Chapter XV: Part III: Boyhood and Girlhood (3)

A young lady's fainting occasionally arises from debility--from downright weakness of the constitution; then the best remedies will be, change of air to the coast, good nourishing diet, and the following strengthening mixture:

Take of--Tincture of Perchloride of Iron, two drachms;
Tincture of Calumba, six drachms;
Distilled Water, seven ounces:

Two table-spoonfuls of this mixture to be taken three times a day.

Or for a change, the following:--

Take of--Wine of Iron, one ounce and a half
Distilled Water, six ounces and a half

To make a Mixture. Two table spoonfuls to be taken three times a day.

Iron medicines ought always to be taken _after_ instead of _before_ a meal. The best times of the day for taking either of the above mixtures will be eleven o'clock, four o'clock, and seven o'clock.

376. _You had a great objection to a mother administering calomel either to an infant or to a child, have you the same objection to a boy or a girl taking it when he or she requires an aperient_?

Equally as great. It is my firm belief that the frequent use, or rather the abuse, of calomel and of other preparations of mercury, is often a source of liver disease and an exciter of scrofula. It is a medicine of great value in some diseases, when given by a _judicious_ medical man, but, at the same time, it is a drag of great danger when either given indiscriminately, or when too often prescribed. I will grant that in liver diseases it frequently gives temporary relief, but when a patient has once commenced the regular use of it, he cannot do without it, until, at length, the _functional_ ends in _organic_ disease of the liver. The use of calomel predisposes to cold, and thus frequently brings on either inflammation or consumption. Family aperient pills ought never to contain, in any form whatever, a particle of mercury.

377. _Will you give me a list of remedies for the prevention and for the cure of constipation_?

If you find it necessary to give your son or daughter an aperient, the mildest should be selected, for instance, an agreeable and effectual one, is an electuary composed of the following ingredients--

Take of--Beat Alexandria Senna, powdered, one ounce
Best figs, two ounces,
Best Raisins (stoned), two ounces,

All chopped very fine. The size of a nutmeg or two to be eaten, either early in the morning or at bedtime.

Or, one or two tea-spoonfuls of Compound Confection. of Senna (lenitive electuary) may occasionally, early in the morning, be taken. Or, for a change, a tea-spoonful of Henry's Magnesia, in half a tumblerful of warm water. If this should not be sufficiently active, a tea-spoonful of Epsom salts should be given with the magnesia. A Seidlitz Powder forms another safe and mild aperient, or one or two Compound Rhubarb Pills may be given at bed time. The following prescription for a pill, where an aperient is absolutely necessary, is a mild, gentle, and effective one for the purpose--

Take of--Extract of Socotrine Aloes, eight grains,
Compound Extract of Colocynth, forty-eight grains,
Hard Soap, twenty four grains,
Treacle, a sufficient quantity

To make twenty four Pills. One or two to be taken at bedtime occasionally.

But, after all, the best opening medicines are--cold ablutions every morning of the whole body, attention to diet, variety of food, bran-bread, grapes, stewed prunes, French plums, Muscatel raisins, figs, fruit both cooked and raw--if it be ripe and sound, oatmeal porridge, lentil powder, in the form of Du Barry's Arabica Revalenta, vegetables of all kinds, especially spinach, exercise in the open air, early rising, daily visiting the water-closet at a certain hour--there is nothing keeps the bowels open so regularly and well as establishing the habit of visiting the water-closet at a certain hour every morning, and the other rules of health specified in these Conversations. If more attention were paid to these points, poor school boys and school girls would not be compelled to swallow such nauseous and disgusting messes as they usually do to their aversion and injury.

Should these plans not succeed (although in the majority of cases, with patience and perseverance, they will) I would advise an enema once or twice a week, either simply of warm water, or of one made of gruel, table-salt, and olive-oil, in the proportion of two table-spoonfuls of salt, two of oil, and a pint of warm gruel, which a boy may administer to himself, or a girl to herself, by means of a proper enema apparatus.

Hydropathy is oftentimes very serviceable in preventing and in curing costiveness; and as it will sometimes prevent the necessity of administering medicine, it is both a boon and a blessing. "Hydropathy also supplies us with various remedies for constipation. From the simple glass of cold water, taken early in the morning, to the various douches and sea-baths, a long list of useful appliances might be made out, among which we may mention the 'wet compresses' worn for three hours over the abdomen [bowels], with a gutta percha covering."

I have here a word or two to say to a mother who is always physicking her family. It is an unnatural thing to be constantly dosing either a child, or any one else, with medicine. One would suppose that some people were only sent into the world to be physicked! If more care were paid to the rules of health, very little medicine would be required! This is a hold assertion; but I am confident that it is a true one. It is a strange admission for a medical man to make, but, nevertheless, my convictions compel me to avow it.

378. _What is the reason girls are so subject to costiveness_?

The principal reason why girls suffer more from costiveness than boys, is that their habits are more sedentary; as the best opening medicines in the world are an abundance of exercise, of muscular exertion, and of fresh air. Unfortunately, poor girls in this enlightened age must be engaged, sitting all the while, several hours every day at fancy work, the piano, and other accomplishments; they, consequently, have little time for exercise of any kind. The bowels, as a matter of course, become constipated; they are, therefore, dosed with pills, with black draughts, with brimstone and treacle--Oh! the abomination! --and with medicines of that class, almost _ad infinitum_. What is the consequence? Opening medicines, by constant repetition, lose their effects, and, therefore, require to be made stronger and still stronger, until at length, the strongest will scarcely act at all, and the poor unfortunate girl, when she becomes a woman, _if she ever does become one_, is spiritless, heavy, doll, and listless, requiring daily doses of physic, until she almost lives on medicine!

