humour by joining in its play; and you must
be ready to do this, not the first time only, but every time that you
visit the child, and must try to win its affections in order to cure its
disease. If you fail in the former, you will often be foiled in your
attempts at the latter. Nor is this all; you must visit your patient
very often if the disease is serious in its nature and rapid in its
course. New symptoms succeed each other in infancy and childhood with
great rapidity; complications occur that call for some change in your
treatment, or the vital powers falter suddenly when you least expect it.
The issues of life and death often hang on the immediate adoption of a
certain plan of treatment, or on its timely discontinuance. Do not wait,
therefore, for symptoms of great urgency before you visit a child three
or four times a day; but if the disease is one in which changes are
likely to take place rapidly, be frequent in your visits as well as
watchful in your observation.'

Each year has added to my conviction of the perfect truth of each word
which I have quoted. If you believe your doctor to be a man of integrity
and intelligence, be thankful for his frequent visits, which will cease
as his anxiety abates. Be convinced that in the mean time they are made,
not for his sake, but for yours. If you doubt his integrity, change your
doctor; but do not say to him in a tone and with an emphasis which there
is no mistaking, 'Well, if you think it _really_ necessary to come'!

FOOTNOTES:

[5] I add in this note a few simple directions for making poultices,
though, as I have stated in my preface, it is no part of my purpose to
enter into all the details, important though they are, of a sick nurse's
duties.

For a linseed meal poultice, see that the water is _boiling_, not merely
hot; warm the basin, put the water in _first_; sprinkle the meal on it,
stirring the whole time, till it becomes of the uniform consistency of
porridge, then spread it about half an inch thick over the linen, or
whatever it is spread on, and turn up the edges for an inch all round to
prevent the poultice crumbling and soiling the night-dress; and then
having smeared the surface with a little oil, test its warmth by
applying it to your cheek before putting it on the patient. A broad
bandage of some sort or a soft towel must then be put round the body to
keep the poultice in its place, and secured with safety pins.

Pure mustard poultices are never u