species of organ- ized lymph which extends way down into the ultimate bronchi, and materially interfering with respiration. This is often removed, in a very great measure by vomiting, by brushes, swabs, &c, but it is renewed with great rapid- ity. Great relief is afforded by these topical appliances, so marked, that annoying as it is, little children gladly sub- mit to, and even ask for the use of the swab, and a solution of nitrate of silver, from the evident relief afforded, as the respiration is manifestly improved for quite a period sub- sequently. dSTo specific treatment has yet been discovered for the certain cure of this very fatal disease. The general reli- ance is upon a tonic, sustaining course of treatment, and topical applications to the throat by means of a long swab, as low down as possible, the returning brush bringing away large quanties of the Exudation. The Per-Sulphate of Iron in solution is given at the rate of four, to ten or fifteen drops every second hour, alternating every hour with a grain of Quinine in wine, or some stimulant. The patient should also be encouraged in any appetite that may be possessed. Any mercurial, or other alterative which might seem to be called for, experience has plainly shown are deliterious, and most surely hastens on the dis- ease to its final termination. Severe as are the local symp- toms, it must not be forgotten that the disease is a consti- tutional one, and the necessary measures for relief should be directed to the general exalting of the system, and reinvigoratiug the depraved blood. The contagious nature of this disease should not be for- gotten, as when it is once present in a family, few escape from some sympathy with it. Adults are not so liable to it as children, still they are far from being exempt. FUNERALS SPREAD CONTAGION. 275 An attending physician in a case where death -was imminent from suffocation, performed the operation of tracheotomy, opening the air passage externally through the throat to remove the clots of fibrin, that stopped the passage and interfered with the breathing. Not being able to remove the blood from the cut, he carelessly put his mouth to the tube, and sucked out the clots. This act was fatal, for the contact of the diseased fluid with his lips, communicated the fatal disease to him, and he died shortly after, a victim to his science and humanity. Children, in coughing have sometimes violently ejected the materies morbi, into the face of mother and friends with like ill results, and the contagion has even been carried out of the house by the soiled clothes of the sick. HOW CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ARE SPREAD. A very frequent manner of spreading contagion from all the infectious and communicating diseases, is through the exercises which religion in all its various forms encour- ages, if not commands. Faith in heaven, trust in God, and love for friends, all unite in paying the last respects to the memory of the de- parted, by attending the final ceremonies which precede the burial of the loved one forever from our mortal sight. The friends, and not unfrequently with children, and babes in their arms, gather into the house of one lately deceased with a pestilential disease. They crowd the parlors, they throng the halls ; the coffin is in their midst, and the sweet flowers cannot drive away contagion, and music, and pray- er, and exhortation have no influence capable of restraining the foul poison, which is constantly passing off, and with which the house, so long saturated with the elements of the disease, is yet filled, and which no disinfectants, power- ful as they may he, can drive away, or neutralize. 276 OUR CHILDREN. In other cases, the little dwelling is insufficient to con- tain the crowds, that, from one motive or another, desire to be present at this last service, and the church opens its wide portals to a gaping multitude. This is soon tilled with an immense crowd, that throng the aisles, and the air is soon noisome from their united exhalations. In the midst of this atmosphere, so foul that it gives one a head- ache to breathe, they stand wearily for an hour or two, while the various services are performed. One can scarcely credit it, that here in the midst of this dense crowd of human beings, is exposed a mass, not only of commencing corruption, but the volatile and fleeting elements of the foulest contagion. All the diseases, a description of whose ghastly horrors have been briefly alluded to, are here at different times encouraged to be reproduced in hundreds of families throughout the com- munity. No more potent innoculation could be made, than that here presented to the whole community; no surer way could be conceived to spread havoc through the pub- lic midst, and to decimate a city. Surely, such things should not be permitted in a land where fatalism is not the predominant belief, and where in consequence, each one has some duties both for self-preser- vation, and for the- protection of the public weal. Surely, the law should intervene, where such neglect is apparent, and prohibit by edict, any funeral from being called at any residence, or public place, either privately or publicly, without a distinct statement of the name of the disease, with which the person died being distinctly men- tioned, and named by the most popular name, that the most ignorant of scientific terms and nomenclature, be not deceived. Few parents would knowingly expose their children to the contagious emanations of a body, reeking with the horrors of Scarlatina or Dyphtheria. CHAPTER XYII. ENEMIES TO GOOD LOOKS. THERE is nothing so important in medicine, either to the patient, or to the physician, as the preservation of beauty. Some few men think highly of it in themselves, but far more as it respects their wives and children. The women think of it always for themselves, not a bit on their husband’s account, most always for their children, especial- ly for the girls. The girls begin to think of it, when the beaux commence to be a nuisance about the house. The boys think of it about the same time, only a little later, with the incipient downy moustache. The doctor, he thinks of it all the time, for it is a disease that lasts sum- mer and winter, is epidemic and contagious at the same time, and always pays. There are but three forms, in which the injuries to per- sonal appearance, the destroyers of domestic happiness, attack the young. They come in the form of pimples, freckles, and warts. To these important themes we will devote a period of breathless attention. PIMPLES. A pimple always comes in a most noticeable locality. It is sure to be where every body can see it, and unfortu- nately, like other great misfortunes, they rarely come sin- gle. Boys and girls, or in more modern phraseology, young ladies and gentlemen, while just emerging from the grub 278 OUR CHILDREN. into the butterfly state, are much annoyed by these hard, and “ awful ugly ” looking red bumps, which the doctors call acne, laugh at, and rarely cure; but they are a source of real aunoyance. They are sometimes merely a hard excrescence of a fiery hue, which remain for a day or two, and then disappear, to be succeeded* by ever recurring ones, to take the place of the departed. Sometimes they go on to suppuration, seeming to form around one of the Sebaceous follicles, which when pressed emits a white excretion, merely the secretion of the over stimulated gland, and deposited in the pore, but which many suppose to be a worm. These are sometimes too, quite annoying from a kind of disagreeable irritation, and dull pain connected with them. It is necessary to keep a sharp watch upon the appetite when these are present and their removal is desired, one must limit the amount of his animal food, which should be free from fats; also must rigidly avoid all stimulating drinks. The system should be kept cool by Kissengen Water, or any saline cathartic. The face should be washed carefully and frequently with soap, and bathed in a solution of carbonate of soda, say a table-spoonful to a quart of water. If this should not be sufficiently efficacious, it may be bathed two or three times a day with the following wash, which should be allow- ed to dry upon the face, and either wiped off afterward or used as an ordinary toilet powder for whitening the skin, when ladies are fashionable enough to use such beautiflers and cosmetics. KRose Water, 4 oz. Carbonate of Magnesia, 2 scr. Corrosive Sublimate of Mercury, 4 gr. This recipe should be used whenever any eruption is present, and the quantity of the Sublimate should be in- FRECKLES. 