et wake up
and cry immediately on being placed in its cot again.

Symptoms such as these are sure to awaken the mother's attention to her
child, and the child's welfare and the parent's happiness alike depend,
in many instances, on the way in which she sets about to answer the
question, 'What is the matter?'

Some mothers send at once to the doctor whenever they see or fancy that
anything ails their child. But this way of getting rid of responsibility
is not always possible, nor, indeed, on moral grounds, is it always
desirable, for the mother who delegates each unpleasant duty to another,
whether nurse, governess, or doctor, in order to save herself trouble or
anxiety, performs but half a mother's part, and can expect but half a
mother's recompense of love.

Whenever a child is unwell, a mother may do much to ascertain what is
the matter, and may by the exercise of a little patience and common
sense save herself much needless heart-ache, and her child much
suffering.

The first point to ascertain is the presence or absence of fever; that
is to say, whether, and how much, the temperature of the body is higher
than natural. If the temperature is not higher than natural, it may be
taken as almost certain that the child neither has any inflammatory
affection of the chest, nor is about to suffer from any of the eruptive
fevers. The temperature, however, cannot be judged of merely by the
sensation conveyed to the hand, but must be ascertained by means of the
thermometer.[4] In the case of the grown person the thermometer is
placed either under the tongue, the lips being closed over it, or in the
armpit, and is kept there five or six minutes. In young children,
however, neither of these is practicable, and I prefer to place the
instrument in the groin, and crossing one leg over the other, to
maintain the thermometer there for the requisite five minutes. The
temperature of the body in health is about 98.5 deg. Fahr. in the grown
person, and very slightly higher in childhood; but any heat above 99.5 deg.
may be regarded as evidence that something is wrong, and the persistence
for more than twenty-four hours of a temperature of 101 deg. and upwards,
may be taken as almost conclusive proof of the existence of some serious
inflammation, or of the onset of one of the eruptive fevers.

At the same time it is well to bear in mind that temporary causes, such
as especially the disorders produced by over-fatigue, or by an
over-hea