All this misery and wretchedness proceed from Nature's laws having been set at defiance, from _artificial_ means taking the place of _natural_ ones--from a mother adopting as her rule and guide fashion and folly, rather than reason and common sense. When will a mother awake from her folly and stupidity? This is strong language to address to a lady, but it is not stronger than the subject demands.

Mothers of England do, let me entreat you, ponder well upon what I have said. Do rescue your girls from the bondage of fashion and of folly, which is worse than the bondage of the Egyptian task masters, for the Israelites did, in making bricks without straw, work m the open air--"So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw," but your girls, many of them, at least, have no work, either in the house or in the open air--they have no exercise whatever. They are poor, drawling, dawdling, miserable nonentities, with muscles, for the want of proper exercise, like ribands, and with faces, for the lack of fresh air, as white as a sheet of paper. What a host of charming girls are yearly sacrificed at the shrine of fashion and of folly.

Another, and a frequent cause of costiveness, is the bad habit of disobeying the call of having the bowels opened. The moment there is the slightest inclination to relieve the bowels, _instantly_ it ought to be attended to, or serious results will follow. Let me urge a mother to instil into her daughter's mind the importance of this advice.

379. _Young people are subject to pimples on the face, what is the remedy_?

These hard red pimples (acne--"the grub pimple") are a common and an obstinate affection of the skin, affecting the forehead, the temples, the nose, the chin, and the cheeks, occasionally attacking the neck, the shoulders, the back, and the chest; and as they more frequently affect the young, from the age of 15 to 35, and are disfiguring, they cause much annoyance. "These pimples are so well known by most persons as scarcely to need description; they are conical, red, and hard; after a while, they become white, and yellow at the point, then discharge a thick, yellow-coloured matter, mingled with a whitish substance, and become covered by a hard brown scab, and lastly, disappear very slowly, sometimes very imperfectly, and often leaving an ugly scar behind them. To these symptoms are not unfrequently added considerable pain, and always much unsightliness. When these little cones have the black head of a 'grub' at their point, they constitute the variety termed _spotted acne_. These latter often remain stationary for months, without increasing or becoming red; but when they inflame, they are in nowise different in their course from the common kind."--_Wilson on Healthy Skin_.

I find, in these cases, great benefit to be derived from bathing the face, night and morning, with strong salt and water--a table-spoonful of table-salt to a tea-cupful of water; by paying attention to the bowels; by living on plain, wholesome, nourishing food; and by taking a great of out-door exercise. Sea-bathing, in these cases, is often very beneficial. Grubs and worms have a mortal antipathy to salt.

380. _What is the cause of a Gum-boil_?

A decayed root of a tooth, which causes inflammation and abscess of the gum, which abscess breaks, and thus becomes a gum-boil.

381. _What is the treatment of a Gum-boil_?

Foment the outside of the face with a hot camomile and poppy head fomentation, [Footnote: Four poppy heads and four ounces of camomile blows to be boiled in four pints of water for half an hoar, and then to be strained to make the fomentation.] and apply to the gum-boil, between the cheek and the gum, a small white bread and milk poultice, [Footnote: Cut a piece of bread, about the size of the little finger-- without breaking it into crumb--pour boiling hot milk upon it, cover it over, and let it stand for five minutes, then apply the soaked bread over the gum-boil, letting it rest between the cheek and the gum.] which renew frequently.

As soon as the gum-boil has become quiet, _by all means_ have the affected tooth extracted, or it might cause disease, and consequently serious injury of the jaw; and whenever the patient catches cold there will be a renewal of the inflammation, of the abscess, and of the gum-boil, and, as a matter of course, renewed pain, trouble, and annoyance. Moreover, decayed fangs of teeth often cause the breath to be offensive.

382. _What is the best remedy for a Corn_?

The best remedy for a _hard corn_ is to remove it. The usual method of cutting, or of paring a corn away, is erroneous. The following is the right way--Cut with a _sharp_ pair of pointed scissors around the circumference of the corn. Work gradually round and round and towards the centre. When you have for some considerable distance well loosened the edges, you can either with your fingers or with a pair of forceps generally remove the corn bodily, and that without pain and without the loss of any blood: this plan of treating a corn I can recommend to you as being most effectual.

If the corn be properly and wholly removed it will leave a small cavity or round hole in the centre, where the blood-vessels and the nerve of the corn--vulgarly called the root--really were, and which, in point of fact, constituted the very existence or the essence of the corn. Moreover, if the corn be entirely removed, you will, without giving yourself the slightest pain, be able to squeeze the part affected between your finger and thumb.

_Hard corns_ on the sole of the foot and on the sides of the foot are best treated by filing--by filing them with a sharp cutting file (flat on one side and convex on the other) neither too coarse nor too fine in the cutting. The corn ought, once every day, to be filed, and should daily be continued until you experience a slight pain, which tells you that the end of the corn is approaching. Many cases of _hard corn_ that have resisted every other plan of treatment, have been _entirely_ cured by means of the file. One great advantage of the file is, it cannot possibly do any harm, and may be used by a timid person--by one who would not readily submit to any cutting instrument being applied to the corn.