279 creased by one grain every time the bottle is refilled, until we find that the strength it- sufficient by its action on the skin, and the experience gathered from its use. With patience, it will be found finally efficacious. But to one subject to this eruption, it will probably reappear at intervals, and will be quite apt to resist all attempts at radical extermination, until limited by age, and having run its course, the disease is banished away. FRECKLES. Another of the“ awful” diseases, affecting most everybody and more particularly the fair-haired, delicate-skinned inhabitants of cities. There are several varieties; the lenticular, the the diffused, the solar lenticular, the idiopathic diffused, and the symptomatic diffused—these all belong to the class called by Hippocrates Ephelis, and the name is still con- tinued as the scientific designation. There are two distinct classes, one which is congenital* being dependent upon the complexion, and consequently sometimes hereditary, and that which is caused by the action of the sun. The former occurs most freqently in persons of very fair complextion, with a delicate skin, and yellowish or reddish hair. The spots are lenticular, persistent, not confined to the parts exposed to the light, but are frequently dissemi- nated over the body. They frequently do not become very apparent until sometime after birth, or even not until the child is five or six years old. A tempory trouble appearing in Spring and Summer, after exposure to the direct, or reflected rays of the sun, or high wind. It is much more commonly seen upon resi- dents of cities after exposure. SOLAR LENTICULAR EPHELIS. 280 OUR CHILDREN. "We have also a diffused ephelis, a disease of the same nature, but quite different in appearance from the above described. That has a round, defined, regular, spot of a limited size; this species is characterized by irregular, dif- fused, and large patches, which vary more widely in color than the foregoing species. The causes of tliis form, are various. Sometimes proceeding from the direct effects of light and heat, and sometimes are symptomatic of some internal affection. Sun-burn comes under this head, and another form exists caused by heat alone, and is seen on the legs, arms, and thighs of persons sitting near a hot fire, without any covering intervening between those parts and it. A final variety of the symptomatic diffused ephelis, sometimes called “ liver spots,” “ moth.” These patches appear suddenly, and sometimes are as quickly removed. They are of a pale, dirty yellow, or of a yellowish brown, or a light tawny shade; or it passes from saffron, to a rhubarb hue. The patches are occasionally proceeded by itching, are sometimes very slightly elevated, and then ter- minate in desquamation of the cuticle. They appear most frequently on the neck, over the region of the liver, and kidneys, in the groins, on the forehead, and sometimes about the mouth. They are either persistant, or of short duration. The transient form of this discoloration is very common in del- icate females, particularly those whose uterine functions are disordered, and at the period of the catamenia. They occasionally appear suddenly, and disappear as speedily after a few hours, but they often remain a very considera- ble time, especially when they are connected with the sup- pression of the menses, or with conception. This form of ephelis is also sometimes connected with chronic affections of the liver ; but more frequently with FRECKLES. 281 those of the stomach, and large bowels, and with those of the uterine organs. It is occasionally attendant upon hemorrhoids and is very readily excited in those liable to it, by vexation and anxiety of mind. It is also very gen- erally connected with a state of the digestive organs, char- acterized by a craving appetite, and imperfect digestion and assimilation. Freckles are a matter of serious consideration for the fair sex, and we cannot blame, either the girls, or their parents, from attempting by all justifiable means to remove them. But all scientific, and honest men concur in the belief as expressed by Celsus, centuries ago, of the folly of those who attempt to remove them. Human science can- not work against nature, unless by destruction. Any applications externally will be fruitless, notwithstanding the advertisements of nostrum-venders, and perfumers, whose panaceas and cosmetics are so lauded in the hired columns of the press. TREATMENT. But the more temporary Solar Ephelis can be materially benefitted and removed, and too, with such improvement to the natural complexion as to be very noticeable. This fact has become so apparent, that ladies do not hesitate to become seriously freckled,and burnt, during the summer sea- son, as a preparation for a brilliant winter campaign. The skin, having gone through this excitement, the cuticle ex- foliating and being renewed, and the activity that has been stimulated in the pigment layer, results in an unwonted purity, and brilliancy of the complexion, most desirable. I will give a few of the most celebrated recipes, useful in the acute forms, and also after the exposure has left a comparatively permanent darkening of the skin generally. Celsus advised a liniment of resin, rock salt, and honey; 282 OUR CHILDREN. Actuarius one of vinegar, honey, and bitter almonds, in emulsion. RAn Emulsion of Bitter Almonds 6 oz. Corrosive Sublimate, 2 gr. Mix. Sulphuric Acid, 1 dr. Spring Water, half a pint. Mix. Hydrochloric Acid, 12 drops. Rose Water, 1 pint. Mix. Horse Radish grated, and boiled in milk. Sour Buttermilk. Balsam of Mecca with super-acetate of lead, made into a pomatum,—left on the face all night. Juice oi Sorel, Lime juice, Camphor, Mixture, equal parts. Also, this last combined with nitrate of potash, or the milk of Sulphur, or with Yenetian Soap dissolved in lemon juice. Rub the parts with slices of lemon, or sour apples. Sulphate of Zinc, 1 dr. Glycerine, 4 oz. Mix. Biboratc of Soda, 2 dr. Orange Flower Water, 6 oz. Mix. These are to be generally applied at night, and allowed to remain till morning. The forms of Ephelis, which are symptoms of internal, and often organic diseases, are not to be tampered with by any popular, and domestic remedies. They evidence too serious disease to be trifled with ; least of all for any attempts at removal by resort to internal medication. Under proper medical care, they may be advantageously treated. They usually are connected with imperfect secre- tions, excretions and assimilations. These functions should be assisted by ifiild, cooling, and alterative purgations, light diet and moderate exercise. SKIN DEFORMITIES. 