us to stomach digestion. By causing an excessive flow
of saliva into an empty stomach, the digestive powers are interfered
with, and seriously weakened. Stomach trouble, and consequently
intestinal disease, may therefore be caused by the seemingly innocent
comforter.

3rd. A constantly used comforter always causes disease of the mouth.
Mucous erosions, canker sores, little ulcers, etc., are produced in this
way.

4th. The use of the comforter makes it impossible to put the child to
sleep, or even to leave it alone, without first placing it in its mouth.

5th. To stifle a baby's cry, by pushing the comforter into its mouth, is
as bad as giving it chloroform to mask a serious and dangerous pain. If
may have a just reason for crying, as is explained elsewhere, and if
that reason is not searched for and found, it may mean serious trouble
later.

6th. Actual deformities of the mouth are produced by constant use of the
comforter. The continuous sucking affects the gums, pushes them out of
shape and position, and the teeth as a consequence come at wrong angles,
thus causing unsightly deformities, which last throughout the life of
the child.

7th. The worst fault of the comforter is to be found in its
uncleanliness. We are quite satisfied that the use of the comforter will
be legislated against one of these days. If preventive medicine means
anything, it must certainly reckon with the comforter in the very near
future. Have you ever watched your baby suck on its comforter? If you
have, you must have noted the tireless energy with which it works its
tiny jaws and tongue. Suddenly the comforter slips from the little mouth
and baby begins to cry, attracting the attention of the mother, or
nurse, or little sister, who promptly, recognizing the trouble, pounces
on the offending comforter, which has fallen to the floor, and with a
perfunctory wipe replaces it in baby's mouth. It is done just as we have
written it, many thousand times, and yet the problem of infant mortality
is represented as a vexatious mystery. The newspapers solicit charitable
aid, and write eloquent appeals regarding the necessity of sending a few
babies to the seashore in the summer time or to supply a few with ice
during the hot spells. A hundred other energetic enthusiasts send forth
their laudable effort to raise the standard of child hygiene, yet the
manufacturers of the comforter, and the ignorant mother and nurse who
use it, do more harm in one day th