The file, if properly used, is an effectual remedy for a _hard_ corn on the sole of the foot. I myself have seen the value of it in several cases, particularly in one case, that of an old gentleman of ninety five, who had had a corn on the sole of his foot for upwards of half a century, and which had resisted numerous, indeed almost innumerable remedies, at length I recommended the file, and after a few applications entire relief was obtained, and the corn was completely eradicated.

The corns between the toes are called _soft corns_. A _soft corn_ is quickly removed by the strong Acetic Acid--Acid. Acetic Fort--which ought to be applied to the corn every night by means of a camel's hair brush. The toes should be kept asunder for a few minutes, in order that the acid may soak in, then apply between the toes a small piece of cotton wool.

Galbanum Plaster spread either on wash leather, or on what is better, on an old white kid glove, has been, in one of our medical journals, strongly recommended as a corn plaster, it certainly is an admirable one, and when the corn is between the toes is sometimes most comfortable--affording immense relief.

Corns are like the little worries of life--very teazing and troublesome a good remedy for a corn--which the Galbanum Plaster undoubtedly is-is therefore worth knowing.

_Hard corns_, then, on the sole and on the side of the foot are best treated by the file, _hard corns_ on the toes by the scissors, and _soft corns_ between the toes either by the strong Acetic Acid or by the Galbanum Plaster.

In the generality of cases the plans recommended above, if properly performed, will effect a cure, but if the corn, from pressure or from any other cause, should return, remove it again, and proceed as before directed. If the corn have been caused either by tight or by ill fitting shoes, the only way to prevent a recurrence is, of course, to have the shoes, properly made by a clever shoemaker--by one who thoroughly understands his business, and who will have a pair of lasts made purposely for the feet. [Footnote: As long as fashion instead of common sense is followed in the making of both boots and shoes, men and women will, as a matter of course, suffer from corns.

It has, often struck me as singular, when all the professions and trades are so overstocked, that there should be, as there is in every large town, such a want of chiropodists (corn-cutters)--of respectable chiropodists--of men who would charge a _fixed_ sum for every visit the patient may make, for instance to every working man a shilling, and to every gentleman half-a-crown or five shillings for _each_ sitting, and not for _each_ corn (which latter system is a most unsatisfactory way of doing business). I am quite sure that of such a plan were adopted, every town of any size in the kingdom would employee regularly one chiropodist at least. However we might dislike some few of the American customs, we may copy them with advantage in this particular--namely, in having a regular staff of chiropodists both in civil and in military life.]

The German method of making boots and shoes is a capital one for the prevention of corns, as the boots and shoes are made, scientifically to fit a _real_ and not an _ideal_ foot.

One of the best preventatives of as well as of the best remedies for corns, especially of soft corns between the toes, is washing the feet every morning as recommended in a previous Conversation, [Footnote: Youth--Ablution, page 250.] taking especial care to wash with the thumb, and afterwards to wipe with the towel between each toe.

383. _What are the best remedies to destroy a Wart_?

Pure nitric acid, [Footnote: A very small quantity of Pure Nitric Acid--just a drain at the bottom of a stoppered bottle--is all that is needed, and which may be procured of a chemist.] carefully applied to the wart by means of a small stick of cedar wood--a camel's hair pencil-holder--every other day, will soon destroy it. Care must be taken that the acid does not touch the healthy skin, or it will act as a caustic to it. The nitric acid should be preserved in a stoppered bottle and must be put out of the reach of children.

Glacial Acetic Acid is another excellent destroyer of warts: it should, by means of a camel's hair brush, be applied to each wart, every night just before going to bed. The warts will, after a few applications, completely disappear.

384. _What is the best remedy for tender feet, for sweaty feet, and for smelling feet_?

Cold water: bathing the feet in cold water, beginning with tepid water; but gradually from day to day reducing the warm until the water be quite cold. A large nursery-basin one-third full of water, ought to be placed on the floor, and one foot at a time should be put in the water, washing the while with a sponge the foot, and with the thumb between each toe. Each foot should remain in the water about half a minute. The feet ought, after each washing, to be well dried, taking care to dry with the towel between each toe. The above process must be repeated at least once every day--every morning, and if the annoyance be great, every night as well. A clean pair of stockings ought in these cases to be put on daily, as perfect cleanliness is absolutely necessary both to afford relief and to effect a cure.

If the feet be tender, or if there be either bunions, or corns, the shoes and the boots made according to the German method (which are fashioned according to the actual shape of the foot) should alone be worn.

385. _What are the causes of so many young ladies of the present day being weak, nervous, and unhappy_?

The principal causes are--ignorance of the laws of health, Nature's laws being set at nought by fashion and by folly, by want of fresh air and exercise, by want of occupation, and by want of self-reliance. Weak, nervous, and unhappy! Well they might be! What have they to make them strong and happy? Have they work to do to brace the muscles? Have they occupation--useful, active occupation--to make them happy? No! they have neither the one nor the other!

386. What diseases are girls most subject to?

The diseases peculiar to girls are--Chlorosis--Green-sickness--and Hysterics.

387. What are the usual causes of Chlorosis? Chlorosis is caused by torpor and debility of the whole frame, especially of the womb. It is generally produced by scanty or by improper food, by the want of air and of exercise, and by too close application within doors. Here we have the same tale over again--close application within doors, and the want of fresh air and of exercise. When will the eyes of a mother he opened, to this important subject?--the most important that can engage her attention!

388. What is the usual age for Chlorosis to occur and what are the symptoms?

Chlorosis more frequently attacks girls from fifteen to twenty years of age; although unmarried women, much older, occasionally have it. I say _unmarried_, for, as a rule, it is a complaint of the _single_.