283 Very small, and frequent doses of blue pill, or ITydrarg et Greta may be given with Castile Soap, and Taraxicum; or with Aloes and Myrrh pills, if the catamenia are scan- ty, or with ox-gall in addition. The internal use of Crea- sote may be tried, and most Carbolic soaps, and lotions externally. Sulphurous, and mineral waters may also be taken, and lotions with the sulphuret of potassium, or with nitre and camphor juleps, or sulphuretted fumigating baths may be resorted to. Another source of annoying deformity comes from warts. This is an altered formation of the skin, in which certain of its elements are developed too fully, and at the expense of the other tissue. It cannot be considered so much a disease as an hypertrophy, a distorted enlargement of the external skin. WARTS. It is without any professional interest, and only noticea- ble because it makes itself so prominent, and so offensive in that respect, but being a reflex of many of the individu- als, to whom they appertain. They are caused by temporary excitements in the skin, and coming rapidly, and from slight local irritation, depart as quickly. They seem to be in no little degree under the influence of the mind, as is evident from the methods taken to get rid of them. I can remember the mental motion which possessed me, when about six or eight years old. I was taken into the garden, by the light of the moon of three days age only, and three crosses were lightly made over the warts which covered my hands, and repeated as often with great mys- tery, while the moon was shining over the left shoulder, and on to the warts, upon the south-west side of a venera- ble pear-tree. Whether or not, it was because my faith was OUR CHILDREN. not great enough, or from some other cause, I cannot say, hut it was found necessary to rub them with a bit of meat, which carefully, and with appropriate ceremonial exercises, we buried in the garden. I narrate these, as specimens of many similar methods of getting rid of them—which indeed, sometimes seem successful, hut which effect is owing rather to a coincidence, than to any action of the mind already alluded to. It is possible however, that like the efficacy of the King’s touch in Scrofula, formerly so famous for its supposed po- tency, the power of the mind may have some effect upon the nourishment of the part, the afflux of the blood to it, &G. There are many popular remedies, the acrid juices of numerous indigenous plants, as the milk-weed, hemlock, &c. The most effectual however, are some of the mineral caustics, such as the nitrate of silver, commonly known as lunar costic, nitric acid, applied with a glass tube, or a bit of wood, and allowed to act, till it eats it off. The most effectual remedy that I have found, is to be made by a careful druggist, after the following recipe. “P) Aquae, q. s. 11l Potassae Bicromate, q .8. to saturation, and add Acid Sulph. Fortis, until precipitation is finished. Pour off the superponant liquor, and dry the residuum on a tile. Permit no paper, or wood to come in contact. Then of this: K Chromic Acid, Aquae, a. a. Mix. and paint the wart with a glass brush once a day, till it disappears, or is too sore to repeat. If however, you have a very troublesome old, seed wart? that defies all the applications you have tried, the following plan will give the old fellow a pretty hard rub, and very A REAL BON-FIRE. 285 probably will be successful; but these old chaps are as hard to get rid of, as was Sinbad’s Old Man of the Moun- tain. Take a piece of Gum Camphor about the size of a split pea, and place it upon the top of the wart, and press it on so firmly, that it will not fall off’ by a slight shaking. Then with a match set it on fire. This will so disorganize it, that the chances of seeing it renewed, will be very slight. The pleasure of looking at the old fellow smoking, as a kind of retributive justice for the evil it has done in the world to you, will compensate very considerably for any slight pain the operation may inflict. There is one consolation about warts, and that is, they will go away of themselves in time. I don’t remember ever seeing one on an old person. To be sure, some have projections of the flesh which much resemble them, and even might have once been of this description ; but their anatomical character has changed, and even their appear- ance is not repulsive and objectionable as they were; even of these, very few are noticeable. CHAPTER XYIIL SUMMER COMPLAINT, AND WATER ON THE BRAIN. MANY centuries ago,by a kingly command,every son that was born among a whole nation, was cast into the river and destroyed. Thus,for a period,but one male child—Moses —was saved to perpetuate the race. Still later, by a few years, “ at midnight, the Lord smote all the tirst-born in the land of Egypt, * * * and there was not a house where there was not one dead.” At a subsequent period, King Herod “ sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under.” A similar lamentation and weeping arises—not at inter- vals of centuries, as in the above mentioned instances, but yearly—from this city. This occurs not in obedience to auy tyrannous edict, nor, as we can perceive, by any immediate, divine interposition, neither is it owing to any peculiar malarious influence from the soil or climate. Not a quarter of a century ago, this city was sought as a salu- brious resort by invalids from the country, desiring a change of air, and the refreshing breezes of the ocean. It is now, however, well known that disease more deadly than the pestilence of Egypt, more unsparing than kingly anger—annually sweep off hundreds and thousands of the blossom and beauty of this city and this country. Summer complaint, as it is generally known, is intimate- ly connected with teething. By many it is considered identical; but this idea is erroneous. It may, more cor- SUMMER COMPLAINT. 287 rectly, be considered a gastric-fever, as it is a disease of childhood; but, occurring most frequently in connection with dentition, it is greatly modified by this irritation. English writers call this complaint—as they see it—chron- ic diarrhoea; for in England they have little of that exces- sive heat which gives an additional intensity, aggravation and fatality, to this class of cases. It commences at a period coincident with the cutting of a tooth, when the bowels are in a state of sympathetic irri- tability, and disturbed by some improper article of food which the mother has begun to add to her own inadequate supply of milk. Mothers should remember this, and at such a time recollect that food, ordinarily inriocuous, may become indigestible to the debilitated stomach. In addition to these, add a sudden change in the weather—a week’s intense heat, or a thermometric fall, as we cornetimes see it, of some thirty or forty degrees-—and the child is taken with vomiting and purging. The house is alarmed, the doctor is got out of his bed and hurried to the scene. If this has continued for some time, the appearance of the child is greatly changed. The plump, rosy boy of yes- terday is pallid, ghastly, with sunken eyes and cold skin. One can scarcely believe that a few hours can have made such a change. He seems to have lost a quarter of his weight. If these evacuations have continued for some time, -we may presume that all offending material has thereby been removed. We may then give a tea-spoonful of the follow- ing mixture every hour. R Carbonate of Soda,. 