ldren are peculiarly prone to a class
of highly contagious diseases, the exact nature of which is not yet
understood, and we possess therefore little knowledge as to the proper
means of preventing their spread. Practically all that is known about
them is that they are conveyed by contact, or even by the air,
particularly where a child suffering from one of them is placed in a
confined place with another who is susceptible; these diseases likewise
may be carried by means of clothing and other articles that have been in
close contact with a child suffering with any of them. The lesson of
importance to be learned, therefore, is that if we wish our children to
escape maladies of this class we should not permit their indiscriminate
association with others. As these diseases cease to be a serious menace
after children have passed through their earlier years it does not at a
later time matter so much as to whether they are exposed to them or not.
As a general thing children develop these affections in from ten to
fifteen days after having been exposed, though one of the most severe of
them, scarlet fever, may make its appearance as early as twenty-four
hours after it is contracted. These diseases are usually ushered in by a
severe headache, pains in the head, back, and limbs, high fever, and
oftentimes a chill. As soon as a child develops such symptoms the advice
of a competent medical man should be at once sought, and the little
sufferer should be at once completely isolated.

In concluding, the writer would particularly exhort parents to obey to
the letter the instructions of their physicians, and never under any
circumstances to dose their helpless off-spring with patent or
proprietary medicines, which contain no man knows what, and which
unquestionably are often highly injurious, especially to children.

CHAPTER V

PROPER EATING--THE SECRET OF GOOD HEALTH

Very slowly the world is awakening to the fact that no agencies play such
an important part in the preservation of health as the consumption of
reasonable quantities of well-cooked and properly selected food, and the
habitual taking of wholesome drinks. On all sides the observant medical
man sees constant and reckless disregard of the simplest and most
fundamental laws governing this subject. Nothing is more common than to
hear of men in the prime of life being seized with what is called a
"nervous breakdown,"--which generally means a digestive breakdown--to b