The patient, first of all, complains of being languid, tired, and out of spirits; she is fatigued with the slightest exertion; she has usually palpitation of the heart (so as to make her fancy that she has a disease of that organ, which, in all probability, she has not); she has shortness of breath, and a short dry cough; her face is flabby and pale; her complexion gradually assumes a yellowish or greenish hue--hence the name of chlorosis; there is a dark, livid circle around her eyes; her lips lose their colour, and become almost white; her tongue is generally white and pasty, her appetite is bad, and is frequently depraved--the patient often preferring chalk, slate pencil, cinder, and even dirt, to the daintiest food, indigestion frequently attends chlorosis, she has usually pains over the short-ribs, on the _left_ side, she suffers greatly from "wind"--is frequently nearly choken by it, her bowels are generally costive, and the stools are unhealthy, she has pains in her hips, loins, and back, and her feet and ankles are oftentimes swollen. _The menstrual discharge is either suspended or very partially performed_, if the latter, it is usually almost colourless. Hysterical fits not unfrequently occur during an attack of chlorosis.

389. _How may Chlorosis be prevented_?

If health were more and fashion were less studied, chlorosis would not be such a frequent complaint. This disease generally takes its rise from mismanagement--from Nature's laws having been set at defiance. I have heard a silly mother express an opinion that it is not _genteel_ for a girl to eat _heartily!_ Such language is perfectly absurd and cruel. How often, too, a weak mother declares that a healthy, blooming girl looks like a milk maid! It would be well if she did! How true and sad it is, that "a pale, delicate face, and clear eyes, indicative of consumption, are the fashionable _desiderata_ at present for complexion."--_Dublin University Magazine._

A growing girl requires _plenty_ of _good_ nourishment--as much as her appetite demands, and if she have it not, she will become either chlorotic, or consumptive, or delicate. Besides, _the greatest beautifier in the world is health_, therefore, by a mother studying the health of her daughter, she will, at the same time, adorn her body with, beauty! I am sorry to say that too many parents think more of the beauty than of the health of their girls. Sad and lamentable infatuation! Nathaniel Hawthorne--a distinguished American--gives a graphic description of a delicate young lady. He says--"She is one of those delicate nervous young creatures not uncommon in New England, and whom I suppose to have become what we find them by the gradually refining away of the physical system among young women. Some philosophers choose to glorify this habit of body by terming it spiritual, but in my opinion, it is rather the effect of unwholesome food, bad air, lack of out-door exercise, and neglect of bathing, on the part of these damsels and their female progenitors, all resulting in a kind of hereditary dyspepsia."

Nathaniel Hawthorne was right. Such ladies, when he wrote, were not uncommon, but within the last two or three years, to their great credit be it spoken, "a change has come o'er the spirit of their dreams," and they are wonderfully improved in health, for, with all reverence be it spoken, "God helps them who help themselves," and they have helped themselves by attending to the rales of health--"The women of America are growing more and more handsome every year for just this reason. They are growing rounder of chest, fuller of limb, gaining, substance and development in every direction. Whatever may be urged to the contrary we believe this to be a demonstrable fact. When the rising generation of American girls once begin to wear thick shoes, to take much exercise in the open air, to skate, to play at croquet, and to affect the saddle, it not only begins to grow more wise but more healthful, and which must follow as the night the day--more beautiful"--_The Round Table_.

If a young girl had plenty-of wholesome meat, varied from day to day, either plain roast or boiled, and neither stewed, nor hashed, nor highly seasoned for the stomach, if she has had an abundance of fresh air for her lungs, if she had plenty of active exercise, such as skipping, dancing, running, riding, swimming, for her muscles, if her clothing were warm and loose, and adapted to the season, if her mind were more occupied with active _useful_ occupation, such as household work, than at present, and if she were kept calm and untroubled from the hurly-burly and excitement of fashionable life--chlorosis would almost be an unknown disease. It is a complaint of rare occurrence with country girls, but of great frequency with fine city ladies.

390. _What treatment should you advise_?

The treatment which would prevent should be adopted when the complaint first makes its appearance. If the above means do not quickly remove it, the mother must then apply to a medical man, and he will give medicines _which will soon have the desired effect_. Chlorosis is very amenable to treatment. If the disease be allowed for any length of time to run on, it may produce either organic--incurable--disease of the heart, or consumption or indigestion, or confirmed ill-health.

391. _At what period of life is a lady most prone in Hysterics, and what are the symptoms_?

The time of life when hysterics occur is generally from the age of fifteen to fifty. Hysterics come on by paroxysms--hence they are called hysterical fits. A patient, just before an attack, is low-spirited; crying without a cause; she is "nervous," as it is called; she has flushings of the face; she is at other times very pale; she has shortness of breath and occasional palpitations of the heart; her appetite is usually bad; she passes quantities of colourless limpid urine, having the appearance of pump water; she is much troubled with flatulence in her bowels, and, in consequence, she feels bloated and uncomfortable. The "wind" at length rises upwards towards the stomach, and still upwards to the throat, giving her the sensation of a ball stopping her breathing, and producing a feeling of suffocation. The sensation of a ball in the throat (_globus hystericus_) is the commencement of the fit.