2 scruples. Laudanum, 10 drops. Simple syrup, 1 oz. Caraway water, 1 oz. Mix. If this is rejected by the stomach, it will be best to give OUR CHILDREN. an injection, made by mixing four or five drops of lauda- num and five grains of bicarbonate of soda in a table-spoon- ful of thin, warm starcb. It is to be hoped that tins treatment will be successful. The vomiting is arrested, but a diarrhoea is very apt to en- sue, which is exceedingly troublesome and exhausting. The passages are green, slimy, and with a sour smell. We arrest this by giving a tea-spoonful, every three hours, of the following mixture: R Bicarbonate of Bismuth, 16 gr. Aromatic Chalk Powder, 2 scr. Simple Syrup, 1-2 oz. Mucilage of Tragacanth, 1-2 oz. Water, 1 oz. Mix. And at the same time introducing into the bowels one of the suppositories after every movement of the bowels: RPulvia Opii, 6 gr. Soda Bicarb, 2 scr. Butr. Cacao, 2 scr. Mix and divide into 12 suppositories. Suppositories are generally very badly made by the intro- duction of wax and other injurious ingredients, to facilitate their manipulation. I never prescribe them unless they are compounded by my own druggist, or by some one whom I am personally convinced makes them correctly. I will not attempt to follow out the treatment. I will say however, that I do not often find calomel requisite for the treatment of this complaint. Sometimes, indeed, it is absolutely necessary ; then I give it, but it is always with great hesitancy for it is very apt to have permanently injurious results. The food is very important in these cases. Nothing is so good as the breast of a healthy mother. If this is want- ing, the cow’s milk comes next, as spoken of in a previous article. The juices from a piece of roast beef or mutton DIET OF RA W MSA T. 289 are beneficial. If stimulants are needed—and they are, if the “ soft spot” on the top of the head sinks in—then beat up the white of an egg, add a cnp of milk, a tea-spoonful of brandy, sugar, and a few grains of nutmeg, and give half in the forenoon, and the remainder in the afternoon to the child. Drop the yolk into some boiling water, and feed this to him, with a little salt. If he still gets worse, try the modern French diet of raw meat, as recommended by the renowned Professor Trousseau, stopping all other food. A piece of raw mutton or rump steak is to be freed from gristle and fat, finely minced, and pounded in a mortar until reduced to a pulp. This is to be strained through a fine sieve or cloth to remove the blood vessels and cellular tissue. Of the meat thus prepared, a tea-spoonful is to be given at regular intervals four times a day, and every day the quantity is to be gradually increased, until half a pound a day is thus taken. During this treatment, no other food of any kind must be allowed, and no fluid but thin barley wate , or a drink make by mixing the unboiled whites of three eggs in a pint of water, sweetening it, and flavoring it with orange water. This diet usually causes the motions to have an intensely offensive smell, but this is of no consequence. The little patients often like the food, and take it eagerly. If, how- ever, it proves repugnant to them, it may be sweetened with white sugar, or it may be given in a little veal broth. While under this treatment, the only medicine required is the preparation, with bismuth, above given—with the addition, of one drop of laudanum to each dose. For the first few days the passages are horribly offensive, but the treatment must be followed up for a prolonged period till this entirely ceases. When there is a marked improvement, some tonic will probably be required, and the following will be found very useful: 290 OUR CHILDREN. K Liquid per-nitrate of Iron, 1-2 dr. Diluted Nitric Acid, 1-2 dr. Syrup of Ginger, 1 oz. Anise water, 3 oz. Mix, and give one or two tea-spoonfuls every six hours. Citrate of iron and quinine, or cod-liver oil, may be found necessary at an after period. I have only endeavored to outline this treatment, which has some novel features, in order to bring its leading pecu- liarities more distinctly before the community and those of the profession less “ up” in the novelties of the day. Hydrocephalus is the learned name for a disease affect- ing children from one to five or six years of age, and one too, which to the fond and doting parents seems to be an affliction carrying with it more than usual hardship. ■WATER ON THE BRAIN. The gardener, engaged in his husbandry, notices a ruddy apple upon some tree, which he regards with special inter- est. Day by day, he watches its growth, and notices how much more vigorous it seems, surpassing its fellows in size, and then, long before any of its neighbors have shown an evidence of approaching ripeness, this one commences to evince a change in its hue, and soon a bright ruddy streak on the side upon which the sun lies, shows that it is com- ing to a speedy maturity. It hangs high upon the bough, and the husbandman cannot give it the careful examina- tion that he would desire ; but he is not altogether satisfied with this precocity ; it is too far ahead of its fellows and he says to himself, “ That one will never come to the bar- rel.” But for a while it glistens in the sunshine, and the passing school-boy looks wistfully at it, and some day when he it unobserved, he shies a venturous stone toward it. lie does not hit very near, but the slight jar upon the bough is sufficient to separate it from the twig, and it falls WATER ON THE BRAIN. 291 and bursts open at bis feet, and reveals under that fair skin and that gorgeous hue, naught but rottenness and decay. That prematurely brilliant child, with the hectic flush on his cheek, his lustrous eye, and precocious intellect, is in condition, similar to a wormy apple. The delighted parent will in after years, dilate upon those budding charms, and the glorious prospect before him. “Ah ! had Georgy but lived, he would have made a wonderful man, for, when but a few months old, he could do this, and that, and at two years he was a prodigy.” And the sympathizing listener will swell the paean by the oft-repeated statement, that “ the smartest children generally die.” It is a pity to destroy this fond delusion, but the truth is, that this is but seeming. The dying candle flashes up with a startling brilliancy; the child, stimulated by disease, appears to be unusually intelligent. The heated blood which rushes so vigorously through the distended temples, carries a poison in its current; still it dashes along, and rapidly turns the wheels of life; but its apparent strength is but debility, and its brilliancy but the phosphorescence of decay. Water on the Brain is a disease of a scrofulous nature, like tabes mesenterica in very young children, hip com- plaints, rickets, and white swellings, in those older, and consumption and Bright’s disease in the advanced. It is a tuberculous manifestation upon the membranes of the brain, and often with it are, like tuberculous developments on various other organs of the body. It is very generally sup- posed to be the result of a fall, or a blow upon the head; and as children are always tumbling more or less, it is not difficult for parents or friends, to look back to some such accident, from whence to date the origin of the disease. Very likely, the slight or severe (as may be) injury which was then