e injury, over
and over ransacks its clothes, believing some insecure pin can alone be
the cause of such sharp complaining, an accident that, from her own care
in dressing, however, is seldom or ever the case.

2483. These abrupt cries of the child, if they do not proceed from
thirst, which a little water will relieve, not unfrequently occur from
some unequal pressure, a fold or twist in the "roller," or some
constriction round the tender body. If this is suspected, the mother
must not be content with merely slackening the strings; the child should
be undressed, and the creases and folds of the hot skin, especially
those about the thighs and groins, examined, to see that no powder has
caked, and, becoming hard, irritated the parts. The violet powder should
be dusted freely over all, to cool the skin, and everything put on fresh
and smooth. If such precautions have not afforded relief, and, in
addition to the crying, the child plunges or draws up its legs, the
mother may be assured some cause of irritation exists in the stomach or
bowels,--either acidity in the latter or distension from overfeeding in
the former; but, from whichever cause, the child should be "opened"
before the fire, and a heated napkin applied all over the abdomen, the
infant being occasionally elevated to a sitting position, and while
gently jolted on the knee, the back should be lightly patted with the
hand.

2484. Should the mother have any reason to apprehend that the _cause_ of
inconvenience proceeds from the bladder--a not unfrequent source of
pain,--the napkin is to be dipped in hot water, squeezed out, and
immediately applied over the part, and repeated every eight or ten
minutes, for several times in succession, either till the natural relief
is afforded, or a cessation of pain allows of its discontinuance. The
pain that young infants often suffer, and the crying that results from
it, is, as we have already said, frequently caused by the mother
inconsiderately overfeeding her child, and is produced by the pain of
distension, and the mechanical pressure of a larger quantity of fluid in
the stomach than the gastric juice can convert into cheese and digest.

2485. Some children are stronger in the enduring power of the stomach
than others, and get rid of the excess by vomiting, concluding every
process of suckling by an emission of milk and curd. Such children are
called by nurses "thriving children;" and generally they are so, simply
because