She now becomes _partially_ insensible, although she seldom loses _complete_ consciousness. Her face becomes flushed, her nostrils dilated, her head thrown back, and her stomach and bowels enormously distended with "wind." After a short time she throws her arms and her legs about convulsively, she beats her breast, tears her hair and clothes, laughs boisterously and screams violently; at other times she makes a peculiar noise; sometimes she sobs and her face is much distorted. At length she brings up enormous quantities of wind; after a time she bursts into a violent flood of tears, and then gradually comes to herself.

As soon as the fit is at an end she generally passes enormous quantities of colourless limpid urine. She might, in a short time, fall into another attack similar to the above. When she comes to herself she feels exhausted and tired, and usually complains of a slight headache, and of great soreness of the body and limbs. She seldom remembers what has occurred during the fit. Hysterics are sometimes frightful to witness, but, in themselves, are not at all dangerous.

Hysterics--an hysterical fit--is sometimes styled hysterical passion. Shakspeare, in one of his plays, calls it _hysterica passio_--

"Oh how this, mother, swells up toward my Heart! _Hysterica
passio!_"

Sir Walter Scott graphically describes an attack--"The hysterical passion that impels tears is a terrible violence--a sort of throttling sensation--then succeeded by a state of dreaming stupidity"

392. _What are the causes of Hysterics_?

Delicate health, chlorosis, improper and not sufficiently nourishing food, grief, anxiety, excitement of the mind, closely confined rooms, want of exercise, indigestion, flatulence and tight-lacing, are the causes which usually produce hysterics. Hysterics are frequently feigned, indeed, oftener than any other complaint, and even a genuine case is usually much aggravated by a patient herself giving way to them.

393. _What do you recommend an hysterical lady to do_?

To improve her health by proper management, to rise early and to take a walk, that she may breathe pure and wholesome air,--indeed, she ought to live nearly half her time in the open air, exercising herself with walking, skipping, etc., to employ her mind with botany, croquet, archery, or with any out-door amusement, to confine herself to plain, wholesome, nourishing food, to avoid tight lacing; to eschew fashionable amusements; and, above all, not to give way to her feelings, but, if she feel an attack approaching, to rouse herself.

_If the fit be upon her_, the better plan is, to banish all the _male_ sex from the room, and not even to have many women about her, and for those around to loosen her dress; to lay her in the centre of the room, flat upon the ground, with a pillow under her head, to remove combs and pins and brooches from her person; to dash cold water upon her face; to apply cloths, or a large sponge wetted in cold water, to her head; to throw open the window, and then to leave her to herself; or, at all events, to leave her with only one _female_ friend or attendant. If such be done, she will soon come round; but what is the usual practice? If a girl be in hysterics, the whole house, and perhaps the neighbourhood, is roused; the room is crowded to suffocation; fears are openly expressed by those around that she is in a dangerous state; she hears what they say, and her hysterics are increased ten-fold.

394. _Have you any remarks to make on a patient recovering from a severe illness_?

There is something charming and delightful in the feelings of a patient recovering from a severe illness: it is like a new birth: it is almost worth the pain and anguish of having been ill to feel quite well again: everything around and about him wears a charming aspect--a roseate hue: the appetite for food returns with pristine vigour; the viands, be they ever so homely, never tasted before so deliciously sweet; and a draught of water from the spring has the flavour of ambrosial nectar: the convalescent treads the ground as though he were on the ambient air; and the earth to him for a while is Paradise: the very act of living is a joy and gladness:--

"See the wretch that long has tost
On the thorny bed of pain
Again repair his vigour lost
And walk and run again.

The meanest flow'ret of the vale,
The amplest note that swells the gale,
The common air, the earth, the skies,
To him are opening Paradise."--_Grey_

* * * * *

CONCLUDING REMARKS

If this book is to be of use to mothers and to the rising generation, as I humbly hope and trust that it has been, and that it will be still more abundantly, it ought not to be listlessly read, merely as a novel or as any other piece of fiction; but it must be thoughtfully and carefully studied, until its contents, in all its bearings, be completely mastered and understood.

* * * * *

In conclusion: I beg to thank you for the courtesy, confidence, and attention I have received at your hands; and to express a hope that my advice, through God's blessing, may not have been given in vain; but that it may be--one among many--an humble instrument for improving the race of our children--England's priceless treasures! O, that the time may come, and may not be far distant, "That our sons may grow up as the young plants, and that our daughters may be as the polished corners of the temple!"

INDEX.

ABLUTION of a child

of an infant

of a youth

thorough, of boy and girl

Accidents of children

how to prevent

Acne, symptoms and treatment of

Advice to a mother if her infant be poorly

to _Mr Pater familias_

Ailments, the distinction between between _serious_ and _slight_

of infants

Air and exercise for youth

the importance of good

the necessity of fresh, and changing the

Airing an infant's clothes

Alternately to each breast

American ladies

Amusements for a child

for a boy

for a girl

Ankles, weak

Antipathies of a child

Aperients for a child

for an infant

for a new-born babe

for a youth

danger of frequent

Appeal to mothers

Appetite, on a child losing his

Applications, hot

Apron, washing

Archery

Arnold, Dr, on corporal punishment

Arrow-root for an infant

Artificial food for an infant at breast

Asses' milk

BABES should kick on floor

Babe's clothing

Babe himself taking exercise

Babyhood, the language of

Baby daughter

Baked crumb of bread for an infant

flour for an infant

Bakers' and home made bread

Bathing after _full_ meal

Baths, cold, tepid, and warm

warm, as a remedy for flatulence

Beard, best respirator

Bed, on placing child in

Beds, feather

purification of

Bed-rooms, the ventilation of

cool

large

a plan to ventilate

Bee, the sting of

Beef, salted or boiled

Beer, on giving child

Belladonna, poisoning by

Belly-band, best kind

when to discontinue

Beverage for a child

"Black-eye," remedies for

Bladder and bowels of an infant

Bleeding from navel, how to restrain

of nose

Blood, spitting of

Blows and bruises

Boarding schools for females

on cheap (note)