sustained, was the exciting cause of the disease, 292 OUR CHILDREN’. and the reason of its location in that tissue ; otherwise, the disease might have been delayed, and perhaps have been warded otf, and kept at abeyance for quite a period. But the seeds of disease are in the system, possibly inherited from a far-removed ancestry, the hereditary influence of excess in drinking, tobacco, venery, but more probably the result of some irregularity in the immediate parents—the temporary debility of some disease which vitiated the ele- ments of life, inspired into its being at its earliest incep- tion. But whatever may have been the remote cause, the proximate one has been some slight illness, which would have been of little moment to a healthy organization ; and the slight derangement consequent upon its presence, is sufficient to change a dormant malady to an active disease. The child commences to complain of pain in its head— possibly, is somewhat stupid; then a convulsion ensues, and perhaps several in immediate succession. Then comes on a series of changeable phenomena, which are, for a time, palliated. The disease soon proceeds to a rapid termina- tion, with acute inflammatory symptoms, very much re- sembling brain-fever in their main elements, and which is sufficiently puzzling to an ordinary physician not acquaint- ed with the family, and the general constitution of both them, and the immediate patient. The acute forms are quite frequently remedied by judi- cious treatment, where careful watching, and a temperate use of appropriate remedies are most apt to be beneficial; and where heroic treatment by the old-fashioned blisters and leeches, and large doses of mercurials are apt to fail very generally. Great benefit; is often obtained in these acute cases, where delirium, and other symptoms of inflam- mation of the brain are present, by minute doses of the corrosive sublimate of mercury, conjoined with fuller doses WATER ON THE BRAIN. 293 of the hydriodate of potassa. This treatment, however, should be under the immediate care of an acute physician, and one not too—wedded to old-fashioned notions. A little of the progressive, modern festinante lente will be found especially serviceable. If recovery from this acute stage is obtained, this happy, and not to be too confidently predicted result should be kept up by a general tonic regimen; by change of air, and plenty of it; nutritious food; avoidance of all intellectual exercise—giving up school for several years, perhaps—and the whole efforts devoted to invigorating the health, and renewing the stamina, by life in the open air, and generous living. Unfortunately, sometimes these children do neither get well or die, but relapse into a chronic condition, almost de- void of intelligence—sometimes with occasional convulsions, sometimes recognizing persons, but incapable of acquiring any knowledge more than, nor so much, as a dog; in fact, they are idiotic. They grow somewhat in statnre, but not to full size; but the head increases immensely, often to be three or four times the size of an adult cranium—too pon- derous to be held upright even for a moment, on its little pipe-stern of a neck, and consequently the person is constant- ly compelled to recline with the head on a pillow. The dis- tortion of the head, from the separation of its constituent bones; the divergent eyes, squinting and sightless from the weight of the water which fills the head, and presses on the brain, so as to destroy sense, and almost life—all these ren- der the patient an object of disgust, especially where there is not sufficient money in the family to enable one to be sufficiently cared for. Death is a boon, and it comes, often, not for many years. I have lately seen a girl of some twenty years of age, and several of six to ten years. I had the photographs of one girl taken some years ago, OUR CHILDREN. whose head was the largest on record. It was some twen- ty-four inches over the cranium from one ear to the other. Many attempts have been made to remedy this distress- ing state of things. By tapping, the effused fluids have been removed; but they have either filled up again, or fatal inflammation has ensued. Medicines have been unavailing in the attempts to absorb them. The system generally is weak, and exhausted nature yields, after rarely continuing a struggle more than a few years. PURULENT OPHTHALMIA OF THE NEW-BORN. The first complaint to which a child is subject, is inflam- mation of the eyes, or ophthalmia neonatorum. The im- portance of this disorder is very apt to be overlooked by mothers, and more especially by the monthly nurses, who are very fond of magnifying their calling, by treating them in their own way with domestic remedies, and lotions of supposed inherited value, or something brought with them from their last place. I wish mothers who may read this, to remember that a larger percentage of the blind children of five years old and less, are the result of this ignorant treatment—that it is a disease which is very controllable, yielding to very slight medicines, and that the horrible result of total blind- ness is owing, almost always, to neglect, or worse still, to improper treatment. The disease itself originates from contagion, in a great many cases. The mother very often has some irritating vaginal secretion, sometimes of a specific character, which gets into the eyes of the child at birth; and the third day after, as a result of this inoculation, we note the first signs of redness and ichorous discharge from the eyes. Sometimes, the cause is less evidently pertaining to the accident of birth ; it may be from cold, more probably the BLINDNESS. 295 result of soap getting into tlie eyes by carelessness at the first washings. Sometimes, from the exigencies of the birth, and to excite tardy circulation of the blood through the dormant capillaries, the child has been stimulated by a free ablution with spirits over the head and body, some of which, entering between the eyelids, has resulted in this inflammatory action. Let the cause be as it may, the result may be fearful in- deed, for the eyelids soon become agglutinated together, and the sack thus formed is speedily filled with a thick, puriform matter, which gushes out in a scalding stream, accompanied by the screams of the little sufferer. One word of caution: This discharge is markedly con- tagious, and if it enters into the eyes of the attendant, or mother, or any other child, will produce equally fearful re- sults. Care, therefore, must be taken with regard to all utensils, cloths, and handkerchiefs, that they may not con- vey this infection. Do not attempt to “ hide this from the doctor,” or trust to “ washing it with mother’s milk,” or any such fanciful treatment. If the medical attendant is visiting, refer to him; if not, gently, but firmly and quickly, open the lids, and see—if you can—the cornea of the eye. If able, the case is comparatively trivial, and you can trust for a day or two, to inserting between the lids a few drops of alum- water—about four to six grains to an ounce of water—or a few drops of quite strong green tea, at the same time smear- ing the edge of the lids with a little lard or cold cream, to prevent them re-adhering. If this is not successful, try six grains of the sulphate of zinc in a wine-glass of rose-water—-or, better still, four grains of the crystals of nitrate of silver in an ounce of dis- tilled water—but don’t daub face, clothes, fingers, and everything else, with this indellible stain. 