nd
be allowed to amuse itself in a natural way.

TEMPERATURE IN CHILDREN.--The normal temperature in a child varies more
than it does in an adult. The rectal range may be between 98 deg. and 99.5 deg.
F. and may be normal to that particular child. A rectal temperature of
97.5 deg. F. or of 100.5 deg. F. is of no importance unless it continues.

The best place to take the temperature in a child is the rectum and the
next best place is in the groin. The temperature will always be from a
half to a full degree higher in the rectum than in the groin. The
thermometer should be left in the rectum for two minutes, and in the
groin for five minutes.

The temperature in a child is a very fair guide as to the severity of
the disease. It must be remembered, however, that a child will develop a
temperature of two or three degrees from a very slight cause. It is not
the height of the fever that is significant, but rather the duration of
the fever that is important. A fever of 102 deg. F. in a child may only mean
a slight indigestion which will wholly disappear after a laxative is
given, while the same degree of temperature in an adult usually means
something much more serious. The degree of the temperature therefore
should not occasion unnecessary worry; if, however, it continues and if
the child shows other signs of illness, it may be regarded as indicating
an abnormal condition which should be immediately found out. A
temperature of 100 deg. F. to 102 deg. F. usually means a mild illness, and one
of 104 deg. F. or over, a serious sickness.

It is not advisable that the ordinary mother should possess a clinical
thermometer. There are many occasions when a child will have a fever
which should not cause any worry; if the mother gets the thermometer
habit, she will many times occasion unnecessary calls of the physician
only to learn that they are false fears.

THE TEETH.--There is no definite time at which the first teeth appear.
They usually come between the sixth and eighth months. They may not,
however, come until much later; or they may come earlier than the sixth
month; and yet the child may be perfectly healthy. They come as a rule
in the following order:

1. The two lower middle teeth, 6 to 8 months.
2. The four upper middle teeth, 8 to 10 months.
3. One on each side of two lower middle teeth, 8 to 12 months.

4. One on each side, above and below