Boiled bread for infants' food

flour for infants' food

Boils, the treatment of

Boots and shoes

Bottles, the best nursing

Boulogne sore-throat

Bow-legs

Bowels, large, of children

looseness of

protrusion of lower

regulation of, by diet

Boys should be made strong

Brain, water on the

Bran to soften water

Bran Poultices

Breakfast of a child

of a youth

Breast on early putting an infant to

Breathing exercise

Brimstone and treacle

Brown and Polson's Corn Flour

Bronchitis, the treatment of

Broth for Infants

for a new born infant

and soup

Brothers and sisters

Bruises, remedies for

Bullying a child

Burns and scalds

Butter, wholesome

CADBURY'S Cocoa Essence

Calomel, the danger of a mother prescribing

the ill effects of

Camphor makes teeth brittle

Caning a boy

Caps, flannel

Care in preparation of food

Carpets in nurseries

Carriage exercise

Carron oil in burns

Castor oil to heal the bowels

Cat, bites and scratches of a

"Chafings" of infants, the treatment of

Chairs, straight backed

Change of air

linen in sickness

Chapped hands, legs, &c

lips

Chest, keeping warm the upper part of the

"Chicken breasted" and narrow breasted children

pox

Chilblains

Child should dine with parents

"Child-crowing"

the treatment of a paroxysm of

Children's hour

parties

Chimneys, on the stopping of

Chiropodists (_note_)

Chloralum as a disinfectant

Chlorosis and green sickness

not in rural districts

Choking, what to be done in a case of

_Cholera infantum_

Cisterns, best kind of

Clothes, on airing an infant's

the ill effects of tight

Clothing of children

of infants

during winter

of youths

Coffee as an aperient

and tea

Coin, on the swallowing of a

Cold bed-room healthy

Cold, a feverish

on child always catching

feet, method to warm

Concluding remarks on infancy

Conclusion

Constipation, prevention and cure of

Consumption attacks the _upper_ part of the lungs

the age at which it usually appears

causes of

death rate

importance of early consulting a medical man in

spitting of blood in

symptoms of

Consumptive patient, the treatment of a

Convulsions of children

cause insensibility

from hooping-cough

no pain in

Cooked fruit for child

Corns

Corn plaster, an excellent

Coroners inquests on infants

Corporal punishment at schools

Costiveness of infants, the means to prevent

remedies for

the reason why so prevalent

in weak children

Cough, the danger of stopping a

Cow, the importance of having the milk from one

pox lymph direct from heifer

from healthy child

Cream and egg, 200

and water for babe

Crinoline and burning of ladles

Crib, covering head of

Croquet for girls

Crossness in a sick child

Croup

the treatment of

Cry of infant

Cure, artificial and natural

"Curious phenomenon" in scarlet fever

Cut finger, the application for

DANCING, and skipping

Danger of constantly giving physic

Delicate child, plan to strengthen a

Dentition

lancing of gums

second

painful

Diarrhoea of infants

treatment of

Diet of a child who has cut his teeth

of children

of a dry nursed child

of infants

on a mother being particular in attending to

variety of for child

of youth

Dietary in infants

Dieting a child

Dinner for a child

youth

Diphtheria symptoms, causes, and treatment of

Dirty child

Diseased nature and strange eruptions

Diseases of children

girls

infants

obscure

the prevention of

produced by tight lacing

symptoms of _serious_

Disinfectants in scarlet fever

Doctor on early calling in

Dog the bide of a

Doleful child

Don't

Dowle on _The Foot and its Covering_

Drainage

Dress, female

of a child while asleep

of a babe, child, and youth

Dresses, high for delicate child

Dressing babe for sleep

Dribbling bibs

Drinking fountains

Dropping child, danger of

Dry nursed children, the best food for

"Dusting powder" for infants

Dysentery, symptoms and treatment of

EAR, discharges from

removal of a pea or bead from

Ear-ache, treatment of

wig in ear

Early rising

Education of children

infant schools

home, the best for girls

Education, modern

for youth

Eggs for children

Electuary of figs

Emetic tarter dangerous for child

Eneme apparatus (_note_)

of warm water

Engravings in nurseries

Eruptions about the mouth

Excorations applications for

best remedy for

Exercise

best composing medicine

during teething

for children

in wet weather

on violently tossing infants

horse and pony

an infant himself taking

in very cold weather

in wet weather

for youth

Eve, substances in

FAECAL matter in pump-water

Fainting

from constipation

from debility

from disordered stomach

Falling-off of hair

Falls on the head

Farinaceous food give _babes_ wind

Fash on dangerous effects of strictly attending to

the present, of dressing children

Fashionable _desiderata_ for complexion

Favouritism

Feeding bottles

infants, proper times for at breast

new born babe with gruel

Feet smelling

sweating

tender

Female dress

Fire, on a child playing with

danger of back to

in night nursery

the manner of extinguishing, if clothes be on

guards

Fire-proof, making dresses

Flannel cap for babe

night-gowns

shifts for a delicate child

waistcoats

to wash child with

Flatulence, remedies for

Fleas, to drive away

Flute, bugle and other wind-instruments

Fly pole

Fog, on sending a child out in

Folly, of giving physic after vaccination

Food, artificial, during snacking

care in preparing infant's

for dry-nursed infants

for infants who are sucking

Formula, for milk, water, salt, and sugar

Friction after ablation

Frightening a child

Fruit as an aperient

during teething

GARTERS impede circulation

Gently speak to child

Gin or pepperment in infant's food

Giving joy to a child

Glass, a child swallowing broken

Gluttony

Glycerine

Goats' milk

_Godfrey's Cordial_

poisoning by treatment

Grazed skin

Green dresses poisonous

paper hangings for nurseries

peas as a vegetable

"Gripings" for infants

Groin rupture

"Gross superstition,"