296 OUR CHILD REX. Be sure that these eye-lotions go between the lids, and on to the eyeball—no matter if it does smart a little. Keep the eyes covered with a hit of rag constantly wet with cold water. The bowels should not he permitted to get confined. If yon don’t find the child improving; if, on the contrary, it is getting fretful, the eyelids redder and more tumid, and the iris invisible, get a real, live doctor, or your child will require a dog to lead him about for a lifetime of reproach to your neglect. He may think a leech near the eyelid de- sirable, or some more energetic application. If you are wise, you will say, “ Whatever is best, do it, doctor. Save me from future reproach, nor let those sightless orbs refuse to look upon one whose false tender-heartedness, or more culpable neglect, caused such mournful ruin.” CHAPTER XIX. WHOOPING-COUGH. TTTIIOOPHSTG-COUGH (Pertussis—chin-cough) is t f not often a very serious disease, yet occasionally one dies from it. The only case that I have myself seen succumbing to it, was my own, only son, when but a few weeks old. To most contagious diseases, the newly born child is generally exempt. Scarlet fever, and measles, and often small-pox, will be in a family, and every one in it— not free from it by reason of previous attacks—will be seiz- ed with it, except the child nursing at the breast. Quite on the contrary, a child born into a house where whooping- cough is present, will be most likely to take this disease immediately, and will cough in a very few days afterward, and the disease will be fully recognizable in a week’s time. This complaint commences very much like a common cold, often with a running at the nose, sneezing, redness of the eyes, a dry cough, and febrile symptoms. In quite a pro- portion of cases, there is also local inflammatory affection of the lungs, to a greater or less extent. Gradually, how- ever, the general symptoms subside, but the cough increases, and takes on a more marked paroxysmal character, till finally, at about the end of a week or ten days, there is a well-marked, distinct whoop, upon inspiration, added to the characteristic paroxysmal manifestation. The disease has now passed the first, or catarrhal inflammatory stage, and entered upon the second, or spasmodic stage. 13* 7 298 OUR CHILDREN. Now, at irregular intervals, without any apparently de- fined cause, and also when suddenly startled, aroused from sleep, or desiring to drink, the child is seized with an irre- sistible impulse to cough, and the cough is broken, instead of occupying the entire period of expiration, and this is continued until all the air is expelled from the lungs. Then comes the inspiration, which is long and forcible, and accompanied by a whooping sound, as if the breath were drawn, as it really is, through a contracted passage. This continues for a more or less prolonged period—from half a second, to sometimes fifteen minutes, with slight inter- vals. The paroxysm is often a fearful spectacle. The child that, perhaps, is sleeping in the sweet unconsciousness of innocence, is awakened by this fearful cough, and a sense of strangulation. It leaps up from the bed into a sitting posture, and seizes upon any one standing near, as if in fear, and for support. The face becomes flushed, tumid, sometimes of a purplish, or livid hue; the veins in the neck and throat are distended, and the eyes seemingly about to be forced out of the head, blood-shotten, and suffused with tears. It would appear as if strangulation was imminent. In violent cases, the blood escapes from the nose, mouth, and ears, and the urine and foeces are discharged involun- tarily. No wonder fond parents are alarmed at the appar- ently imminent danger, and evident fear and suffering of the child. Gradually, however, the paroxysm lessens in intensity, and the cough ceases entirely. The child is apparently feeble and trembling, after the gust has passed away. The pulse and breathing are both hurried, as would be expected. Soon, however, the child seems as before, and, apparently forgetful of the past trouble, playing about as ever. This is the general character of the second stage, WHOOPING COUGH. 299 The “ let up ” of the paroxysm is accompanied by an expectoration of a strong, stringy mucus, sometimes in very large quantities, colorless, unless streaked with blood, and without odor. Sometimes it would seem as if it was the difficulty of expectorating this, that was the cause of the entire difficulty; at others, it is discharged with such great ease, that it seems to have no relation to the spas- modic action. Frequently it is not got rid of until its exit is effected by the straining accompanying vomiting. When the stomach has thus been emptied, the relieved child will proceed immediately to eating, as if nothing had hap- pened. The paroxysms generally increase in intensity for about four weeks, when the disease usually reaches its height. It seems then to remain almost stationary, for some three weeks longer, and from this period, it begins to gradually decline, constituting the third stage of the complaint—the paroxysms getting less and less frequent, and their intensi- ty diminishing, till the whoop entirely fades away, and shortly after, every trace of the catarrhal symptoms disap- pear likewise. This is the ordinary manifestation in the simpler cases, but it is liable to various modifications. If the disease appears in the fall or winter, it may continue until the balmy spring air carries away the last traces; for even when it has entirely disappeared, and no whoop has been noticed for some weeks even, it will sometimes reappear with al- most as marked severity as before, upon the occasion of some cold, or slight bronchial irritation after exposure. In some cases, the disease is so slight as to be with diffi- culty determined ; in others, the severity of the paroxysms seems to threaten suffocation, and by the pressure at the brain, fatal convulsions are sometimes brought on, or the child dies from asphyxia, from the complete closure of the OUR CHILDREN.' glottis. Sometimes, when very prolonged, the emaciation is so great as to be exhaustive. But with proper treatment such cases are rare. The greatest danger arises from the complication with other diseases, as inflammation of the lungs, and contagious diseases, cholera infantum, &c. Treatment in mild cases is almost unnecessary, a slight expectorant being all that is required. The first stage needs the treatment ordinary to inflammatory diseases of the chest and air-passages, and, usually being unsuspected, it is thus treated. The second stage requires anti-spasmodic treatment, and almost all the cough medicines contain assafoetida in large proportion. This may be given with benefit in twenty- drop doses of the tincture, in a little sweetened milk, or a tea-spoonful in a table-spoonful of warm milk and water, as an injection into tho bowels, once or twice a day. I have usually made a prescription something like the follow- ing, for a child a year or two old: K Camphor Mixture, 2 dr. Tine, of Assafoetida, 2 dr. Hydrocyanic Acid, 20 drops. Syrup of Ipecac, 2 dr. Tine. Lobelia, 1-2 dr. Tine. Cochineal, 1 dr. Syrup of Tolu, 1 ounce. Mix:—Dose, From a half to a tea-spoonful every two to four hours. As the disease declines, the treatment should not be stopped, but diminished in quantity and frequency. If the debility should be great, tonics may be required—bark, iron, etc. In case of convulsions occurring in the course of the disease, the assafoetida should be given as recommended already, and in increased doses; garlic poultices to the frictions with garlic and spirit along the spine, and perhaps a warm bath. Yaccination is said to have a decided modifying influence TREATMENT OF WHOOPING COUGH. 