ng on is generally a warning that a period of rest
must be taken. An overheated brow is also another indication. If this
shows itself in a child during or after school, together with
listlessness and excitability, all idea of lessons should at once be
laid aside for a time. It is nothing less than cruelty to work an
overheated brain in such a case. Let the child go free from school till
all the head trouble is removed. Also let the head be soaped (_see_
Head, Soaping).

Sometimes pain in the head sets in from overwork. Even in the young,
fainting may show itself. Rest is essential, and will prove a perfect
cure, together with a little brain exercise of the kind described in
article Brain Exercise, always avoiding fatigue. Let all readers
remember that it is better to lose six months in rest than become
permanently incapable, therefore let old and young take rest in time.

Bran Poultice.--Get a sufficient quantity of good bran in an ordinary
washhand basin. _Heat_ the basin before beginning operations. Have also
a boiling kettle at hand. Pour the boiling water by little and little
into the bran, and mix and stir it up until it is all a moist mass, but
not _wet_. The thing is to avoid putting in more water than the bran
can easily absorb and hold. Then have ready a flannel bag of the size
and shape required for the poultice. Fill this with the bran, and it is
ready. The skin to which it is applied should first be oiled with olive
oil. The poultice may be fastened on with flannel bands. In any case it
must lie tightly on the skin. The patient must lie on it, if it be
applied to the back. One or two tablespoonfuls of mustard may be added
if great power is required, not otherwise.

Instead of this poultice, an india-rubber bag full of hot water may be
used, with two or three ply of moist flannel between it and the skin.
Our only reason for recommending bran is that many could not afford the
india-rubber bag.

Bread, Wheaten.--In some cases the bran in whole wheaten bread and
Saltcoats biscuits is found to irritate the stomach and bowels. As diet
for those able to digest the bran, nothing is better. Where it cannot
be digested, ordinary bakers' bread boiled in water to soft pap is
found to make a good substitute. This must not be boiled with milk
unless where there is diarrhoea to be cured, as milk tends to produce
bile and costiveness. Oatmeal jelly (_see_ Food in Illness) is also a
good substitute for biscuits and w