o and who could do so
advantageously, have not done so for various reasons--because the idea
has not occurred to them, or because they did not know how to go about
it, or because they mistakenly thought the expense too great. To all
such this book should prove of the greatest practical help.

CHAPTER IV

HYGIENE OF INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD

No characteristic of the Caucasian mind is more marked, and none more
universally affects his actions than a constant, gnawing suspicion that
the things going on around him are not being done in the proper way, and
consequently an irrepressible desire to experiment, and if possible, to
change everything. Such a spirit is unquestionably the basis of what we
call progress, and, in so far as it conduces to the health and happiness
of mankind, is entitled to our most hearty commendation. On the other
hand, it cannot be denied that too often we endeavor to bring about
changes with but an imperfect understanding of the basic principles at
issue, and naturally, under such circumstances, our efforts are crowned
with anything but success. In other words, an enlightened investigation
of the whys and wherefores of any existing state of affairs may and
often does, lead to improvement, while, on the other hand, ignorant
meddling is likely to be followed by disastrous consequences.

Nowhere do we see the bad results of false conceptions more marked than
in our treatment of infants and children.

Particularly do young infants suffer in this way, as they are
pounced upon as soon as they enter the world by every old "granny"
and negro "mammy" in the neighborhood, and plied with abominable
concoctions that would be productive of homicide if we were to
attempt forcibly to administer them to grown men, and whose only
effect on the defenseless little sufferer is to cause colic and
indigestion. Many times has the writer seen a wee, tiny little
mortal, who was too young and weak to even protest, bundled up with
a mountain of flannels in the hottest weather of July and August.
True to the superstition that the warmer we kept an infant the
better, too frequently we see them confined to hot stuffy rooms
when they should be out in the sunshine, or under the trees.
Instead of being allowed to gain health and strength in the
forests, which are the schoolhouses of nature, the miserable little
wretch is later sent to a public scho