301 over the disease; if therefore, the child has not been vac- cinated, a trial should be made of its alleged prophylactic properties. I have seen no satisfactory results from this treatment. The diet in the first stage should be moderate and un- stimulating. In the second and third, light but nutritious —milk, eggs, soups, the boiled breast of fowl, custards, jel- lies, and the like. During the first stage the child should be kept in a warm, close room, but as he advances into the purely spasmodic stage he will obtain great benefit from pure, dry air. In- deed, there is no greater benefit derivable than from a change of air—more particularly from the city, into the country, or to mountain air. Dryness of atmosphere is especially desirable, but any change is beneficial, even from one part of the town to another. In the winter a perma- nent removal to a wTarm climate is useful. Whooping cough is mainly a disease of children, and as a general, rule occurs but once in the same individual, yet parents are very apt to have a sympathetic, spasmodic cough when their children are suffering, even when they are known to have themselves had the disease, as children. When adults have the disease for the first time, wdiich rarely happens, it is very apt to be quite severe and alarm- ing to the patient. It has sometimes been mistaken for rapid consumption, and patients have hurried off to Hav- ana, and like warm climates, at an undesirable expense and loss of business. A careful diagnosis, with auscultation, will generally determine the condition of things better. There is no form of disease, which more profoundly impresses the spectator than “ fitsfor, whether witnessed in the strong man, the puny child, or those lower animals CONVULSIONS OF CHILDREN. 302 OUR CHILDREN. that fill a warm place in our affections, they always arouse our deepest sympathy. From apparent health to the prostration of an imminent death, the transition is so mo- mentary that we are involuntarily thrilled with horror, Hor can we witness such a spectacle without a thought of Him who holds us, so plainly, “in the hollow of His hand.” The most worldly cannot but be impressed with awe, and a feeling involuntarily arises that we are but shadows, and pursuing like fleeting, unsubstantial nothings. We look at a man of pomp and power, now the master of all around, proud in his possessions, and imperious in his will. Just now his anger is aroused, he rises in his might to hurl his imprecations against some offending one, but ere the sentence is complete, and his angered lips can utter his scathing rebuke—ere he can frame a thought of pardon, for past, and perhaps for present wrong-doings, his strength is suddenly stripped from him, his power, and pride, and possessions all gone, even his curling lip refuses to own his mastery, and he falls headlong, unconscious, prone upon the ground he but this instant trod, its puta- tive lord! Look at that soft-haired, blue-eyed cherub, redolent with joy, whose April showers but give a sparkle to the counte- nance, and whose unconscious innocence and purity con- trast so deliciously with the world around. How sweetly he coos and prattles on the white bosom of his fond, doting mother! How serene and happy is all around! This, surely, is Paradise. Why need we think of past ante-dilu- vian purity ? Why need we look forward to any future more unclouded than this ? We have scarcely framed the thought, nor has our ton- gue found time to utter an expression of our beatitude, when, turning again to look at our cherub-boy, we note a horrible, appalling change. That radiant countenance, CONVULSIONS. 303 wherein purity and love seemed to have been seated, is black and distorted, the eyes are rolling and glaring with unnatural brightness, and every limb, and muscle, and nerve seemed strained to their utmost tension, as the beau- tiful babe writhes in a fearful convulsion. Was the past but a dream ? Is the present but a fancy 2 There is a form of convulsions that sometimes accompa- nies one’s entrance into being; a peculiar form, having some unusual manifestations, one of which is lockjaw, which, except at intervals, prevents the child from opening its mouth, nursing, and sometimes even interfering with its powers of swallowing. This trismus nascentium has many theories connected with its cause, but I know from my own observation that some of these—marked cases, too—are the result of injury to, or pressure upon the brain. I have seen cases instantane- ously relieved, after a week or ten days’ duration, by pres- sure upon the back head, and thus removing an obstruction, caused by overlapping parietal, and occipital bones. But this state of things I have seen continue for nearly a year’s time, with occasional intermittence of a few hours, life being sustained only by assiduous care, and finally, in spite of all that a mother’s exhaustless and untiring love could do, succumbing and wasting away. These cases come directly under the physician’s supervision, and to him, I leave the not easy task of devising appropriate treat- ment. A simpler form of convulsions seizes the babe, that has been allowed to run about, and cram anything, and every- thing into its mouth—berries and raisins, and bits of the peel or core of fruit, or fruit-cake, or he has perhaps, swal- lowed a large piece of meat, or drank old milk which has curdled in his stomach. A little syrup of ipecac soon dislodges 304 OUR CHILDREN. tills inappropriate food, and the next day finds him as blithe as ever. So, too, a sudden fit of anger, or great excitement in the mother, may produce such a change in the milk that she secretes, as to immediately affect the child ; and instances are known of death ensuing immediately after nursing from such disturbed mothers. As an ordinary occurrence, the green and slimy passages of the child show the temper of the parent. The most common convulsions, however, are those which accompany teething. The nervous system preponderates in many children, and the slightest disturbance of the system manifests itself immediately in a spasm. Sometimes with every set of teeth (for they usually come in double pairs), a paroxysm of this character seems to be necessary. It proceeds from the double cause of an unusual rush of blood toward the head, attendant upon the development of the teeth, and next, upon the irritation caused by the pres- sure of the growing teeth upon the firm periosteal mem- brane, which incases the jaw-bone. The finger placed upon the gums finds them swollen, hot and dry. Eelief is almost immediate, when this tense, inelastic band is severed. Mothers sometimes do this by firm pressure with a thim- ble—which gives unnecessary pain by its bruising opera- tions—and the child instinctively seizes upon any hard sub- stance, and bites vigorously upon it, in obedience to its nat- ural impulse. Do not, then, object to the physician’s “ cutting the gums.” The cries that the child may utter are owfing far more to the presence of a strange person, to its unusual position, and the slight restraint by which it is held in a convenient position, than to any pain proceeding from the cutting through this almost senseless matter. Many persons have fears that fatal bleeding may ensue. Children do, in excessively rare instances, die after having CONVULSIONS. 