"Grub-pimple"

Gums, the lancing of the

Gum-bod, cause and treatment

Gum-sticks, the best

Gymnasium, value of

HAIR, the best application for

falling off

making tidy

management of

Half-washed and half starved child

Hand-swing

Happiness to a child

Happy child

Hard's Farinaceous Food

Hardening of children's constitutions

of infants

Hartehorn, on swallowing

Hats for a child, the best kind

Hawthorn, Nathaniel, on American ladies

Head, fall upon

Heat, external application of

Hectic flush, description of

Hiccups of infants

Hints conducive to the well-doing of a child

Home of childhood--the nursery

Hooping-cough

obstinate

treatment of

Horse exercise for boys or girls

and pony exercise

Hot-water bag or bottle

Household work for girls

Hurdle on early rising

Hydrophobia

_Hysterica passio_

Hysterics

ICE, on the value of

Illness, recovery from

Importance of our subject

India-rubber hot-water bottle

Ingoldsby Legend on thumb-sucking

Infants should be encouraged to use exertion

Infant schools

Ipecacuantis wine, preservation of

JOYFUL to bed, on sending child

LADIES "affecting the saddle"

Laudanum, poisoning by

Laugh of a child

Law, physic, and divinity

Leaden cisterns

Learning without health

Leech bites, the way to restrain bleeding from

Lessons for child

Lice in head after illness

Light, best artificial, for nursery

the importance of, to health

Lightly clad child

Lime in the eye

to harden the bones

Lime-water and milk

"Looseness of the the bowels" the treatment

Love of children

Lucifer-matches the poisonous effects of

Luncheon for a child

Lungs, inflammation of

precautions to

symptoms of

treatment of

Lying lips of a child

MAD DOG, the bite of

description of

Magnesia to cool a child

Management of child's mother's question

Massacre of innocents

Mattresses, horse-hair, best for child

May, the month of

Meals, a child's

Measles

and scarlet fever

treatment of

Meat, daily, on giving

raw in long-standing diarrhoea

in exhaustive diseases

when a child should commence taking

Meddlesome treatment

Medical man, a mother's treatment towards

Medicine, the best way of administering

on giving new-born infants

on making palatable (_note_)

Menstruating female during suckling

Mercury, on the danger of parents giving

Milk, on the importance of having it from ONE cow

bad, very nasty

for babe indispensable

in every form

or meat, or both

a plan to make a child take

sugar of, and water

the value of, for children

unboiled

a way to prevent, turning sour

-crust

Mismanaged baby

Modified small-pox and chicken-pox

Mother fretting, injurious to infant

a foolish

of many diseases

Mother's and cow's milk, on mixing

health during suckling

influence

Motions, healthy, of babe

Mumps

NAAMAN, the Syrian

Napkins, when to dispense with

Nature's physic

Navel, management of the

rupture of

sore

-string separation of

Neaves' Farinaceous Food

Nervous and unhappy young ladies

Nettle-rash

New-born infants and aperients

when feeble

Night-commode

Night-terrors

Nose, removal of foreign substances from

bleeding from, means to restrain

Nurse, on the choice of a

a lazy

strong and active

young, not desirable

for the sick

Nursery-basin

of a sick child

a child's own domain

selection, warming, ventilation, arrangements of

on the light of a

must be airy

observations, further

windows to be often opened

Nursing-bottles, the best

OPIUM, a case of poisoning by

the danger of administering to infants

the treatment of poisoning by

Over-education

Over-lying a child

PAIN, convulsions, and death

Paint-boxes dangerous as toys

Parental baby-slaughter

Parritch, the halesome

Peevishness of a child, the plan to allay

Perambulators

Physicking a child, on the frequent

Pies and Puddings

Pimples on the face, treatment of

Pin, on a child swallowing

Pins, in dressing of babe

Play, a course of education in

Play-grounds for children

and play

Pleasant words to a child

Poisoning, accidental

by the breath

Poppy-syrup

Pork an improper meat for children

Position of a sleeping child

Potatoes for children

Poultice, a white-bread

Powder, "dusting"

_Precocity of intellect_

Precocious youths, the health of

Prescriptions for a child

Princess of Wales and her baby (note)

