he tongue, or of the inner surface of either lip.
With either of these conditions the child is feverish, fretful, and
cries from time to time with pain, while at the same time the bowels
often are relaxed, or the child coughs and wheezes as if it had caught
cold.

Symptoms such as these make up what nurses mean when they say that the
child is suffering from its teeth, and this opinion is constantly
followed by a request to the doctor to lance the baby's gums. Now this
little operation when really called for often gives great relief, both
to the local discomfort, and also to the general ailment from which the
infant suffers, but it is often done when there is no occasion for it,
and when consequently it causes needless pain, and does no good.

There are four different conditions in which it may be right to have the
child's gums lanced:

First. When a tooth is very near the surface, and by cutting through the
thin gum the child may be spared some needless suffering.

Second. When the gums are very red and hot and swollen; only in this
case the gum is scratched or cut, to bleed it, not with the idea of
letting out the imprisoned tooth.

Third. When the child has for some week or two been feverish and
suffering; while, though the gum is tense and swollen, the tooth does
not seem to advance.

Fourth. As an experiment, when during the progress of teething a child
is suddenly seized with convulsions for which there is no obvious cause.
The irritation of the teeth may have to do with their occurrence; and
the chance of relieving it by so simple a means is not to be thrown
away.

If the process of teething is going on quite naturally, no
interference, medical or other, is either necessary or proper. The
special liability of children to illness at this time must indeed be
borne in mind, and care must be taken not to make any alteration in the
infant's food while it is actually cutting its teeth, but rather to
choose the opportunity of some one of those pauses to which reference
has been made, as occurring between the dates of appearance of the
successive teeth, for making any such change. If the child is feverish,
a little soda or seltzer water sweetened and given after the
effervescence has subsided will be taken eagerly, and avoid the risk of
putting the child too often to the breast, or giving it food too
frequently. It seeks the one or the other because it is thirsty, and
craves for moisture to relieve its hot mouth;