305 tlie gums cut, from the bleeding therefrom, as an active symptom, but the actual disease is one of the blood, whereby its organic properties are changed, and this is always evinced by purple blotches and spots under the skin, resembling “black and blue spots,” which are always more or less to be seen, and is a distinct disease in itself of considerable seriousness, and which was overlooked by the physician, who ascribed all the disturbance of the system to the ordinary act of teething. Another form of convulsions, usually accompanied by stupor, and a rolling of the head and eyes, with a slow and half regular motion from one side to the other, is seen in the advanced stages of cholera infantum. This arises from sympathetic sntfusion of the brain, and this again sometimes from the effect of a continued, and perhaps, ex- cessive use of narcotic and anodyne treatment. We may advantageously apply bladders of ice to the head, and give small quantities of coffee, and for a time at least, omit any form of opium, or morphine which may have been employ- ed. It is, however, a bad symptom, showing great pros- tration, greatly excited nervous sympathies, and is very apt to be a prelude to the coming of the Great Reaper. The most severe form of convulsions, perhaps with less struggling, but with more prolonged stupor, is seen when characterizing the onset of acute disease, and more especially of measles and scarlatina and small-pox, and the like. The persistence of lethargy, the complete unconsciousness and utter inability to be aroused, leads the physician to suspect some formidable disease to be behind all, and that this is but a masked battery. A few hours will tell the tale, if death does not prevent the manifestation of the eruption. The diagnosis is materially strengthened if these diseases are rife, and if the patient has been exposed to the infection. The treatment imperatively demanded is a brisk purge, 306 OUR CHILDREN-. hot baths, hot, diluent drinks, ice to the head and neck, with every endeavor to draw the disease where it should be, to the skin. And this form of treatment is to be espe- cially called for, where, in the course of the disease, there is a sudden recession, with similar symptoms. These cases come so certainly under medical direction, that it is unnec- essary to enlarge upon the minute treatment. JBloios and falls on the head are apt to occasion vomit- ing, showing concussion of the brain. If the skull is not fractured there is little danger to be apprehended. Still, if the stupor persists, and convulsions ensue, and there be any after want of perfect intelligence, or the usual bright- ness, there is danger of inflammation of the membranes of the brain, perhaps of its very substance. Under any circumstances, it is well to keep the child at home a few days, watching if any thing occurs, intermit- ting his studies till every sign of disturbance has passed away. If there be any hereditary taint, any consumption in the family, unusual care should be taken lest there ensue a tuberculous condition of the brain, marked by effusion, or what is called water on the hrain. Should there be any doubt respecting this, you will get more than five dollars worth of comfort by consulting a judicious doctor, even if he should laugh at your foolish fears, and talk about “hens with one chicken,” and the* like, in order to set your mind at rest. People pay willingly for a bottle of wine, or an opera ticket, but I have yet to see money give more satisfaction than when paid to a physician who says “ Go home, little woman, and don’t worry; your baby will be all right in a few days, and you will soon forget all about this bugbear of a fall.” ' CHAPTEE XX. TEETHING GROUP WHITE SWELLING THE teeth are the source of an immense amount of suf- fering and trouble to the human race. Animals very rarely suffer in the wild state. The young get their milk- teeth, shed these, and their permanent set succeeds, with no trouble that is apparent to us. In the state of nature they rarely decay, and none but elephants, in the tame state ever have tooth-ache, or any decay of the teeth, of which we are aware. But the human animal—and the more civilized, the more troubled he is—from the cradle to the grave, finds in these organs a constant source of disease and annoyance. When about six months old, the child commences to bite while nursing, to seize upon every article within his reach, and carrying them to his mouth, to press his boneless gums upon them. The finger, placed in the mouth, will find the gums most generally hotter than natural, and somewhat protuberant, in either the under or upper pair, or both. Teeth usually come in sets of four, two upper and two lower. They often do appear very irregularly, sometimes the eye-teeth first, and indeed occasionally a molar, or double tooth, appears before any other ; but usually, it is the four front-teeth, first the two, either upper or lower, and then about a week after, the other pair. Then comes a rest of six or eight weeks, and then two on either side of those that first appeared, and after an interval of a week or ten days, the corresponding ones in the other jaw. 308 OUR CHILDREN'. After another delay of a month or two, and the first four molars appear in the same manner. Again, a similar rest, and the next four molars, to be followed by another respite of about the same time, or a little longer, and then the eye and stomach-teeth appear. It will be some months still, before the final grinders fill the set, and this first teething is accomplished. How easy it is to describe all this, and how hard is the performance 1 If the poor little darlings suffer, in getting their mouthful correspondingly to wThat I did in getting four miserable wisdom-teeth, born to rot unseen, and waste their perfume—Lord! how I pity them! And I have no doubt they do suffer. Feel their hot gums, their burning brows. See how the irritation is transferred to their vital organs, and their sweet food sours on their sympathizing stomachs, and they vomit its acid curds, and their suffering bowels reject it, green and noi- some. Their heated gums draw the blood to the head, and perhaps they are seized wdth convulsions. Yes, indeed, suffering and teeth are identical. And the physician endeavors to relieve the convulsions, by drawing the blood away from the head by hot applica- tions to the extremities, and by cooling applications to the throbbing brows. The teeth are restrained from protrud- ing, by some delay in the absorption of the thick, periosteal membrane overlaying the tooth, and with a lancet he divides this retarding band, and liberates the teeth, and relieved of the pressure, and also by the slight loss of blood from the over-loaded vessels, the pain is assuaged, the sympa- thetic convulsion passes away, and this difficulty ceases. Occasionally a child bleeds to death from the cutting of the gums, and parents sometimes wrongly blame the physi- cians for having done so. This is altogether an error. The doctor may have neither cut unskillfully nor improperly. CUTTING THE GUMS. 309 Had tlie gums not been divided, the child would probably have died from the congestion of the brain, and convulsion. The bleeding that resulted, was from the unsuspected exist- ence of another disease, called purpura hcemorrhagica, which is a disease of the blood, and which would have manifested itself shortly in dysentery, or in blood spots, appearing under the skin, nose-bleed,