Professions and trades

Proper person to wash an Infant

Prunes, the best way of stewing

Profession or trade, choice of, for delicate youth

delicate youth should be brought up to

Puddings for children

Pals of child

Pye Chavasse's Fresh Air Treatment of scarlet fever

Milk Food

QUACK MEDICINES

Quacking an infant

Quick lime in eye

RAIN WATER

Recapitulation of ablution

Red gum

Respiration, products of poisonous

Rest, the best time for a child to retire to

Re-vaccination, Importance of

every seven years

recommended by Jenner

Revalenta Arabica

Rheumatic fever, flannel vest and drawers

Ribs, bulging out of

Rice, prepared as an infant's food

Rich children

_Richardson, Dr, ether spray_

Rickets

various degrees of

Roberton on child-crowing

Rocking-chairs, and rockers to cradle,

Rocking infants to sleep

Rooms ill effects, of dark

Round shoulders

Round worm

Running scall

Rupture

Rusks

SALLOWNESS, cause of in young girls

Salt water and fresh water

should be added to an infants food

bag of hot

necessary to human life

Salt-and water ablations for a delicate child

for teeth and gums

meats for children

Scalds and burns

of mouth

Scarlatina

Scarlet-fever

and diphtheria

the contagion of

the danger of giving aperients in

the dropsy of

Fresh Air Treatment of

hybrid

management of child after

and measles, the importance of distinguishing between

the principal danger of

purification of house after

treatment of

utter prostration in

Schools, female boarding

public

Screaming in sleep

Scrofula

prevention of

Scurfy head

Sea-bathing and fresh-water bathing

for a young child

Secrets, talking, before child

Senna as an aperient

Shivering fit, importance of attending to a

treatment of

Shoes, _plan to waterproof_

preferable to boots

sound and whole

and stockings for children and youths

the ill effects of tight

"Shortening" an infant

Shoulder-blades "growing out"

Sick child, the nursing of a

not to be staffed with food

Sick-room, management of,

Sickness of infants

Singing and reading aloud

beneficial to a child

Single-stick

Sitting with back to fire

Sitz-bath for protrusion of bowels

Skating for boys and girls

Skin, grazed

Sleep of children

Sleep, infant's

in middle of day beneficial

much, necessary for infants

temperature of an infant's bedroom during

right time of putting a child to

putting infants to

of youth

-walker

Sleeping on lap

-rooms, importance of well-ventilating

Sleepless child

Slippers, the best for sick-room (_note_)

Small-pox

a pest and disgrace

modified

when in neighborhood,

to prevent pitting of

Smoking, on a boy

Smothering of infants, the cause

Socks and Stockings for a child

Soda, ill effects of washing clothes with

Sounds, joyful

Soups and broths

Speak gently to a child

Spencer, a knitted worsted

Spines, distorted

Spine, injury to

curvature of

twisted

Spirits, deadly effects of, to the young

Spitting of blood

precautions

Spurious croup

Stammering, cause of

cure of

Stays, the ill effects of

Stillness of sick-room

Sting of bee or wasp

Stir-about and milk

Stockings and shoes

Stooping in a girl

Stopping of chimneys

Stoves in nursery

Strawberry-tongue

Stuffing a sick child with food

a babe

"Stuffing of the nose" of infants

Stunning of a child

"Stye," treatment of

Substitute for mother's milk

Sucking of thumb

Suckling, the proper times of

Suet pudding

Sugar for infants

confectionery

-of-milk

_raw_, as an aperient

Sun-stroke

Sunday

Supper for a child and for a youth

Surfeit water and saffron tea

Sweet things and sour digestion

Sweetmeats and cakes

Swimming, on boys and girls

Symptoms of serious diseases

TAPE-WORM

Taste for things refined

Tea, on giving a child

green, the ill effects of

Teeth, attention to, importance of

child should not have meat till he have cut several

the diet of a child who has cut all his

and gums

right way of brushing

appearance and number of _first_ set of

_second_ set of

second crop of

Teething

causing convulsions

eruptions from

frequent cause of sickness

fruitful source of disease

purging during

restlessness from

second

symptoms and treatment of painful

in town or country

Temperature and ventilation of a nursery

of a warm-bath

Thread-worm

Throats, sore, precautions to prevent

Thrush, cause, symptoms, prevention and cure of

Thumb best gum-stick

Tight bands, belts, and hats

Tight-lacing, the ill effects of

Times for suckling an infant

Tobacco-smoking for boys

cases illustrating the danger of

Toe-nails, the right way of cutting,

Tongue-tied, an infant

"Tooth-cough,"

Tooth-powder, an excellent

Top-crust of bread as infant's food

Tossing an infant

Tous-les-mois

Toys, children's

painted with arsenic

Trade or profession for delicate youth,

Treatment of a delicate child

of some urgent serious diseases

Troubles of child

Truth, the love of

Tub, commencement of washing infant in

Tubbing a child

Tumbling and rolling of a child

VACCINATION

appearance of scab

arm after

giving medicine after,

making babe poorly

Veal for a child

Vegetables for a child

Ventilation, and stopping of chimneys

and sleep

of a nursery

Violet-powder

WALKING, on the early, of infants

exercise, value

in his sleep, a child

Warm-bathe for children

external applications

Warts

Washing of boys and girls

Washing a child

an infant

a new-born infant's head with brandy

Washing a nursery floor

Wasp, the sting of a

Water, on the importance of good,

on the brain

closet, on going regularly to,

cold and warm for ablution,

hard for drinking

-fright

pure, essential to health

to whole of skin

Weaned child, the diet of a

Weaning, proper time and manner of

Weather, on a child almost living in the air in flue

on the sending a child out in wet

Weight of new-born infants (_note_)

Wet flannel application

Wet-nurse

diet of

for feeble babe

management of

"Wetting the bed" during sleep

Wheezing of a new-born infant

White lily leaf for bruises

"Wind," babe suffering from

Windows of a nursery

Wind pipe, foreign substance in

Wine and youth

Wine for children and youths

Winter clothing

Woolen garments

Worms

quick medicines for